The Ideal Diet for Gout Patients

Eliminate these foods from your diet.

• High-Fructose Corn Syrup

HFRC is found in processed items such as breakfast cereals, ice cream, fizzy pop, fruit juices, and sports drinks. Removing this from your diet is crucial because it’s known to pave the way for the onset of gout.

High blood sugar levels, an outcome of eating fructose-loaded food, are the root cause of inflammation.

High-fructose corn syrup affects your uric acid levels

• High-Purine Food

When you eat something with purine, the body breaks it down, and uric acid is formed. Some examples of high-purine foods include offal, red meats, shellfish, anchovies, herring, mushrooms, asparagus, cauliflower, kidney beans, lentils, spinach, peas, and whole wheat grains

• Processed Food

Apart from high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives and additives are added to processed food, making them nutritionally deficient and setting you up for a gout attack.

• Alcohol

increases your blood uric acid levels.

• Soy Milk

Avoid drinking soy milk if you have gout. Research has shown that uric acid levels were elevated by about 10 percent if you drink soy milk.

Absolute Musts in a Gout Diet

The main rule of thumb for any healthy diet (not just for gout patients) is to eat whole, ideally organic, and locally grown food, and none of the processed and artificial items that are common today. Some of the best choices if you have gout are

• Organic Cherries and Strawberries

These fruits contain two powerful antioxidents called anthocyanins and bioflavonoids that slow down the enzymes Cyclo-oxygenase-1 and -2.

This results in pain relief from gout.Strawberries have antioxidants that combat free radicals and assist the body in eliminating uric acid. Just make sure to eat these berries in moderation, since they have fructose that can be harmful if eaten excessively.

• Healthy Fats

Replace non-vegetable carbohydrates with sufficient amounts of healthy monounsaturated fats. Your best bets include coconuts and coconut oil, avocados organic butter, olives, olive oil, and raw nuts such as macademias walnuts, and pecans.  This type of fat is reliable in regulating your insulin and leptin levels. Add animal-based omega-3 fats like krill oil to your diet as well.

Omega-3’s are extremely helpful for people who have gout, because the production of compounds called resolvins and protectins by the fat aids in controlling inflammation. Plus, krill oil is known to fight inflammation-related disorders.

• Therapeutic Herbs

Therapeutic herbs such as ginger, cinnamon, rosemary, tumeric and ashwagandha work well in reducing the pain brought about by gout, because they are powerful anti-inflammatories.

• Potassium-Rich Food

Potassium found in fruits and vegetables, neutralizes uric acid found in your urine and encourages your body to excrete this acid.

Green vegetable juice, avocados, papayas, brussel sprouts  Swiss chard, and broccoli are excellent sources of potassium. You can also consider taking the best potassium source for supplementation called potassium bicarbonate.

• Pure Water

Pure water is the best drink for people with gout, since it helps your body with detoxification. This is a process that your blood, kidneys, and liver undergo wherein they flush out waste products and toxins (uric acid is an example) from your body. In effect, this lessens the amount of uric acid in your system, reducing your risk of uric acid build-up and gout.