What Is The Ideal Gout Diet?
On the internet/media, there appears to be a lot of confusion and myths about the ideal gout diet. However, confusion exists among professionals such as doctors, health professionals, and dietitians. We’re going to try to clear the air about what you should eat if you want to lower your uric acid levels and avoid painful gout attacks.
Regardless, many people will disagree with me about which foods to eat and which to avoid or limit. In the end, it all comes down to how well you do your homework. Don’t take my word for it, or anyone else’s for that matter because your health is at stake.
If you believe in the natural ability of your body being able to heal, then read on. Do not expect good health to come to you in the form of capsules! Remember that kidney function decreases since prescribed drugs may cause up to 20% of kidney failures! Prescription pills don’t cure anything, they just treat the symptoms!
There have been numerous fad diets, such as the Atkins diet, South Beach diet, cookie diet, Jenny Craig diet, Paleo diet, and many others. But why can’t there be just one healthy, fully optimized way to eat to live a healthy life? Our body is a masterpiece creation with excess capacity.
The human brain contains about 10 billion nerve cells or neurons, each capable of storing 40 billion memories. We lose a few couple hundred daily depending on how we abuse our brain from food and drink.
Our body also has two kidneys and we can live with only one of them functioning if we have to. We also have two lungs which enable us to breathe in oxygen which is very important for metabolism.
Our bodies have a lot of extra capacity for all of our vital organs, but we abuse them so much that we can wear them out in 30 to 60 years!!!
What Effect Does Food Have on Gout?
Certain foods, if you have gout, may cause an attack by boosting your uric acid levels. Purines, a naturally occurring component in meals, are typically found in trigger foods. Your body produces uric acid as a waste product when you consume purines.
Healthy people don’t have to worry about this because their bodies easily remove excess uric acid.
Gout sufferers, on the other hand, are unable to effectively eliminate excess uric acid. As a result, a high-purine diet may cause uric acid to build up and lead to a gout attack.
Gout episodes may be avoided by limiting high-purine foods and using the proper medicine, according to research. Organ meats, red meats, seafood, alcohol, and beer are all known to cause gout attacks. They have a moderate to high purine content.
There is one exception to this rule, though. Gout attacks are not triggered by high-purine vegetables, according to research. Interestingly, while not being purine-rich, fructose and sugar-sweetened beverages may raise the incidence of gout and gout attacks.
They may instead increase uric acid levels by speeding up many cellular processes. People who ingested the most fructose, for example, had a 62 percent increased risk of developing gout, according to a study with over 125,000 participants.
Low-fat dairy products, soy products, and vitamin C supplements, on the other hand, have been shown in studies to help prevent gout attacks by lowering blood uric acid levels. Uric acid levels do not appear to be affected by full-fat or high-fat dairy products.
Dietary guidelines for better gout management
Purines are either endogenous (made by the body) or exogenous in the human body (consumed in food). Uric acid is formed as a waste product when exogenous purines are broken down by the liver. It is generally expelled, but this is not the case when you have gout. Uric acid accumulation is the condition’s defining feature.
Gout has long related to excessive consumption of rich foods such as fish, meat, and alcohol. Because only wealthy people with sedentary lives could usually afford these luxuries, this illness was often known as the “Disease of Kings.” As a result, it was usual practice to counsel people to avoid all these things until their symptoms subsided.
Following the discovery of purines in 1884, the practice became even more popular. People were routinely told not to eat usually nutritious items such as fish, vegetables, and fruit because they also contained the toxin.
However, our understanding of uric acid generation has vastly improved in recent years. Many plant-based high-purine meals that were earlier regarded as off-limits are now considered safe to eat.
In some patients, however, studies have shown that adhering to a gout diet may minimize the severity of symptoms and the frequency of gout attacks. A purine-rich diet raised the incidence of recurrent gout attacks fivefold among gout patients, according to a study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
However, avoiding or limiting purine-rich foods, particularly those of animal origin, helped to minimize the incidence of gout attacks.
A lower purine diet may also aid in the achievement and maintenance of a healthy weight for some persons. This is significant in the context of gout because it not only lowers the likelihood of acquiring the disease, but also lowers joint pressure, reduces pain, improves function, and slows the advancement of arthritis. Gout sufferers are frequently confronted with these challenges.
Fasting? Not so fast!
Some people prefer to fast regularly. This could be for religious or health reasons, such as a desire to lose weight. It’s indeed becoming more popular, and it may help you lose weight effectively.
Although losing weight may help with gout symptoms, the Arthritis Foundation warns that fasting can cause gout symptoms if a person becomes dehydrated during fasting. When fasting, people with gout should take extra efforts to ensure that they drink adequate fluids.
In a 2014 study, participants who fasted and those who did not fast during Ramadan were compared. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and it is a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community for Muslims all over the world. During Ramadan, food and fluids are restricted during daytime hours.
Despite this, the study found no evidence that persons who fasted had more gout attacks or had higher uric acid levels than those who did not fast.
Gout and Meat
I’m going to ask you to use your common sense here as well. Especially because cancer, gout, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoarthritis, and other ailments are all on the rise in today’s diet, compared to over a century ago. People’s diets back then consisted primarily of carbs, which burn quickly through the digestive system.
Meat intake used to be lower, but it now appears to be daily, with some people eating it at all three meals. Meat fat and blood are concentrated substances that the body cannot accept in large amounts.
We produce so many waste products while digesting them that even our overworked kidneys can’t process them correctly, resulting in disorders like gout. The issue is that we consume far too much fat in North America, roughly 40% to 50%. This needs to change if we want to reduce the risk of developing diseases.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t eat meat but if you do make sure it is clean meat with the fat taken off. You want lean and preferably cooked over a fire or on the BBQ where any fat is burnt off.
My advice to you is to eat red meat no more than twice a week if you suffer from gout. Beef, lamb, goat, rabbit, and deer are good meats to eat and meat has generally 70% to 75% of its calories as fat. Don’t get me wrong, you need the protein of meat to rebuild muscle but you don’t need to eat that much of it.
Doug Paddon-Jones, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, recently researched the Iron-man triathlon race. He concluded that 4 ounces of beef per day were sufficient to restore the muscles that athletes wore out during exercise.
However, the demand for extra protein is emphasized in marketing, and many athletes believe that consuming more protein is beneficial. Ammonia, urea, and other waste products are produced when we consume too much protein. It takes seven to eight times more water to flush away carbs through the kidneys.
Pork should be avoided at all costs since the animal is a scavenger and its’ role in nature is to eat garbage. Therefore, you should avoid bacon, ham, sausages, pork chops which can wreak havoc on your health.
Limit your intake of red meat, fish is your best source of protein. It is low on fat and it has plenty of Omega 3 oils which help drive up our HDL (good cholesterol) and drive down LDL (bad cholesterol).
Fish should be eaten 2-3 times per week, and sure, there are purines in it, but only in moderate amounts. More importantly, fish must be included in your diet. Only if you have severe gout and a high uric acid level should you eliminate it from your diet.
You can consume chicken, ideally, chicken breast, which contains 15% fat calories. Do not eat organ meat under any circumstances. Their purine levels are the highest and should be avoided, not to mention that they are quite unhealthy.
Growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, nuclear wastes, excessive levels of adrenaline, and other harmful compounds from air and ground pollution abound in today’s animal flesh. All these substances are carcinogenic, meaning they cause cancer.
Today, we discover more cancer in cows, pigs, and chickens than ever before. As a result, your kidneys will have to work extra hard to process all this waste.
Many farmers are grinding their ailing and dying cows, pigs, and chicks right now. They then integrate this “dead” and frequently “diseased” meat into their regular animal meals. As a result, “crazy cow” and “hoof and mouth” diseases develop.
We can see this now, especially in Europe, where dead sheep meat is being fed to living cows. What craziness! Cows are vegetarians by nature and eat only herbs.
Carbohydrates and the Ideal Gout Diet
After all, what exactly are carbohydrates? Many people have got it confused with calories. For example, they claim that potatoes have fewer calories than apples. I believe that when it comes to food grown from the earth, you can eat as much as you want because it is good for you. Carbohydrates are pure energy!
Fruits contain only 3% of their calories as fat, vegetables contain 5%, grains contain 5%, rice contains 4%, and oatmeal contains 15%! Carbohydrates are also beneficial to your stool, as they reduce the time it takes to transit the bowel from approximately 90 hours to approximately 33 hours. Carbohydrates are less taxing on your kidneys than meats, for sure!
So, Spiro, what exactly are you trying to say? What I recommend as an optimized gout diet is what I call “The Ideal Gout Diet,” which consists of 80 percent of your daily calories being clean carbohydrates, 10 percent being fat, and the remaining 10 percent being protein.
The problem is that the Western diet is malnourished; it contains too much fat and sugar, neither of which contains any nutrients, but they do contain a lot of empty calories and do not help your immune system by preventing diseases like gout.
As for sugar, I’m not going to go into it in this post since it was well covered in a previous post titled: “Sugar, Fructose, High Fructose Corn Syrup and Gout” which I strongly recommend you read! You’ll get all the information regarding sugar in your diet in that post.
When I have a sweet tooth, honey is my preferred choice since it has only 15 calories per teaspoon and has a ton of nutrients in it. You can also eat sliced bananas, pitted prunes, and raisins.
It takes more water to separate the waste products from the protein (meats), but carbs should be your main source of energy. Veggies, fruits, grains, whole-grain bread, beans, corn, whole-wheat pasta, and rice are all examples. Anything you can grow in your garden is good for you, and you can eat as much of it as you want.
Stop paying attention to the mainstream media and what this expert or that expert says on TV. Use common sense and you’ll feel great! Athletes have taught us that adding a carbohydrate diet to our exercise routine can increase our endurance by three times.
As we begin to exercise, the liver and muscles begin to store carbs in the form of glycogen (glucose). For instant energy, we store this carb, which then gives you energy and makes you feel good.
10 Steps to an Optimized Gout Diet
- Meat, poultry, fish, and nuts should account for no more than 10% of your daily protein calories. Remember to avoid seafood at all costs; you can learn more about it here.
- Limit your daily fat calories from cheese, milk, butter, eggs, and yogurt to 10% of your total daily fat calories. Saturated fat may reduce the body’s ability to eliminate uric acid and may help to prevent obesity, which has been linked to gout.
- Sugar should be limited to 25 mg per day, and foods sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup should be avoided.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Limit your alcohol intake.
- Limit animal-based foods like gravy, bouillon, and chicken soup, as well as Jello.
- Choose complex carbohydrates as 80 percent of your daily calories from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, whole-wheat pasta, and rice. Avoid simple or refined carbohydrates such as white bread, cakes, and candy. Essentially, a low purine diet is critical for gout patients, with meats being the highest purine foods.
- Avoid eating fried and processed foods because they not only raise your uric acid levels but also raise free radicals. This may lead to the development of other diseases.
- Remember to eat everything fresh and organic, preferably locally grown in your community.
- Use olive oil instead of other oils in cooking, baking, and salad dressings. Then, serve it over pasta or baked potatoes because it is the only exception to the fat rule and may help control your uric acid. When heated, it loses its health benefits and produces free radicals, which may lead to diseases like cancer.This oil lowers blood pressure and cholesterol while increasing HDL, or good cholesterol. It has the opposite effect of other oils in that it lowers our blood sugar. As a result, it is naturally beneficial to diabetics and may aid in the prevention of heart disease and gout. Make sure it’s extra virgin olive oil that’s been cold-pressed.
Sample gout-friendly menu
It can be difficult to get started on a gout diet at first. On the one hand, you want to make sure you’re doing everything you can to avoid gout flare-ups. On the other hand, there is so much conflicting information out there that even simple things can seem overly convoluted.
Don’t be concerned, my friend. We’ve got your back! Remember, regardless of what we advise, your first step should be to seek advice from your doctor about dietary modifications. The following is an example of a nutritious menu that a person with gout might like.
Breakfast
Loaded oatmeal, with a cup of coffee, and a glass of water.
Combine the following ingredients to make loaded oatmeal:
- oats cooked with milk
- cherries and berries
- walnuts and almonds
Lunch
- a salad with leafy greens, vegetables, one to two cooked eggs, fruit, avocado, flaxseed, and an olive oil-vinegar dressing
- 1 cup soup (black beans)
- a glass or two of water
Dinner
- skinless chicken breasts, half a cup
- half a cup of whole grains (brown rice, barley, or another whole grain)
- broccoli, 1–2 cups
- a cup and a half of kefir
- a glass or two of water
Don’t go crazy with your schedule, but do have one
There is no particular schedule to follow when it comes to keeping an efficient gout diet plan. You can time your meals and snacks, as usual, to maintain consistent energy levels throughout the day. When you’re taking pain medication, the distinction is critical.
This is especially true if you’re on a prescription or over-the-counter drug. To alleviate stomach distress, your healthcare professional may recommend that you take the prescription with a snack or meal.
Allow time to acclimate to the gout diet when you first start. It can be a trial-and-error process to determine which foods are safe for you. While some people may tolerate moderate amounts of red meat, others may have an allergic reaction to even a small portion.
Meal plans that help treat gout symptoms
Unfortunately, there is no permanent cure for gout, so you’ll need to take medications to manage your symptoms. Changes based on the suggestions above, on the other hand, may be an effective method to control symptoms and prevent flare-ups in the future.
We should have well-balanced, low-purine diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and dairy products. Numerous studies have shown how useful they can be in particular.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, eating a Mediterranean-style diet may help lower uric acid levels and improve general health.
The perfect gout-friendly meal plan might look like this:
- purine-rich foods should be avoided
- include a wide range of foods that may help you manage your uric acid levels
- enable a person in achieving or maintaining a healthy weight
And here’s the message we’d like to keep emphasizing: A person can also speak with a doctor for help in developing a food plan that is tailored to their individual needs.
Exercise and weight control
We know that regular exercise and proper weight control, as well as a well-informed gout-friendly food plan, are essential for gout symptom management.
The Arthritis Foundation highlights the need of weight management for patients with gout. Obesity is linked to the development of gout. If a gout sufferer is overweight, shedding a few pounds may benefit them:
- reduce the body’s uric acid levels
- reduce the amount of pressure on painful joints
- reduce your risk of heart disease
- increase your strength and flexibility
To do so, the person should consult a doctor about a diet and activity plan that can help them manage their weight. While you’re at it, if you’re a smoker, make an appointment with a doctor and ask for a plan to help you quit.
The Mediterranean diet includes plants, grains, and healthy fats. It has the potential to aid in weight loss while also encouraging people to eat healthily.
In conclusion
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not asking you to become a strict vegetarian because, believe me, I’m not. Although it may appear difficult at first to follow a diet that consists of eating less meat (protein) and fat (dairy, eggs, etc…), I guarantee that once you get acquainted with your new diet, your energy levels will rise, and you will definitely feel better.
I’ve noticed that when I’m disciplined and stick to this diet, I don’t get flare-ups or attacks, but my joints feel stronger because there’s less inflammation. But, yes, I am human, and I occasionally stray from my disciplined diet, which is what gets me in trouble.
Consider discipline to be the most important aspect of your diet. I know it’s much easier said than done, but you’ve got to try! It’s either that dear gout patient or an increased risk of death. You make the call!
48 replies to "Gout Diet"
Hey Spiro
Love your information and advice, helped me for ages.
I love oysters natural and they don’t seem to flare up my gout. I don’t go overboard but I feel 6 is good.
Griz
Moderation is fine for a food you really love!
[…] but it is an endeavor worth trying and whose results will be tremendously beneficial. As always, I recommend you eat 10% of your daily calories as protein, so lean chicken breast, lean turkey, lean beef, lamb […]
[…] Gout Diet […]
Hi Spiro, one fine evening I had dinner with my friends, we ate beef and sea food. Next morning when I woke up I was having pain in my right heel. I went to see the doctor, who said “its a muscle pain” but in the blood test report my uric acid was 5.2. She still insisted that gout pain can never occur in the heels. Now I am trying to maintain my diet. Pain is a bit better but my heel still aches. The doctor didn’t prescribe any medicine but I take lemon in warm water twice a day.
In the morning I eat an omelette with two slices of white bread or a “chapati”, in the lunch I eat one apple and a sachet of Nestum, in the dinner I eat 1 chapati with any vegetable. Can you please guide me, should I take some medicine or not? Can I massage the heel or not and how much time this heel ache is going to take as a constant sweet pain is always there to tease me.
Waiting for your response. Thank you!
Hi Rehman!
Get a 2nd opinion, preferably from a rheumatologist who specializes in arthritic related diseases like gout. They will determine if you should take medication or not depending on the severity of your uric acid levels. Instead of massaging your heel, place your heel in warm water and add Epsom salt to help relieve it from the pain. Do that twice a day. There is also a cream we sell that will help you that we sell on our store and is very popular among gout sufferers. Check it out!
Hi Spiro Koulouris,
I haven’t diagnose with gout arthritis, but based on my signs and symptoms which first appeared on my toes, then after how many years, it affect my knees and other parts of the joints. I always have a gout attack, I only just take voltaren. I also changed my diet (no alcohol,seafood and meat) but sometimes I dunno know, why I am still have gout attack.
Can I take the Nutrigout as for my daily supplement. Is that okay to take it for regular basis, for example, one tablet a day? Thank you.
Yeah of course you can take NutriGout to supplement your gout diet, that’s what it’s there for. It provides the nutrition needed to cleanse your kidneys and liver where uric acid is produced. You take 1-2 capsules daily with lots of water.
What is the total amount of calories required per day for gout patient?
An average man needs about 2500 calories a day and the average woman about 2000. It’s not the calories that are important, unless you want to lose weight, it’s the type of calories that as a gout patient you should pay attention to.
You need 80% of your daily calories to come from complex carbohydrates, 10% from protein and 10% from fat. That’s what the 80-10-10 Gout Diet is about!
Hi Spiros, I have not had a flare up for 6 months and last week ate meat 4 times in 7 days. I now have the start of a flare up. I am on febuxostat as my uric acid last year was off the scale and had fortnightly attacks. I changed my diet and went completely vegetarian which helped. I would like to come off the feboxstat as it destroys your liver and I am having high readings indicating a fatty liver already. Not sure what to do.
Hi Georgia!
Best if you can take a supplement which cleanses your liver and kidneys due to the medication to keep them strong like NutriGout or NutriGout Plus or simply consume more of the ingredients found in these supplements like garlic, dandelions, celery seeds, milk thistle etc…
Hope this helps!
[…] of your daily calories from protein, 10% calories from fats and the rest 80% from carbohydrates [5]. The 10 % calories from fat should come from low fat dairy sources. Also, you should stay away […]
Dear Sir,
I apologise for being so formal but I do not have your name to address you properly.
I am so happy that my wife bought ‘Gout and You’ book and I followed your recommendations. Let me start from the beginning.
I had a gout attack several years ago and was given Allopurinol which did help. As soon as I was better I stopped taking the medication as the side effects from taking this prescription is quite horrific. I have always hated the Pharma’s what they do to people and hate taking pills of any description.
In May this year my daughter treated me and we flew out to Krakow in Poland on the 28 April 2017. It was my 70th birthday present from her and most of the family also flew out. Being always a meat eater I lived the weekend on red wine and Steak Tartare. Every restaurant had this and I indulged heavily. We arrived on Friday and we were departing on Tuesday evening 02 May 2017. My blood pressure was a little high and I decided to go to the doctors before my trip just to get the medication I had previously taken. I thought that maybe I should take this medication. Anyway back to Poland.
We were leaving on the Tuesday and my foot was starting to ache. I was limping the last day had difficulty driving from the airport and when I got home realised that I had the return of Gout. I called the doctors and told them that my foot had swollen up and I thought it was the medication Valsartan that had caused it. They gave me allopurinol 100mg together with 500mg of colchicine this was on the 16/05/2017 they also told me to go back on the medication of Lansoprazole as the allopurinol could affect my digestive system. This came as a heavy price to pay and I realised I was an a slippery slope to a life of Pill taking. I was told that I should continue to take Colchicine to stop the pain and then continue to take allopurinol to prevent further attacks in the future.
I read what these pills could do to my system and freaked at the situation I had found myself in. The doctor told me to come back in three months and get a blood test to monitor my liver and kidneys. I shudder to think what would have happened if your book had not arrived from Amazon. I was off my feet my left toe had grown three times its size and my foot was well blown to a size of a small football. The pain was excruciating and my wife pushed me about to the toilet on a chair we had taken form the office which had wheels. I was bed bound for a week . My health in those few weeks had deteriorated and I was worried as to what was going to happen. I took the colchicine to relieve the pain and got my wife to give me a hot poultice of cider vinegar on my right foot.. She would wrap this around with cling wrap and it did give me relief from the horrible pain. I started to take a desert spoon of Cider Vinegar on a daily basis with water and still swear by this and never miss a day. I had not taken allopurinol as recommended by the doctor, but had another attack and took Colchicine until the pain had passed. It was lucky that the attack came and I had to wait until it subsided before I could get on the medication of Allopurinol. I decided on the 14/07/2017 after getting your book to follow your recommendations.
My weight was 14.4.2 my blood pressure 146/83 with a pulse of 76. I followed the Vegan diet for 8 weeks. Hey presto what a change. No gout, weight down.
My weight 8 week 12.12.4 blood pressure 128/78 `with a pulse of 73.
The nurse could not believe it when the results came back she said that my PH when they took the blood previously was 50 now it was 70 and neutral. She asked me if I eat a lot of vegetables I was proud to tell her that my diet consisted of 80% carbs 10% protein(from fish) and 10% fat only olive oil. She is a vegan and marvelled at my results.
I am now on week 12 and feel good. Yesterday’s weight was 12.11.4 and blood pressure 141/98 and 82Pulse. I am delighted with the results. My ph. is 7 the nurse said she can’t get it higher than 6 and asked if she could have her meals at our house. I am so grateful to you and hope that my results can also help other sufferers to believe in your written work. I hope the whole world gets to know what you have achieved as you are a remarkable person. You have saved my life as the colchicine and allopurinol, Lansoprazole and Valsartan were the tip off the iceberg and would have become my decline in health. I am now taking I Quercetin tablet, two 500mg Bromelain and 1 250mg Magnesium on a daily basis. Together with a desert spoon full of cider vinegar in water.
I am 70 and 71 in January . I feel like I have had a new lease of life. I take my two dogs every day on a 3 mile walk with my wife. I eat well but not meat on a regular basis. My diet has changed for the better and My life is a lot brighter. Thank you so much for taking time to write Gout and You book and if you need further information I would be delighted to assist. I just can’t find any more words to express my thanks to you.
Kindest regards
John Lukanyk
Hey I love a great success story!!
Good for you that you took action and seem to remain disciplined, cause many others start making dietary and lifestyle changes but give up too early and go back to their bad habits. Make sure to check your uric acid levels regularly maybe twice a year cause that is the most important number when it comes to gout. Your other metrics are great and shows how powerful a diet is to heal the body.
You are an inspiration!
Spiro
Are you aware of any link between gout and “The Every Other Day Diet”? It specifies less than 500 calories every other day and a normal diet on the remainder.
I have been on the diet 5 times (usually 2X a year) for short periods (3-5 weeks) and have noticed that I developed gout four times after ending the diet.
Have you heard of anyone else experiencing this?
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Hi Jay!
Makes sense cause any rapid weight loss you experience is known to cause gout attacks. It’s not something as a gout sufferer you should be doing, you have to find a diet that you lose weight gradually to avoid uric acid levels going out of whack.
Hi there!
I’m Marlon Luistro from the Philippines. I’m 32 years old and was recently diagnosed with hyperuricemia on both feet.
I have a simple question for you. I already cut chicken and totally avoided beef and pork on my diet but it seems that whenever I eat them even a bit of a chicken, beef or pork would suddenly cause my gout to flareup. Is there something wrong with my diet cause after my gout battle, I only ate cheese, butter, egg, potatoes, carrots, apple and orange most of the time but it seems that the pain is still there. Am I doing something wrong?
Also is it okay to eat chocolate and drink coffee or iced tea if you’re suffering from gout or high levels of uric acid? What foods would you recommend? Is there a chance I can still bring back my uric acid intake to normal and someday if not now little by little Id be able to eat beef or pork again?
Thank you very much and I appreciate your positive response!
Marlon
Hi Marlon!
You’re going to have to eat the majority of your daily calories, about 80% of them as complex carbs like vegetables, legumes, whole grain breads, pastas and rices, beans, nuts and very little fruit due to the fructose.
Then you will have to eat very little protein every day about 10% of your daily calories and make sure it is lean and not fatty, like chicken breast, lean beef, fish is a good choice, no pork and no seafood.
Finally, 10% of your daily calories should be fat as in eggs, butter, milk, cheeses, yogurts.
Drink only water, tea and coffee. No alcohol, no sugary beverages and no processed food.
Hope this helps!
Thank you very much this was a great read and very true.
As for me I have gone back to my vegetarian diet not Vegan.
I’m eating egg whites for my main source of protein only real home cooked egg whites No egg white protein powders.
Also eating nonfat or 2 percent fat Greek yogurt Kefir.
Rarely cheese planning to add kefir cheese but not yet I’m still pretty scared.
Eating lots of raw food greens celery carrots fruit tons of red grapes.
I truly think the gout attack was brought on by some beef organ meat capsules I took However I must of had a lesser form of gout a long time since I stop the vegetarian diet and went paleo because I feel so great feeling much better and younger than I have in a long time.
Thanks again!
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[…] that is the key my dear gout sufferers! Gout diet and food should be first. Supplements should never replace a good healthy gout diet and be a food […]
Hey Spiro,
I just read over most of your advice here and looking forward to ordering the book this week. Basically, I am a 50 year old guy, dx with gout when I was 21 due to all of the cheap beer while in the military, then I opened a restaurant that featured Philly Steaks and pizza and lost it due to the economy. SO now I am sick of the ER visits, daily med regiment and I want to be around to enjoy Florida. The problem I have run into over the years is usually I walk around at 260 pounds and my ideal weight is 225 but as soon as I hit the 240 pound mark I seem to end up with more and more gout flares with a higher intensity. I’ll be working out regularly, eating right then hit a ballgame with my buddies which leads to a couple of beers a hot dog and 2-3 days later I am at the ER. Will this diet book help me achieve a pain free life?
Thank you,
Ken
Hi Ken!
Yes the book will help you to change your diet and lifestyle, that’s the purpose behind it. But discipline is key with any diet. You have to slowly implement it, it’ll be hard at first.
[…] Learn What a Gout Diet Should Be […]
[…] foods. Sound familiar? If you’ve read my book and the posts on this site, it almost mimics my gout diet advice. Anyway this DASH showed that it did in fact lower uric acid levels for the participants on average […]
I am 66 years old, not drinking a lot, not really overweight(maybe 30lb); not eating usually a lot of meat, not have some heritage problems, doing some sports.
I had my first gout attack recently and I know, that I was eating on Father’s Day some liver, mushrooms, red meat, sardines in the can, but not drink any alcohol.
Now, I know, that all of this food really restricted for the gout suffers and changed my diet completely. The doctor prescribed colchicine twice a day, until this attack and it’s results will go down(6 days) and then only once a day(she did not say how long).
I know, that I did really wrong, eat a piece of chicken every day three times a day with the bread. That is probably created high level of Uric Acid in my blood, before the attack.
What do you think, in this situation, could I improve the level of Uric Acid with the right diet only, or I will certainly have all this kind of disease, with the kidney problems and others?
Sorry for my bad English.
Hi Gregoriy!
Hi Gregoriy!
Since it is first time attack you have a better chance of changing your diet drastically and trying to lower uric acid levesl with dietary and lifestyle changes but again I am not your doctor and don’t know your entire health situation. But speak to your doctor and ask if you could avoid the medication and propose to change diet and see how that alters your uric acid with blood tests conducted by your doctor.
Good luck!
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I see a lot of contradictions on chiken soup, white bread vs whole wheat yogurt nuts rasins
is there ant thing difinite I need to lose 50 as well
Jim, read my entire site and if you are serious about losing weight and following a strict gout diet, I recommend my ebook to get you started. Good luck!
[…] the meantime, the best thing you can do is follow a proper gout diet as outlined in my ebook and website, follow your doctor’s advice and uric acid lowering therapy; […]
I’m a vegetarian, Spiro. I take comfort from your blog and your discovery that veggie purines are not processed like animal ones. I work hard on an anti inflammatory diet but I do occasionally lapse with a dessert or chips.
Firstly I would like to thank you for all you interesting articles which I find interesting and very helpful.
I agree with you that ones diet plays a big part in controlling our gout attacks.
At this stage I have stopped all preventive tablets ( puracos ) and try not to take anti inflamatories
Hi Spiro
I bought the book, and although I have not used any recipes yet I have incorporated diet into what I eat. I am very aware of pork for example. I’ll bet this year I have only had my bbq pork ribs twice, instead of 6-8 times thru summer.
I still drink too much beer though. I am severely cutting back/quitting this as of today.
And, I have to lose 40-50 lbs. Time to get serious about these things!
Have you heard of sauna/steam bath helping with flareups?
Thank You
Steve
Hi Steve!
Yes anything that relaxes the joints and muscles like a sauna or steam bath will help your flareup, it won’t cure you but it’ll relax the pain and inflammation to a certain extent. I recommend it.
As far as I’ve discussed with my doctor, the high uric acid level in my blood is not due the high purine food but from my blood as my immature red blood cells burst continuously, not like normal people that have three months of red blood cells cycle…my red blood cell in also not normal, sickle in shape, beta thallessemia, mild anemia and hyperuricemia. Eventhough I control my meals, it won’t show any improvement. Thus, I control my uric acid level with allopurinol….anyway, the chewing enzymes really help to reduce my uric acid level. However, if I take any high purine meal, I have to make sure I take allopurinol on that day. So, I just make sure I take a tablet of allopurinol (300mg) for every two days.
[…] Learn what an ideal gout diet should consist of […]
Could you please indicate which food to eat and what food not to eat. I am a gout patient and would need the information to control my gout attack.
Thanks for your assistance.
Frank
Hi Frank!
Eat 80% of your daily calories in complex carbohydrates like any type of fruits, any type of vegetables and 100% whole grain wheat breads, pastas and rice. That is the key! You really need to limit your meat intake, again any type of meat, to 10% of daily calories max since protein is very hard for the kidneys and liver to breakdown raising uric acid levels, same for fat, fat is good but when consumed as 10% of your daily calories this is good for the gout sufferer. You can have a yogurt, some milk, cheese, eggs, butter but to that limit I just provided to you. For more detailed explanation on what foods to eat and which to avoid I recommend my ebook.
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[…] is required but if you do find out by taking a blood test, that you do suffer from hyperuricemia, a change in your diet should take place […]
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[…] Eat a healthier diet, a diet comprising of 80% carbohydrates (food as grown from the earth) 10% protein and 10% fat is key to lowering uric acid levels and decreasing your risk of becoming a diabetic. […]