How To Find The Best Diets For Gout

                

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Approximately 1 in every 363 people in the US have gout. So it is not surprising there are a lot of people looking for the best diets for gout, and the relief they can offer.

If you've had a gout attack you know just how painful it can be - a swollen, red, hot-to-the-touch, painful and stiff joint or joints. Once someone has had gout, they will do almost anything not to go through it again.

Urate crystals forming in the spaces between your joints and in the soft tissues surrounding the joints cause gout. These crystals have sharp, jagged edges that dig into the joint, causing inflammation and pain.

One of the differences between gout and 'normal' arthritis is the swiftness in which symptoms present themselves. Usually a gout sufferer has no idea that an attack is looming and will wake up in the middle of the night with a very sore joint, usually the big toe. This can be pretty worrying when the initial attack occurs, as many people don't associate the symptoms with arthritis, but as perhaps an infection or bite of some sort.

In order for urate crystals to form in the joints a person needs to have hyperuricemia. This condition, although not dangerous in itself, develops when there is an excess of uric acid in the blood stream.

When accumulation of uric acid in the blood reaches saturation point, urate crystals form. They strike the foot and ankle joints commonly, as these joints are cooler than the rest of the body and urate crystals need a cooler environment in which to form.

Uric acid is formed during the breakdown of purines in the body. Purine is found naturally in the body and also eaten in the food we eat in our diets. They are particularly high in animal proteins. For this reason, following a gout friendly diet is advisable if you've had a gout attack or gout runs in your family.

Unfortunately, some people are predisposed to gout, as their bodies do not efficiently eliminate uric acid. These people need to be especially careful with their diets to keep the levels of purine in the diet low.

Uric acid is dissolved in our blood and from there taken to the kidneys to be processed and eliminated in urine. If there is a problem with the processing function, either too much uric acid is produced, or the kidneys can't keep up, a build up occurs leading to hyperuricemia.

By avoiding foods high in purine we can help to reduce the amount of uric acid produced by the body.

Purine is found in a lot of what we eat, however, there are some purine-rich foods that are best avoided by gout sufferers ? Some of these are:

red meats
offal
processed meat
some shellfish
gravy
yeast and yeast extracts
alcohol

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When adopting a diet for gout you should look to avoid or severely restrict your intake of purine rich foods and eat instead a low fat, low purine diet. This doesn't have to mean dull and boring though, as there are many foods that fall into this category.

You'll notice that alcohol is on the foods to avoid list. This is because it raised uric acid production and alcohol like beer is high in purine. When having an attack all alcohol should be avoided.

Once your symptoms have disappeared you could introduce some alcohol back into your diet, however, it should only be in moderation or you may run the risk of inducing another attack.

Staying sufficiently hydrated is very important for everyone, but more so for gout sufferers as it helps to dilute the uric acid and allows the kidneys to flush excess uric acid through your system faster.

By working out which are the best diets for gout and knowing what to avoid you increase your chances of removing your gout symptoms quickly and efficiently.

By Lisa McDowell. Sign up for a free newsletter & discover which are the best diets for gout and how they can be an effective as a natural cure for gout.

The Acidic Foods To Avoid With Gout Diets

                

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Most people when choosing a gout friendly diet will look to cut out or reduce foods high in purine, as metabolizing purine in the body leads to increased levels of uric acid, which is the cause behind gout symptoms. However, high purine foods may not be the only foods to avoid with gout.

Some researchers have established a link between body acidity and gout. The more acidic your body is, the higher the possibility of developing gout. Conversely, having a more alkaline system encourages rapid uric acid elimination.

As the body becomes more acidic, uric acid elimination slows down dramatically. This is due to the pressure the body comes under trying to process both the uric acid and the acidic foods. The kidneys become strained and are less effective in expelling excess uric acid.

Acidity is measured using a pH value ranging between 0 - 14, with 0-6 being acidic, 7 is neutral and 8-14 is alkaline. Where gout is concerned it is less about the pH value of the food, rather what that food does to the pH level of the body during and after digestion.

The higher the pH levels of the body (an alkaline state) the easier it is for uric acid to be dissolved in the blood stream and eliminated via the kidneys. The lower the pH i.e. the more acidic the body pH the harder it is to process uric acid.

Therefore, a constantly low pH value can cause your body to decrease it's processing of uric acid, leading to hyperuricemia.

Hyperuricemia is a medical term for a raised uric acid level in the blood, and can lead to gout. As the levels of uric acid become higher there is nowhere for any more uric acid to go, so it is deposited in crystal form in the spaces and connective tissues between the joints.

Usually gout strikes the big toe joint or one of the other joints in the foot or ankle, although it can rear its ugly head in any joint. The reason that gout occurs most commonly in the foot or ankle is because those joints furthest away from the heart and uric acid crystallizes in lower temperatures.

Uric acid is formed during the processing and breaking down of purines in the body. This is a natural substance that is produced during cellular building and is also found in a lot of the foods we eat. Purine-rich foods include:
Red meats
Shellfish
Legumes
Offal
Mushrooms
Yeast extracts
Processed meats

To tackle raised uric levels in the blood it is wise to restrict your intake of these foods until your gout is under control and uric acid levels have stabilized.

Acidic foods that impact the pH of your body are:
Beef
Lobster
Pheasant
Ice Cream
Processed Cheese
Barley
Processed Flour
Some Nuts
Soybean
Soda
Cocoa
Yeast
Hops
Table Salt
Sugar
Fried Food

Like anything, it is not a good idea to drastically change your diet overnight. The best way for your body to process the changes is to introduce amendments slowly that your body can get used to the different foods and keep its processing running on maximum.

You should be aiming to reduce your body's pH level slowly. You can monitor these changes by purchasing a home urine or saliva testing kit. Try to balance your diet to include 70% of foods alkaline in nature and 30% acidic.

You can find out more about the natural ways to soothe gout symptoms on our web site.

By having a greater understanding of which foods to avoid with gout, you have a better chance of bringing your symptoms under control and preventing further gout flare-ups.

By Lisa McDowell. Sign up for a free newsletter & discover how a knowledge of foods to avoid with gout can be an effective natural cure for gout.

What are the foods that cause gout?

                

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Gout is a painful rheumatic illness that affects more and more people nowadays because the modern lifestyle involves an unhealthy diet that can cause a large number of diseases, among which gout is almost on top of the list.

The main cause of gout for most people is the food that they eat. Gout can be caused by kidney affections or by a genetic malfunctions too, but most of the patients have it because they eat a lot of food that causes gout. So the best way to prevent the painful gout attacks is to be informed on what are the types of food that cause gout and try to maintain a healthy diet.

The types of food that cause gout are the ones that are rich in chemicals called purines. After the body digests these foods the purines inside them turn into uric acid which is afterwards eliminated by the body through the kidneys. But if there's too much uric acid in the body not all of it can be 'processed' by the kidneys and a part of it gets in the blood. After some time it will start to crystallize into a hard shell into the joints and cause the gout attack. So if you eat low-purine food the uric acid will be slowly eliminated from the body and gout will go away.

The food that contains the largest amount of purines is red meat. Eating liver and brain will also raise your uric acid level. Some fish have purines in them and some vegetables too.

Here's a detailed list of foods that are known to cause gout: kidneys, brain, sardines, sweetbread, herring, gravy, spinach, asparagus, peas, sea food, mushrooms, eggs, and even hot-dogs.

As you may see there are both meat and vegetable foods with many purines in them. There also are drinks that may increase the uric acid. Among these you can find beer, carbonated drinks, coffee, black tea, and in general all drinks that contain alcohol. If you have been diagnosed with gout it's important to stop drinking alcohol.

Some of the ingredients that can be found in many foods form a lot of acid after digestion. These are: flour, sugar, chocolate, pasta, jelly and salt.

Many people that have been diagnose with gout continue to eat these foods and their illness persists, and so do the painful gout attacks. If you want to cure yourself you will have to take the prescribed medication and change your diet. If you do this your gout will surely go away.



If you are intersted in finding more information about gout you can click on this website http://www.gout-info-center.com. Also you will find there valuable information about gout symptoms and gout treatments