Foods for Gout
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A gout attack is an extremely painful experience, and many people are motivated to change their diet to help avoid another attack. Naturopath Danielle Steedman looks at foods to avoid and foods to eat to help manage gout.
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- Foods for Gout
Diet has been found to be an important part of managing gout for many who experience this painful condition.
Gout occurs with excessive uric acid in the blood becoming deposited as crystals in joints, often the big toe, feet, ankles, knees although also sometimes the elbow, hands and other joints.
Let’s have a look at foods to steer clear of, and those to focus on in a gout friendly diet.
Foods to Avoid
- Purine rich foods including beef, pork, lamb, organ meats, meat extracts, seafood – fish fillets, tuna, shrimp, lobster, clams etc and plant-based foods such as yeast extracts, peas, beans, lentils, asparagus, mushrooms
- Alcohol, particularly beer but including spirits
- Soft drinks. This is because of the high sugar content, particularly drinks containing high fructose corn syrup
- Fructose rich foods, particularly those containing high fructose corn syrup
- Saturated fat. Saturated fats are pro inflammatory and are linked to other health conditions that may be associated with gout
- Reduce or avoid caffeinated drinks such as coffee and tea due to diuretic action
Now to the good stuff, what you can do to actually help to manage gout symptoms.
Eat plenty
- Cherries. Eating approx. 280 g cherries has been suggested to lower inflammatory markers and plasma urate
- Low fat dairy products
- Fresh fruit and vegetables particularly rich in vitamin C. Include plenty kiwi, mangoes, guava, berries
- Lots of water
- Nuts, legumes and whole grain varieties of rice, flour products, quinoa etc.
Keeping active and engaging in regular exercise is also helpful to keep your weight in a healthy range and decrease the incidence of gout.
Other things to avoid include ‘crash’ dieting as this can cause an increase in uric acid.
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