How healthy eating can get rid of Gout

So you get to middle age and suddenly all kinds of rebellion kicks off in your body. Why do you wake up with aches and pains that were not there before? And how is it that you were able to eat whatever you wanted to and your body could handle it but suddenly there is a rebellion…a really painful one in your big toe.

I had my first gout attack about 6 months ago and I sincerely believe there are not many pains that are worse than gout. It starts gradually, a sudden slight swelling in the toe which you think you are imagining. It is quite quickly followed by less mobility in your toe and that progresses to full immobility, swelling of the foot, and extreme pain.

I was grappling with the whole concept. I am extremely carnivorous and so when I went to the Doctor and he told me about the things I should no longer eat, I was not happy. Meat, how would I cope without it? I started reading up on gout and found there was a multitiude of opinions about the dos and donts including eating cherries and drinking cherry juice. I also found an article that suggested that?consuming cherries does absolutely nothing. So what was the truth?

How to navigate this new landmine in my life? Well, first I had to get over the gout attack which meant lying down for about 3 days straight. I was given a medicine called Colchicine which instructed me to take 2 tablets 4 times a day until I have diarrhea. Oh joy, what fun I had to look forward to. What was not mentioned was the extreme nausea that this drug provides. Having said that, 3 days in and my foot was looking better. I was able to hobble about albeit slightly nauseously. Some more days passed, I had stopped taking Colchicine and the nausea abated. My foot was still swollen and sore but did not keep me awake at night.

As time passed it showed signs of improvement to the point where I could put on a shoe and resume my weekly tennis. I had not changed my diet at this point and found out very quickly that consuming the smallest piece of meat threatened the return of gout. After further research I discovered that certain fish was bad for you (most white fish apart from salmon and definitely shellfish), drinking cans of soft drink were bad for you and so I started to change my diet. I started eating more chicken, cutting out all red meat, fish (apart from salmon) wine, and soft drinks too. I also started avoiding sugar in general.

Gout threatened again, came and went but I was able to cut it off each time with a few doses of Colchicine (some nausea and diarrhea) and some paracetamol for the pain. Friends who have had gout have told me that anti-inflammatories like naproxen worked really well, however, I was unable to take them due to other medical ailments so paracetamol it was. What wasn’t being resolved was why it kept coming back?

Gout is caused by foods that are high in Purines (nobody knows what a Purine is until they need to know) which is a naturally occurring substance from foods we eat. When too much of it is present it raises uric acid levels in the body which in turn crystallises in the joints and when that happens a gout attack takes hold.

I went back to my doctor who happened to be Indian. He suggested an Ayurvedic approach rather than a Western one. He explained to me that some foods are considered ‘heating’ whilst others are ‘cooling’. When we eat ‘heating’ foods, the heat must come out somewhere and it does so in the joints. He also explained that with the extremely varied diet that we lucky westerners have, our bodies can struggle to cope with processing it all at a cellular level. There is just too much variety. He suggested I cut back to a much more basic diet, brown rice, and vegetables. You can buy stir fry vegetable packets in most food stores. So I listened to him and gave it a try. I soon discovered that I actually really enjoyed a stir fry with brown rice. I had recently invested in a wok and this gave me a chance to try out a myriad of recipes but all with the same essential ingredients.?

I have done this for 2 months now, with the occasional chicken meal and the very occasional sugary product. My gout has dissipated, I actually feel a lot healthier and have lost a little weight in the process. I'm not really missing meat and if I do I can happily eat a 'Beyond' burger which is almost indistinguishable from a meat burger. I never want to go back to gout and as such still take a daily preventative tablet called Allopurinol. It was not doing its job when I needed it though. My firm belief is that my change in diet has resolved my problems and not the tablet.

For all those gout sufferers out there, I have felt your pain. If you want to avoid another attack try and strip down your diet to the most basic natural ingredients you can. Good luck.