Sunday, January 1, 2012

Diet For Gout

By Kristan Sasengbong


An excruciating type of arthritis, gout is a condition where there are excessive levels of uric acid in the body. The uric acid in turn is transformed into crystals that form and accumulate near your joints, causing the pain you get while you move. Purines are a kind of chemical that happens naturally in one's system. Uric acid is an example of a chemical that is formed from purines. Purine levels can increase in the body as a result of consuming foods like herring, anchovies, like mushrooms, asparagus, and organ meats, that causes uric acid levels to increase.

Due to the strong associations with the food you eat, you can expect a restricted diet plan along with your gout medications. Try and view a gout diet similarly to a healthy lifestyle plan to help address gout which can prevent the condition from getting worse.

The main goal of a gout diet is to control the production of uric acid and eliminate it as well to reduce the number of gout attacks and how severe each attack is. This is intended to decrease your intake of foods that are high in the nutrient purines, as well as to increase your fluid intake to help your system clear out the uric acid.

Some of the gout diet tips you should take note of include.

Limit fish, poultry, and meat - animal protein is a rich source of purine. Try to moderate your intake of meat and high fat seafood since they could make you more prone to gout. You can decide to keep your intake of animal protein to six ounces a day, to help remove it as a source of purine, since you can't eliminate it from you diet completely.

In order for your body to properly function, you need to consume healthy plant based proteins. Since animal proteins are high in purine, you should consider looking for alternatives. Plant protein is just as good as meat protein, so you are missing nothing by eating beans and legumes. Plant based protein does not contain purine.

Avoid alcohol as much as possible - it's not so much as alcohol is a purine source but rather it interferes with uric acid elimination in the body so you can't get the bad stuff out in time so that it does not take its toll on you. In actuality, beer is the bad part. If you must have alcohol, opt for wine. Having a couple of 5 ounce servings is not going to hurt you, so even if you are prone to gout, it's okay for you to enjoy this.

Following a specialized diet targeting gout can limit the body's production of uric acid, helping a person to recover. This can lower uric acid but you will still have to take medication because it will not lower it enough. The two cooperate to reduce the frequency and severity of gout attacks.




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