Recipes

If you or someone you know suffers from gout, you will know the importance of having a low purine diet to improve gout symptoms, but also to satisfy the appetite.

Even though someone is suffering from gout, the last thing they want is a meal that's plain and boring.

A gout friendly diet will reduce the amounts of purines you injest, therefore there will be less purine producing less uric acid crystals in the body.

So, a good gout diet will reduce the levels of purine in the body, and also should be nutritious and tasty, otherwise you run the risk of getting distracted and bored and lapse back into non-friendly gout food habits.

When you reduce the levels of purines the kidneys have a better chance of removing uric acid from the body, thereby relieving the gout symptoms and pain.

The trick then, is to find ingredients that are low in purine and that you enjoy eating.

Foods that are high in purine include liver, kidneys, heart, dried beans, fish, shellfish, gravy and meat extracts. These items, along with numerous others should be avoided.

Missing these foods does not need to make your diet dull. Some foods can compliment your gout diet. These include, most vegetables, cereals, noodles, cheese, fruits and fruit drinks, and many other items.

You will be able to create healthy and tasty low purine dishes quite easily once you have all the relevant information.

How to Reduce Your Intake of Purine Rich Foods

Purine rich foods contribute to a painful type of arthritis called gout. The human body needs a small amount of purine, but it can cause problems if you consume it in excess amounts. Purine gets converted into uric acid. Uric acid that does not get removed from the blood stream normally gets expelled in urine. If the body does not process it properly, it converts to uric acid into urate crystals. Urate crystals build up in joints and cause the type of arthritis known as gout. A good way to avoid developing this painful condition is to reduce the amount of purine rich foods that you eat.

Dietary changes can alleviate gout symptoms also. Drinking a lot of water helps the body remove uric acid from the bloodstream. Dairy products, black cherry juice, and blueberries can also remove urate crystals from the body and uric acid from the bloodstream. Excessive vitamin C consumption elevates the levels of uric acid in and can contribute to the development of a gout toe.

One popular solution for the symptoms of gout is to eat fifteen to twenty cherries a day. Fresh cherries are best, but canned cherries work too. Cherries have an enzyme that neutralizes uric acid and are high in anthocyanins, which have high antioxidant properties as well as anti-inflammatory action. For the best results, drink plenty of water while eating the cherries. The water will keep your urine diluted, which will help your body excrete uric acid and prevent crystals from forming.

Gout occurs when there is too much uric acid in the blood. Certain individuals are more prone to get gout, including males over the age of 30, people who have a history of gout running in the family, individuals who are overweight, those who consume more than two alcoholic drinks daily or two carbonated beverages sweetened with sugar, cigarette smokers, those who regularly use diuretic medications and those who include abundant amounts of red meat, poultry, yeast and seafood in their daily diets.