I Suffer from Gout – What can I eat?
January 31st, 2009. Published under Diseases and Conditions. No Comments.
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.
As the pain that a gout attack causes get worse, you will no doubt be thinking about how on earth to stop the pain. Aside from the common treatments that are available to relieve pain for the short term, you should be thinking more about how you can take steps to prevent the pain in the future. One of these steps involves your diet.
You need to start thinking about the long term solutions to your gout and the pain you are suffering as a result of it. Yes short term remedies are fine at first, but the real pain is caused by a build up of uric acid crystals in the joints. This can be solved by taking some steps to help in the long term, such as watching your diet and eating the correct foods.
Curing your gout is not a matter of changing your eating habits for a while, like anything that affects your health you need to make a conscious decision to change for the better for ever not just for now.
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.
After two weeks of keeping a record of your food intake, use it for another two weeks but this time highlight where you have managed to cut down on the bad foods. Concentrate on one thing at a time, once you have cut one thing down, move onto something else. After a while you should see a reduction in your gout problems. Also increase your water intake at the same time. Are you wondering if there are any food types which will actually help with your gout?