Is a Paleo Diet Good for Your Gout?
There are many websites on gout that claim that a Paleo diet or Paleolithic is a good and healthy diet that can help beat your gout, some even claim that a Paleo diet can even cure it! A Paleo diet consists of what cavemen ate 10,000 years ago as hunter-gatherers which was basically meat. The diet does include eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and so on but forbids dairy and whole grains, so you can the confusion and misinformation this can cause somebody but primarily in a Paleo diet you got to eat meat in almost every meal. Anthropologists suggest this claim about our ancestors as flawed. Carbohydrates as in plant food was much more accessible, available, consistent and stable compared to moving animals.
Some nutbars out there also claim that a Paleo diet is an excellent anti-inflammatory gout diet which will minimize the pain and recurrence of gout as well, it may lower uric acid levels since it’s alkaline making your body less acidic. Others claim that vegetables that are high in purines are the problem and not meat. It gets funnier and the propaganda continues, claiming that meat is getting a bad wrap because it’s usually accompanied with sugary beverages like a big Coke or Pepsi.
Now it is true and I have covered it in past posts how sugar and glucose are bad for gout sufferers and worsens your gout. Paleo diet proponents deflect any causality that too much meat can be the culprit and blame other foods as a probable cause for the development of gout although they never back up their claims with any scientific research! At least my claims are backed up by research as you can see from most of my posts and gout research with meat intake has been proven over and over to raise uric acid levels, increasing the risk of a gout attack. So let’s stop the deception and disinformation!
Furthermore, some of their leaders don’t have the best health track record either following this diet. Seth Roberts collapsed while hiking and was only 60 years old. It was later determined that coronary artery disease contributed to his death, so much for the good ‘ol Paleo diet making you healthier. Adelle Davis who is known as probably the most important nutritionist in the 1970s was also criticized for promoting this potentially lethal diet harming people’s health. She died at age 70 from multiple myeloma.
Setting the Record Straight
In addition, there are many,many, many studies that prove that a higher meat intake increases your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome which gout is a part of and certain cancers. Carbohydrate eaters or plant-based eaters experience the opposite like it may control cholesterol, support healthy blood sugar levels, support healthy uric acid levels, may lower health issues with their heart and may lower overall mortality. In short they live longer!
Besides plant-based/complex carbohydrate diets meet all of our nutrition needs. You don’t even need meat to tell you the truth, although I eat meat from time to time cause I like to have some. I have nothing against meat except that if you suffer from gout, you watch your daily intake. Even if you don’t suffer from gout, I strongly recommend that you don’t eat more than 4 ounces of meat a day. Skip a few days of meat, it won’t hurt you one bit! You’ll have more energy, don’t take my word for it, you give it a try and see for yourself.
Meat takes longer to break down compared to complex carbohydrates which burn clean. Don’t you get that feeling of bloatedness and tiredness after eating a lot of meat. That’s because your body worked overtime to break it all down for you and digest it. Two of the most important nutrients that you require for optimal health are fiber and phytochemicals which meat has absolutely none. Did you know that if everybody on earth would follow the Paleo diet, we would need the full resources of two Earths!
These Paleo diet proponents gotta stop believing in unicorns, they don’t exist, their facts are based on nothing and their research can’t be backed up. So drop the bacon and stop listening to these fools because your health depends on it.
15 replies to "Gout and Paleo Diet"
IS EATING TOMATOES BAD FOR GOUT
Hi Richard!
Read article I have already written on the subject of gout and tomatoes–>https://goutandyou.com/gout-and-tomatoes/
So, something to add here.
I’ve just finished Whole30. Firstly, whilst Whole30 is a paleo plan, it’s much more complex – firstly, it’s a 30 day only, not a lifestyle and probably not recommended for life. Basically, it’s not Atkins and not high fat. It’s more around eating lots of vegetables, a palm size portion of meat (or protein). You can have potatoes. Basically, the idea is to not eat anything that’s packaged, grains, legumes or dairy (there are caveats).
I struggle, like many, with grains in general and I have a generally fairly low tolerance of dairy too. However, since I first got Gout in 2009, I’ve managed it really well – I try and avoid trigger foods, watch my red meat and alcohol intake and generally don’t drink much except water and black coffee, so no sodas and I don’t really eat much that has refined sugar. If I feel a little twinge in the big toe, lots of water, some cherries and no drinking or alcohol for a week or so stops an attack.
However, the one thing Whole30 does for me is lose weight. Like really quickly, without being hungry and still avoiding trigger foods. But as you’ve said before, fast dieting causes a lot of problems and one thing I’ve found is that it’s almost impossible to fix with my diet. I’ve been trying that for over a week now, but had to succumb to the doctor for a proper fix which is disappointing.
This blog is entirely subjective as I have personally cured my gout with Paleo diet and yes that includes me eating meat with just about every meal. Haven’t had a flare up in almost a year and before that had flare ups MONTHLY. So this entire article is NULL and VOID as far as I’m concerned and you don’t really have any scientific proof to back up any of your claims. What works for you doesn’t mean it works for other people. Also I’ve read some of your other articles in the past to try and cure my gout. I ate whole grain bread and different kinds of dairy and had flare ups almost IMMEDIATELY. So do me a favor and don’t call people who support Paleo nutbars. You sir, are the nutbar. Processed food, which includes wheat AND dairy, is bad for you. Period. And people who suffer from gout shouldn’t be eating it. I’m LIVING and BREATHING proof.
Thanks for setting the record straight. I follow a “pegan” diet for autoimmunity, and I also suffer from a tendency for high uric acid/gout/high blood pressure when I eat meats. So, I eat it very seldom, rather than following straight “AIP”.
Paleo diet only eats grass fed beef, not just grass fed beef but 100% grass beef. Some grass beef sellers use grains as finish to put on a lot weight on the cow. Grass fed beef is known to have higher amounts of Omega 3.
When I went on a short term vegan diet for about 2 weeks and started consuming flax seeds which are high in omega 3. My gout attacks pretty much stop. I have gout attacks on a daily basis. If you’re wondering I have a hard time giving up meat. I haven’t tried grass fed beef so I can’t say. Over all though I think a vegan diet is ideal.
[…] Why the Paleo Diet is not Good for You […]
I am glad to read about Paleo diet. I am 65 years old female of Japanese descent, 5 feet tall, weighing 97-102 lbs., very active in cycling, swimming, hiking, gardening and yoga classes when gout attack happened on July 24, 2016. About 3 years ago my husband, European descent, decided to buy 1/4 cow share. I started eating grass-fed beef 3-5 times a week because I read about Paleo diet. I also ate lambs, pork, chicken, eggs, and bacon. I have daily juiced green veggies like kale, chard, celery, beets and lemon for ten years. I make salad with greens and eat lots of cooked veggies,too. So I was shocked to have gout attack. Reading your articles, I switched to your advice on diet. My goal is to never have another attack and no medication at all. Thanks for your passion to help the misinformed person like me.
You’re on the right track Chizu! Best of luck!
Can you comment on this study?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7424639
1980 study? this is all you can find to support your Paleo claims that meat lowers uric acid? I rest my case. Meat will always raise uric acid levels. Paleo diet followers probably also think that the earth is flat.
[…] an awful extent, to have died at such a young age. I catch these headlines from time to time like Paleo-diet author Seth Roberts who collapsed and died while hiking one day last year at the age of 60 years […]
[…] into lots of purines resulting in higher uric acid levels in the blood causing one gout. Like the Paleo diet which I’ve written about that is also a high protein diet, gout sufferers should also avoid the Atkins diet like the […]
whole wheat bread or refined wheat bread ? which one is having less purine.
100% Whole wheat bread! has less purines