Purine-Free Diet for to Help Alleviate Gout Symptoms
Eat Healthfully
Improving your overall diet can reap huge gains for your health, and may prevent gout flares or reduce their severity. This means cutting down on sweets, simple carbohydrates, junky fast foods, and processed foods that fill you up and don’t leave room for other, more nutritious fare. This also means dropping excess poundage, which can contribute to gout attacks. But be sure to follow a sensible weight loss program that allows you to lose weight gradually, as fasting or rapid weight loss plans can release too much uric acid into your system and actually bring on a flare-up of gout. Also, avoid no- or low-carb plans like Atkins or the South Beach diet, as the high-protein focus can create a uric acid nightmare for your body.
Where’s The Beef?
Reduce consumption of animal protein. A high-protein diet can cause a build up of uric acid in your system, and doctors recommend limiting high protein (often high purine) foods to four to six ounces daily. The worst offenders are organ meats like liver or kidneys, oily fish like herring, tuna, and mackerel, and seafoods like mussels, anchovies, and lobster.
Try A Plant-Based Approach
Eat more plants. This includes the USDA recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily and several servings of whole grains like brown rice, steel-cut oats, and whole grain breads and pastas). It also includes substituting some of that animal protein for plant-based sources like beans (like chickpeas or black beans) and legumes (like lentils). Just note that dried beans and peas contain moderate amounts of purines, so limit them to one or two servings a day. Mushrooms and asparagus are other offenders that should be limited.
Ditch the Booze
In addition to diet, stress, and illness, drinking alcohol can also bring on an attack of gout. Beer, in particular, seems to be one of the worst offenders. Even when you’re not having a flare-up, keep alcohol to a minimum. One or two glasses of wine daily have not been shown to increase uric acid build up.
Got Milk?
Make your dairy products low or fat-free. Some evidence points to dairy products’ ability to cut your risk of gout. Two to three servings a day of milk, yogurt or other dairy products should do it.
Drink More Fluids
Drinking more water can help flush excess uric acid from your system. Shoot for at least eight glasses a day.
While you may still need to take medication (please consult your doctor before stopping or reducing any medication), following a purine free diet for gout sufferers can go a long way toward reducing your symptoms and improving your overall health.
References
Johns Hopkins University, “Treatment for Gout” https://www.hopkins-arthritis.org/arthritis-info/gout/treatments.html#foods
Mayo Clinic, “Gout Diet” https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gout-diet/MY01137
NIAMS, “What Is Gout?” https://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Gout/gout_ff.asp