What to Eat if you Suffer from Gout

by Kathy Nelson

After one or two gout attacks it is normal for people to start doing some research into what they can do to stop the terrible debilitating pain that gout causes. It doesn’t normally take very long for someone to tell that the greatest cause of gout is your diet.

Normally gout sufferers will instantly ask, “so what can I eat then?” and immediately focus on the foods which they enjoy the most. Its only natural to do this, but you need to get over these kind of questions and start to think about your long term health and the effects these favourite foods could be having on you.

Stopping the pain is the first thing on your mind when you are having the attack but as the pain wears off and you realize that you will have to make some changes in your life then suddenly you start to think that maybe you won’t have another attack or maybe the next won’t be so bad and you will be able to bear the pain.

In fact if you don’t change your eating habits your gout will get worse and worse and you could well end up in hospital with it. The uric acid crystals that have built up around your joints , particularly your big toe joint, will not go away on their own. If you carry on eating the same things that caused your gout then you will carry on having the pain.

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.

Try to stear clear of foods which contain high levels of purines because this causes the body to create uric acid, if this then crystallizes then gout can be caused. Therefore one of the first things to cut out of your diet are foods that contain this.

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?

About the Author:

It is a regular query from sufferers of gout, I have gout what can I eat?. I hear it a lot and it can be hard to answer because everyone is different and everyones gout symptoms and problems can be different.