The purpose of a gout diet is to address all factors, related to disease risk and management. Above all, the goals are a healthy weight and healthy eating – a message that applies to lowering the risk of many diseases.
Research suggests that reducing the no of calories and losing weight even without a purine restricted diet, lowers uric acid levels and reduces the no of gout attacks.
Q : What is Gout?
Ans: Gout is a type of arthritis that involves sudden pain, swelling and inflammation of the joints. Approximately half of the gout cases affect the big toes, while other cases affect the fingers, wrists, knees and heels etc.
Gout symptoms occur in a person, when there is too much uric acid in the blood. Reason is that their bodies can’t remove the excess uric acid efficiently. This lets uric acid accumulate, crystalize and settle in joints.
Normal range of uric acid in men – 3 – 7.0 mg/dL
Women – 2 – 6 mg/dL
Children – 2 – 5.5 mg/dL
Causes of high uric acid –
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Kidney diseases
- High BP
- Food rich in protein
- A family history of gout increases your chances of developing it.
- Older men are more prone to getting gout.
- Excessive anger.
- Waking up late in the night.
- Excessive travelling.
- Lifestyle causes such as: Over indulgence in alcohol, non vegetarian diet, salty, sugary or fatty diet ; Sedentary life style etc.
Let us now look at a few symptoms of gout:
- Painful joints.
- Swelling and tenderness of the joints.
- Fever.
- Itching.
Foods that trigger gout attacks :
- Organ meat.
- Red meat.
- Sea food.
- Alcohol and beer etc.
- Even sugar sweetened beverages can increase the risk of gout like fruit juices, sugary sodas, cakes bread etc.
- Dried peas, legumes, beans etc.
- Mushrooms.
- Curd .
- Rice.
- Lentils without skin.
- Few veggies like spinach, cauliflower.
Foods which help control uric acid:
- Apples: Apples contain malic acid which will help to reduce the uric acid in the body.
- Papaya: Eat a cup/bowl of papaya every day. The papain enzyme found in papaya reduces the swelling at the joints. It helps in quick removal of uric acid from the body by increasing the body’s alkalinity.
- Pineapple: It contains bromelain enzyme that has anti-inflammatory properties and is beneficial for the joint inflammation in gout. This enzyme also helps in breaking down the uric acid deposits.
- Lemon juice: Lemon juice alkalizes the body and reduces the amount of acid. Mix the juice from one lemon in a glass of water and drink it immediately.
- Carrot and Beet-root (Chukandar ) juice is also very effective.
- Walnuts – Eat 2 walnuts daily in night.
- Try a vitamin C supplement; It seems that vitamin C does this by helping the kidneys remove more uric acid in the urine.
- Green tea: it is extremely helpful in reducing the uric acid level.
- Coconut water – Drink it daily.
- Fiber rich diet such as broccoli, pumpkin,red cabbage,red pepper,carrots, lauki, karela, parwal, tinda, zucchini, celery, oats, whole grains help to lower the uric acid. These are extremely beneficial in the absorption of uric acid and eliminating it from the body.
- Quinoa: It contains building blocks for a potent antioxidant that maintains healthy joints and tissues.
- Use carom seeds/ajwain during cooking.
- Important Point: A gout diet may help decrease uric acid levels in the blood. While a gout diet is not a cure, it may lower the risk of recurring painful gout attacks and slow the progression of joint damage. Medication is also needed to manage pain and to lower levels of uric acid.
These lifestyle changes may help to reduce the risk of Gout.
- Avoid high protein diet and excessive salt.
- Loose weight: If you have gout, carrying excess weight can increase your risk of gout attacks.
- Stay hydrated: Staying hydrated can help reduce the risk of gout attacks. Drink plenty of water. It will flush excess uric acid out of your body. But do not drink water with meal.
- Avoid more dairy products especially curd.
- Limit alcohol intake.
- Take light and easily digestible food like steamed or boiled vegetables.
- Massage the joints gently with lukewarm sesame oil for 20 -30 minutes.
- Avoid damp and cold places, keep the body warm.
Do give your feedback at the bottom of blog in comment section , if you tried it and found it useful.
Ayurvedic treatment for Gout :
- Mix aloe vera juice with Amla juice and drink it daily. 10 ml of each mixed with 1 glass of water. Take this on empty stomach in the morning or before sleeping.
- Chew some neem leaves daily.
- Drink Bathua or lauki juice (empty stomach).
Caution: Before using any of the above remedies, please consult your doctor to ensure that none of these interfere with the medicines that you have been prescribed to treat gout.
Dr. Suman Setia
BAMS (MDU), DNHE ,PGDHHM
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