Importance of Diet in Treating Gout
The gout attacks which are chronic differ from those which are the frequent ones in the level of pain and discomfort. In the case of the former one, the level stays more or less constant and never shows any signs of decreasing. People who are suffering from chronic gout experience severe problems like inflammation and redness on a permanent basis. Since the level of pain is extremely high, the patient will always need to undergo some special treatment.
The gout attack takes place when the level of uric acid in the body increases excessively. The condition of having excess uric acid in our body is termed as Hyperuricemia. It is a diet which is the main factor behind this particular problem. A diet which comprises of foods which are high in purine can result in this problematic and painful condition. This happens because the purines get converted into uric acid after entering our body.
Foods Which You Should Avoid
- Seafood- The purine content is extremely high in all kinds of seafood. Examples of seafood which must be avoided by the gout patients are trout, sardines, octopus, tuna, etc.
- Other Purine Rich Foods- Along with the seafood, a gout patient should stay away from foods like beef, duck meat and poultry as they contain a lot of purine. Spinach, beans, meat, soy milk, mushrooms, and peas should also be avoided.
Foods Which You Can Consume
When a person is suffering from something so severe like gout, then it is always advisable to get rid of it as early as possible. If the necessary prevention and treatments are not taken immediately, then the condition of gout will turn even worse, and the frequency, as well as the severity of the gout attacks, will get increased to a great extent. It can get further miserable for you if gout spreads to various joints.
Making some necessary changes in your food habit and also your lifestyle will certainly help a lot in preventing and restricting gout. There are some natural remedies for treating this disease which you can try at home.
Natural Ways of Preventing Gout
- Make a well-balanced diet for yourself. In that diet, there should be no or very little place for such foods which are rich in purine.
- Foods which may not have a very high level of purine but still have it in some amount should also be avoided.
- Foods having a lot of vitamin C should certainly be consumed. Cherries, lemons, blueberries are examples of such foods.
- Increase the level of your regular consumption of water in order to get the uric acid flushed from your system through urine.
- Develop the habit of exercising regularly. If that is absolutely not possible for you, then ensure that you at least have a walk of half an hour every day.
- Foods having good potassium content should be consumed.
- Alcohol should be strictly avoided.