A gout attack is a very painful experience. Normally one of the joints gets the brunt. In most cases, the big toe joint flares up. Gout is a type of arthritis that mostly affects small joints of the body.
Uric acid which generally passes out in urine is the main cause of gout. It builds up in the bloodstream. When the concentration reaches very high levels, it forms crystals.
These crystals irritate tissues in joints causing inflammation and pain or gout attack as is usually known. Consumption of alcohol and foods containing purines, such as organ meats like liver; seafood like sardines, salmon, anchovies, and mussels, and salmon can raise uric acid in the blood.
It generally gives early warning symptoms of mild itching or irritation a couple of hours before the real painful flare-up.
1. Ice pack
An ice pack can help relieve gout pain. Cooling the affected joint for 15- 20 minutes with an ice pack should be done with care.
- Put ice cubes in a cotton cloth and dab on the affected area.
- Don’t dab the ice directly on the skin. Direct contact with ice may be too harsh.
- Change the ice cubes inside the cloth if they melt faster
Cold water can also be used to relieve pain. You can pour cold water on the affected joint. Continuous pouring of water on the affected joint is not recommended. Pour the water intermittently instead of continuous pouring.
2. Tart Cherries
Tart cherries are sour cherries. They come in two varieties. Both types of tart cherries have red pigmentation on the skin but the flash in one type is clear and the other type is red. Both kinds are very useful in relieving pain.
Laboratory research findings at Michigan State University suggest that the tart cherry extract inhibits the enzymes that are responsible for inflammation.
It takes about 20 tart cherries to do the job. So eat tart cherries in all their forms and get relief from gout pain.
3. Banana
Any low purine diet will help reduce gout formation. The purine metabolizes in the body to produce uric acid. Most proteins contain high purine, so avoid eating or reduce consumption.
Banana contains only traces of purine and is considered a very low purine diet. That makes it suitable to reduce the probabilities of gout attacks.
In addition, Banana also contains Vitamin C which helps to reduce the production of uric acid in the blood. This combination makes Banana a very healthy contributor to reducing or even curing gout.
Eat 3-4 servings of Banana every day.
4. French beans
French beans are a low medium purine content diet. You can use French beans in all their forms, raw, cooked, or juiced.
Most suitable for fast impact is the juice form. Drink half a cup of French bean juice twice a day for a month. Make sure that you don't consume more than this as it may increase overall purine consumption.
This will help reduce your uric acid levels in the blood and reduce or completely remove future gout attacks.
Include French beans in your vegetable preparations.
5. Other Low-Purine Food
There are many other low purine food items that you can select from your kitchen cabinet. Any food containing lower than 100mg uric acid in 100g is considered low-purine food.
Food items containing less than 20mg uric acid per 100g are Cheese cottage, Tomato, Chicory, Pear, Rhubarb, Beer, Lettuce, Onion, Radishes, Apple, Bread wheat (flour) or (white bread), Fennel leaves, Radish, Gooseberry, Potato, Carrot, Cherry, Morello, Currant red, Endive, Mushrooms, Potato, cooked with skin, Raspberry, Avocado, Beetroot, Kiwi fruit, strawberry, peach, Orange and Pineapple
Food items containing 20-40mg uric acid per 100g are Aubergine (eggplant), Chinese leaves, bread, Bilberry, blueberry, huckleberry, Cabbage white, Asparagus, Nuts, Walnut, Grape, Bamboo Shoots, Mushrooms, Olive, Cabbage red, Cheese, Limburger, Elderberry, Melon, Cantelope, Date dried, Almond, Beans, French (string beans, haricot), hazelnut (cobnut) and Lettuce.
There are hundreds of other food items that contain less than 100mg of uric acid per 100 g.
Choose what you like and stay on a low purine diet.
Of course, there is also a big list of food items that contain high amounts of uric acid which you need to avoid.
Say no to High Purine Diet
Following are general guidelines to check a high purine diet and stay away from it.
- Avoid all kinds of red meat and fish containing high purine. It is worth becoming a vegetarian to reduce gout attacks.
- Reduce consumption of high protein legumes such as peas, and lentils and vegetables such as spinach, mushrooms, and cauliflower.
- Minimize consumption of alcohol as it increases uric acid concentrations by dehydrating you.
- Remove all caffeinated items from your list of food and beverages
- Take bromelain, a compound of digestive enzymes and other compounds extracted from pineapple stems.
6. Baking Soda
Baking soda due to its alkaline nature helps neutralize uric acid. You can mix half a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water, and drink it three to four times a week. Baking soda is not good for hypertension. So, if you have high blood pressure or you are above 60 then avoid this remedy.