# Recipes for a Gout Sufferer



## advoca (Apr 3, 2006)

Can anyone recommend some recipes for a Gout Sufferer?

Any advice would be welcome.


----------



## Andy M. (Apr 3, 2006)

I have no specific recipes but check out this site for lot of gout diet info.

http://arthritis.about.com/od/gout/a/foodstoeat.htm


----------



## bethzaring (Apr 3, 2006)

Hi, I have a background in clinical nutrition and can give you some foods to avoid.  And let me add that the American Medical Association which gives the above information, is giving current info from their standpoint.  The advice I will give comes from the nutritional view.  Medical students and the medical community rarely seeks advice from the dietetic (registered dietitians) community. Medical students have no required courses in nutrition, ever.

Foods high in purine (foods to avoid) are anchovies, bouillon, brains, broth, consomme, goose, gravy,heart, herring, kidney, liver, mackerel, meat extracts, mincemeat, mussels, partdidge, roe, sardines, scallops, sweetbreads (and I do not think they mean banana bread), and baking and brewers' yeast.

Foods you might want to consider limiting because they have a moderate amount of purines are fish, poultry, meat, shellfish, asparagus, dried beans, lentils, mushrooms, dried peas, and spinach.

Summary of the nutritional care for Gout:
Eliminate foods high in purines
Have a moderate protein intake with protein sources from milk, cheese, vegetables and breads.
Have a liberal carbohydrate intake
Have a low to moderate fat intake
Have a liberal fluid intake
Restrict or eliminate alcohol (boo)


----------



## Robo410 (Apr 3, 2006)

clam chowder (either major type) is fine.  mac and cheese, green bean casserole made with cream of celery soup rather than mushroom, pasta with marinara and cheese or clam sauce, or garlic evoo and cheese etc...
just a few of the staples that can be eaten without modification
An one can serve meat, just in smaller quantities.  Cut that steak from 12 oz to 4 oz...sliced london broil over a salad for example, or smaller amounts in a fajita loaded with the veggies.  
It is quite possible to eat well and watch dietary needs.


----------



## auntieshelly (Apr 3, 2006)

I have a friend who suffers from occasional bouts of gout.  What gives him relief is to drink cherry juice or eat fresh, canned, dried, or frozen cherries every day.  He also finds that drinking lots of water and green tea helps to flush the purines from his body.  He tells me that the purines form crystals that get into your joints, usually the foot, and cause a great deal of pain. Lots of liquids tend to dissolve them. Hope this helps and you feel better soon!


----------



## Constance (Apr 3, 2006)

I have a friend with gout who says his doctor told him not to eat green beans. 
I have a lot of foot pain, not from gout, but nerve damage and rheumatoid arthritis. I have found that staying away from a lot of beef, pork, and processed meats helps considerably. (I've been eating too much of all 3 lately, and my feet have been hurting like the devil.)


----------



## CharlieD (Apr 3, 2006)

Hello from fellow "Gout Sufferer". Recently I went to see a specialist. He consults in Mayo Clinic. So he told me that despite the coming believe of necessity of a special diet in the reality it is not true, diet doesn’t help, unfortunately. I have this friend, young guy, 36, or so, he’s been suffering for last 5-6 years, and he had tried all kind of diets. I have to say though; the gout pain is the single most excruciating pain I have ever suffered, including the time when I was beaten up by a gang of 10 or so drunken guys. 

 Now having said that, the main recommendation is stay away from red meat and dry red whine.


----------



## Claire (Apr 10, 2006)

Hubby suffered from gout terribly.  Definitely related to arthritis.  I hate to tout a pill, but the only thing that truly helped was alopurin (sp?) and he never goes a day without.  He was castigating himself for his eating and drinking habits until we started mentioning the problem to friends only to discover that one young friend (30s) and one older, neither of whom drink much, are overweight, or have bad eating habits, suffered from the same problem until they gave in and started on the drugs.  One thing that does help is the water.  In order to get him used to drinking more water than usual I took a half-gallon pitcher and filled it with drinking water, and his job became to finish it every day.  This is in addition to any other liquid intake (pop, juice, coffee, tea, etc).  it's been coined "the rich man's disease", and he and friends joke about when the money is coming in.  Unfortunately, this hit at the same time as pre-diabetes, and after cholesterol and high blood pressure.  You get to the point where you can't control all by diet unless you plan to go out and graze on your lawn.  I cook healthy food, and the diabetes has to take precedence (so much for more carbs).  The pills work, and that's what counts.  He's never been a big red meat eater, so that wasn't an issue.  At one point I was afraid hubby's foot was going to explode out of the skin it swelled so badly.  About the same time arthritis hit his hip so there is definitely a connection.


----------



## advoca (Apr 10, 2006)

Dear Claire
I think it is marketed as alopurinol. I will discuss it with my doctor. And like your friend I have arthritis in my hips in parallel with the gout.

I have learned by experience that anchovies will bring on an attack immediately. But there are very few other foods that give me adverse effects.

I have been advised that cherries and pineapple are good, but having eaten them religiously for several months they do not seem to do any good.

I find that Votalin works wonders but my doctor is worried because of the adverse effect on the blood pressure tabs I am taking. 

I have been warned not to eat foods that are high in purines but what is "high"? 

I have been warned to avoid MSG (And I live in China! I cannot even buy potato chips without them having MSG)

Scanning the web shows me that there is no unified agreement on the right diet for gout. And there is not a unified agreement on what foods are disallowed. Many of the discussions on Gout simply advise experimentation -- find out by trial and error what adversely affects you. 

But I find that walking often brings on my gout. Yet I am advised by my doctor to walk!

But I have given up alcohol (ouch) given up oysters and mussels (ouch), given up shrimps (ouch) given up chicken livers (ouch).

Fortunately, beef seems to have no bad effects, nor pork, nor chicken, but shop-bought bouillon is a no-no. 

I am now consuming more fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables, and home-made stocks (never packaged stock). But I just hoped that out there I might find a fellow gourmet who is also a gout sufferer. Oh, it's awful having to forego one's favourite foods.


----------



## jpmcgrew (Apr 10, 2006)

I just read somewhere that drinking lots of water helps break up the little crystals that form gout.


----------



## Claire (Apr 11, 2006)

Yes, advoca, that's the drug.  I was just trying to work from memory.  My husband and our friends tried all the dietary stuff, and the only thing that truly helped was water, and even that wasn't enough to keep the gout at bay.  As I said, he's trying to stave off diabetes as well, so a lot of the dietary options don't work for him, either.  You should drink that much water anyway, some people just don't.  Giving up all the rest of the stuff just seemed to make him miserable, not help the arthritis and gout one single bit.  And yes, walking did make it worse and he sure as heck wasn't going to give up exercise (the only thing that keeps his diabetes out of the drug control area).  So he now takes the pill daily and eats a well-rounded diet, geared more to staying off insulin than for the gout.  Gave up, for the most part, wine and beer (for carbs, not gout) but still drinks scotch and real martinis (not the kind with sweet liquers).  He never was a big beef eater (that's me!).  I've always been a healthy cook, now he just measures for the diabetes.  You can only change your diet so much.  All of our friends agree that you simply take the pills on this one.  AND drink the water.  

In the past year, since starting the drug, he has only had one recurrence, and that was when he got lazy about taking his pills over a vacation week.  

So drink that water and see your doctor.  Gout is way too painful to mess around with.


----------

