How to Get Rid of Gout with a Proper Diet
Being overweight is a common factor in most gout patients. A big reason for the connection between the two is diet. High purine foods are a major contributing factor to gout. Many of these same high purine foods are not healthy and aid in weight gain.
Lowering your intake of high purine foods goes to the heart of the problem. Many high purine foods are high in fat and deter your ability to lose weight effectively. Common high purine foods are hamburgers, hot dogs, and bacon. We all know these foods would never make a list of foods to help you improve your health. Decrease your amount of these foods or better yet, eliminate them altogether.
If you drink a lot of pop, you should consider giving up this habit. Pop makes it more likely that you will get a gout attack. This is because pop decreases your hydration and makes it so that your kidneys don't work as well. Your kidneys play a major role in helping you to get rid of this painful disease, so decrease your soda intake.
Diet sodas hinder weight loss. They have been found to increase your hunger and some health experts believe that diet sodas are even worse than drinking regular sodas, especially due to increased risk of cancer from the chemicals used in most diet soft drinks. Bottom line: get rid of soda. Drink water instead.
Canadian studies have shown that coffee actually can help treat gout. The old theory was coffee dehydrates so don't drink it, but the latest studies show that drinking 4 cups of coffee a day can lower uric acid by up to fifty percent. Decaffeinated coffee also lowered uric acid if you are concerned with avoiding caffeine. Organic coffee would be a great option. It is more expensive, but you avoid all the potentially harmful chemical additives.
You don't have to make wholesale changes all at once. In fact, this usually proves disastrous to long term health as most people quit due to the difficulty of making large lifestyle changes in a short time. A very easy goal to reach is one pound a week.
By doing just a few things a little at a time, you will help improve kidney function, reduce the stress load on your renal system, which will have the added benefit of reducing your risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. The benefits far outweigh the risks.
There are many alternative and natural methods of improving your overall health through diet. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables not only help you lose weight, but also have nutritious properties that help you fight the symptoms and root problem of gout.