Gout Diet

B. C.

thanks to all who are posting but the controversies mean we have to find our own ways through the swamps and gaps in information. I m furious with the science community: why is no one able to make definitive statements on this ancient disease?? How hard can it be when we already know so much? This feels like 19th century medicine and should be simple!

posted Nov 10th, 2014 3:11 pm

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Rona cohen

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Can I eat chicken, spices, potatoes, rice? Is gluten free bread better for me? I never eat red meat, love salmon. I had my first gout attack last week. I'm drinking almond milk and dark cherry juice. Is that OK?

posted Oct 20th, 2013 1:38 pm

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carmen

I agree with the diet restrictions mentioned. It also helps with ostheoarthritis. Is it true that eggplant is also high in purine?

posted Feb 15th, 2012 4:39 pm

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JB

Mostly accurate, but gout is SO painful and crippling that it's important not to mislead people even by omission.

For example, even a short list of foods to avoid must list MUSHROOMS. Almost all kinds of mushrooms are moderately high in purines (the highest purine content of any vegetable I've read about). Please, if you're having or recently had a gout attack, do NOT eat any mushrooms. Even after the attack is long gone, minimize consumptions of mushrooms, believe me.

As for the person who commented that gout sufferers can drink alcohol on his diet, two caveats are in order.

Good for him if it works for him or people he knows -- hey, I'd love to have a beer at a ballgame or hockey arena, or a cookout, too, like I used to. Maybe I will get to the point where I can drink beer occasionally. But the last two times I tried beer, I was punished with agony and the inability to walk or properly use my hands and elbows -- overnight -- even though the rest of my diet was quite low in purines.

If you have ever had a gout attack, be smart and seriously limit your alcohol intake forever.

Beer in particular is deadly, both for me and for others whose accounts I've read. Two MDs confirm for me that some gout sufferers can safely drink a small quantity of red wine without risking a flare-up, but beer is another story entirely.
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Another piece of advice: research "alkaline water." Neutral water (and our bodies) are 7.0 pH. Acidic foods and drinks have pH below 7.0, while base/alkaline foods and drinks have pH above 7.0.

There is some sound medical thinking and experience suggesting that steady consumption of alkaline water helps offset the acidic things we eat. (For gout sufferers who are not on Allopurinol or Febuxostat and therefore have a very restricted diet, "acidic things" includes some of the healthy, low-purine stuff we eat, like fruits and fruit juices.)

Call your town or city and find out what the average pH of tap water is where you live and work. If you can afford it, avoid tap water with pH less than 7.0,a nd buy spring water instead.

For example, Fiji has pH 7.5. The store brand "Meijer Gold" (sold in Michigan and surrounding states) has pH 7.6. The spring water from Quebec called Eska is even better, 7.8, available in British Columbia but who knows where else.

If spring water in such quantity is too expensive, look into cheaper ways to use mineral drops or mineral immersion to substantially raise the pH of your drinking water.

posted Mar 24th, 2010 1:52 pm

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Ray Sedlock

The article makes it sound like the foods on the list cause gout. They do not. Gout is a metabolic disorder where your body does not eliminate uric acid efficiently or at all. The diet comes into play because the foods listed are high in purines which, when metabolized in the body, produce uric acid. Too much uric acid leads to crystals which cause attacks.

If you do not have a predisposition to gout (heredity, poor kidney function), then the foods will not cause gout.

While diet can help control gout attacks, it cannot prevent or cure gout. A person usually has to go on medicine in addition to altering the diet (e.g., allopurinol).

Ray

posted Dec 21st, 2009 1:06 pm

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Macca

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I have to totally disagree with the information provided here by the "American Medical Association".

If gout is caused by acids then how can eating tomatoes and fruit juice be good for gout?

Fish should not be avoided, all nuts that are cooked need to be avoided, the list goes on.

I and others have used a simple diet that works, it means you wont have another gout attack again and clears up the associated skin issues. You can stick to your AMA diet and keep getting gout attacks or you can follow the diet found here Basically eat as little red meats as you can, also try not to eat yeast (bread and pastries), cows meat, acidic fruit juice and tomotoes.

Eat fish, lentils, brown stuff like pasta and rice and brown bread if you have to eat bread.

This diet allows you to eat the other "bad" stuff as long as its not to often. You can also drink alcohol without suffering from a severe gout attack.

posted Oct 21st, 2009 4:14 am

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