Thursday, June 25, 2009

What to Eat if you suffer from Gout

By Kathy Nelson

When sufferers of gout start to suffer bad pain from gout attacks, they will normally start to do some research on the subject. Obviously they are looking for ways to stop the attacks from happening and normally they will start to learn that their diet plays a big part in the gout attacks.

The first question that will come from sufferers of gout is "what is the best diet for me then?" and straight away will picture all of their favourite foods. Obviously none of us wish to give up eating our favourite foods but our long term health needs to come first.

The main thing that you think about is how on earth do you stop the pain that gout can cause. There are of course treatments that are able to stop the pain as a short term measure but you really need to think more about how to stop gout problems that may occur in the future. The fact is that gout is unlikely to improve without you taking steps to help yourself.

Unfortunately if you do not start thinking about the long term then the pain that you get from gout will just get worse. Your diet needs to be improved so that you avoid periods in hospital. The pain is caused by a build up of uric acid around the joints, in particular the joint of the big toe. If you do not take steps to control your diet and eat better, then the pain will continue.

You will not be able to cure your gout by simply altering your diet for a while, instead you need to make changes to your diet which are not just for the present. You need to make changes that will have long term positive effects.

Therefore which changes to your lifestyle should you make at the moment to stop another attack of gout? Firstly try and keep a note of all the things you eat and drink over the next two weeks, this will be much easier to do if you carry some kind of note book around in your pocket. By doing this you will be able to see exactly what you are eating rather than guessing. You will be able to see over these two weeks where you need to cut down on certain foods.

You should avoid foods that are high in purines and that is what allows your body to make the uric acid that crystallizes and causes your gout. So the first thing you need to do is cut items that contain this out of your diet.

Keep your diary for a further two weeks and see how many of these foods you have managed to cut out of your diet, as you reduce these foods and increase your intake of water you should see a decrease in your attacks of gout. I know your next question, Is there anything I can eat that will help my gout?

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