This guest post comes from Gale Tern, author, alternative health proponent, and blogger at Arthritis Pain Central.
Gout is usually thought of as the big toe disease since one of its most common symptoms is acute pain in the big toe. Gout is actually a type of arthritis. Here is how the National Institutes of Health defines gout: “Gout is a painful condition that occurs when the bodily waste product uric acid is deposited as needle-like crystals in the joints and/or soft tissues. In the joints, these uric acid crystals cause inflammatory arthritis, which in turn leads to intermittent swelling, redness, heat, pain, and stiffness in the joints.”
What Causes Gout?
The major risk factors for gout are:
- Family history. Genetics seems to play a role. If your parents or grandparents suffered from this disease there is a high likelihood that you will as well.
- Weight. Being overweight also increases the risk of developing gout. Some researchers suggest that due to having more tissue mass that can breakdown inherently leads to even greater production of uric acid.
- Alcohol. Since alcohol consumption interferes with the body’s ability to remove uric acid, excess drinking can cause gout flare ups.
- Diet. This is easily the most important risk factor. Eating a diet high in purines (meat and meat products, especially organ meats) is a major risk factor recognized by the medical establishment. However, poor diet in general is without a doubt the major contributor to gout.
A Diet For Gout
Is there such a thing as a diet for gout? Without question. According to several researchers, including Dr. Robert Young, PHD., diseases like gout which are the direct result of an over-acidic body, can be quickly remedied by eating more alkaline foods, reducing the consumption of, and exercising restraint in the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
What gout really means is that you have an overly acidic body and that you have underlying nutritional deficiencies. Principally you are deficient in Vitamin D3, magnesium, Vitamin E, folic acid, and the trace mineral strontium. So in order to resolve this condition, you must address these deficiencies.
If you want to reduce and even reverse gout through diet then I recommend juicing your vegetables (not your fruit). The best vegetables to juice for this ailment are: spinach, celery, cucumbers, parsley, cilantro, and Chinese cabbage (bok choy). You can throw in an apple if you like for taste–that is the only exception to my rule about not juicing fruit. Juicing organic vegetables and eating raw foods, including fruit, can be a life changer.
Raw fruits and vegetables are naturally very alkaline (acid-neutralizing). Citrus fruit such as lemons are highly alkaline. What’s that you say? How can that be? Well it turns out that even fruit such as lemons, which appear to be very acidic, are converted to an alkaline ash by the body. This is according to research conducted by Dr. Peter Bartlett, osteopath at the Hale Clinic in London. Isn’t the body simply amazing!
Gout can be an incredible painful condition, but there are ways to combat it. Try this change in diet and see if you do not begin to feel better in no time flat.
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