By: John Cielo
Submitted: 2011-01-27 05:59:52 | Word Count: 512
Ways to avoid gout attacks naturally are increasingly being sought after. Here you'll discover how dietary changes can help you avoid the pain of further gout attacks.
Gout is incredibly painful as well as life-restricting. So the faster treatment commences the better. This is usually drug-based medications to reduce inflammation and pain. But these can have bad side effects, and although they can get rid of the symptoms, they can't prevent gout attacks from happening in the first place, unless you address some key underlying issues.
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And gout prevention is very important. I don't just mean from the point of view of avoiding the horrendous symptoms. Frequently recurring gout can result in serious problems such as kidney problems (e.g. kidney stones) and even permanent joint damage. And, if you're suffering from gout right now, your chances of more attacks to come are considerably enhanced.
So, as well as working out how to get rid of an attack, you need a way or ways to avoid gout attacks ever happening again...
And one of the first things you need to consider is your diet. You see, your body and the food you eat contain natural compounds called 'purines.' These are vital in your body's metabolizing process. As part of that process uric acid is formed as a byproduct.
Now, normally, your kidneys excrete excess uric acid out of your body. But sometimes, for various reasons, they are unable to do this and you are left with high uric acid in the blood. These high levels can then lead to urate crystals forming in your joints causing the symptoms of a gout attack.
So you can see that you need to reduce your purine intake to help reduce uric acid and so help avoid gout attacks being triggered. Luckily, we know which foods are high in purines and which are relatively low in purines. So by avoiding those foods with high concentrations and eating those with relatively low levels of purines, you can give yourself the best chance of preventing gout attacks.
Typical foods to avoid are such as; red meat (fatty), offal (e.g. liver, kidneys, etc.), shellfish (scallops, shrimp, etc.), fish (e.g. herring, mackerel, sardines, etc.), poultry (goose, turkey, etc.), game (venison, pheasant, etc.), broth, gravy, mincemeat, yeast extracts, etc. And avoid all alcohol.
Foods you can eat are things like; green leafy vegetables (but not cauliflower, asparagus, spinach), fruit (especially cherries), low-fat dairy produce, complex carbs (cereals, pasta, rice, etc.), high vitamin C foods, essential fatty acids, etc. And drink plenty of water.
A proper gout diet is important, but there are many other underling issues that need to be addressed to give you the very best chance to avoid gout attacks and their associated problems in the future...
