Gout is one of those few diseases that completely change the patient’s usual lifestyle. Such an important part of our existence as nutrition takes on a new quality: with gout, strict adherence to the diet is required. Many familiar tasty and even healthy foods become unavailable, since their consumption leads to difficult tolerable painful attacks of the disease. Those whose lives are affected by gout will have to change their usual nutritional philosophy and fall in love with the taste of healthy and wholesome foods.
The specialized diet recommended by doctors to control the painful symptoms of gout sets out the basic rules of nutrition.
During the day you are supposed to eat at least 4-5 times. The menu should include hot food, a drink and an additive that will create a feeling of comfortable satiety: a portion of salad, fruit or a cup of juice.
With proper nutrition, there should be no feeling of overeating or heaviness when leaving the table. Take a break after eating, wait about 15 minutes. If the feeling of hunger does not leave you, have a snack. Sometimes the body needs more energy than usual.
Regardless of the amount of food eaten, if you have gout, drink a lot of fluid: at least one and a half liters per day. During periods of exacerbation, up to 3 liters of fluid will be required to flush out uric acid from the body as much as possible.
The tastes of some foods will have to be forgotten forever - gout completely changes all ideas about familiar food. For example, salt is an ally of gout, which means you will have to love low-salt foods. The new lifestyle also involves a complete abstinence from alcohol-containing drinks.
The composition of the dishes that are served to a patient with gout every day of his life is determined by diet No. 6.
The foods recommended by the diet have low levels of purine-containing components. The diet also involves the inclusion of alkaline foods, large volumes of liquid and extremely strict limitation of salt intake.
Nutritionists include the product in the “black list” of diet No. 6 depending on the content of purines in it - components of uric acid.
In the diet of a healthy person, the presence of 800 mg of purines per day is permissible, and in the sum of all daily portions of a patient with gout - only 150 mg.
What foods are strictly excluded from diet No. 6?
Gout in diabetes mellitus occurs quite often. After all, these two diseases are associated with metabolic disorders in the body. Thanks to a properly selected diet, you can successfully control and not aggravate the course of these two diseases.
One of the rules of diet therapy is to choose foods with a low glycemic GI index, so as not to increase blood sugar levels, and foods with a minimum purine content. It is a substance such as purine that, when metabolized, is converted into uric acid and can be deposited in the joints, thereby increasing the pain syndrome of gout.
In addition, an excess of uric acid serves as an impetus for the development of insulin resistance. Below we will describe the diet for gout and diabetes, and explain in detail which foods should be given preference and which ones should be completely excluded from the diet.
Gout in diabetes mellitus most often occurs in men aged 40–55 years. This disease occurs due to an excess of uric acid in the body.
It, in turn, accumulates due to disruption of metabolic processes.
The initial stage of gout development has characteristic symptoms, some of which can be confused with a disease such as pyelonephritis. At night there is difficulty urinating, which disappears after an attack.
Symptoms of the onset of the disease:
If you do not start timely treatment and reduce the intake of purines in the body, this can lead to serious consequences - joint deformation and severe persistent pain that is difficult to stop.
Gout in diabetes mellitus is controlled through diet. This nutrition system should take into account two diseases at once, and not treat one and aggravate the other.
Basic rules of the nutrition system:
In addition, patients with type 2 diabetes need to gradually and systematically lose excess weight. Without harming your health, you need to get rid of two kilograms per month. At the same time, the diet should not cause a strong feeling of hunger.
Physical therapy exercises will be an excellent compensation for both diabetes and gout. Exercises should be done daily, preferably in the fresh air, for at least 35 minutes.
Well suited: swimming, sports or Nordic walking, running, cycling or yoga.
In addition to the fact that nutrition for gout and diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2 is aimed at reducing the level of glucose in the blood and uric acid, you can use certain foods to speed up the process of removing uric acid.
This category of products includes those that contain a high amount of fiber and pectin. Pectin itself also helps remove bad cholesterol from the body. Every day you should eat oatmeal, fresh cucumbers, beets, carrots and all types of citrus fruits.
Foods rich in anthocyanins prevent the crystallization of uric acid, as a result of which it is not deposited in the joints. These products include:
Such a valuable substance as omega-3 lowers blood cholesterol levels and the amount of uric acid. It is necessary to eat fatty fish, such as salmon or mackerel.
Omega-3 is also found in Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, nuts and tofu.
Alcohol is the first thing that needs to be eliminated from your diet. Drinking beer and dessert wine doubles the risk of developing gout. At the same time, alcohol causes hypoglycemia in diabetics of any type, and delayed too.
This is especially dangerous for insulin-dependent patients. Also, alcoholic drinks put additional strain on the kidneys, and they cannot fully remove uric acid from the body.
Carbonated sweet drinks and fruit juices are also prohibited. This rule applies specifically to the “sweet” disease. All juices contain an increased amount of glucose and can quickly increase blood sugar by 4 - 5 mmol/l.
You should exclude foods high in purines, from which uric acid is formed. Such foods include:
All diet foods should be selected according to their glycemic index (GI), which promotes stable blood sugar levels.
This indicator displays the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream after consuming a particular product. The lower the value, the better and more beneficial the product for the patient. That is, a high GI indicates the presence of quickly digestible carbohydrates in the product. They, in turn, do not benefit the body, but only increase glucose levels.
In addition, we should not forget about the calorie content of food. After all, high-calorie foods contribute to the development of obesity and at the same time contain bad cholesterol. And as doctors have already proven, excess weight is one of the causes of type 2 diabetes.
When heat treated and the consistency of the product changes, its GI increases slightly. But there are a number of vegetables that are recommended raw and contraindicated when cooked. These include carrots and beets.
Index division scale:
For gout and diabetes, the diet consists only of foods with low indexes; it is rarely allowed to include foods with an average value in the diet.
High GI is strictly prohibited, as it can significantly increase blood glucose levels in a short time.
The basis of daily nutrition consists of fresh, boiled and stewed vegetables. They are rich in fiber, vitamins and microelements. In addition, most vegetables have a low index, which allows you to prepare many different dishes from them.
One of the popular dishes for gout and diabetes is a vegetable stew for type 2 diabetics cooked in a saucepan. This dish can be prepared all year round, choosing seasonal vegetables, as they contain the most valuable substances.
By changing just one ingredient in a stew, you can create a new dish. It’s just important to take into account the individual cooking time of each vegetable.
The following vegetables are suitable for stew:
You can add greens to the dish; all of them have a low index. For example:
Vegetables will also be an excellent complete snack if you make a salad from them. One of the vegetable salad options is presented below.
The following ingredients will be required:
Grate the carrots on a coarse grater and dice the egg into large cubes. Finely chop the Beijing cabbage and greens. Cut the onion into half rings and soak for 15 minutes in vinegar and water, in a one to one ratio. Squeeze the onion from the marinade and mix with other ingredients. Sprinkle everything with lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Season the salad with unsweetened yogurt.
If you add vegetables to meat or fish, you can easily prepare holiday dishes for diabetics suffering from gout. For example, eggplant stuffed with meat, pike on a vegetable bed and casseroles.
The video in this article presents recipes that are suitable for gout and diabetes.
Eat foods low in purines
The purine content of food plays an important role in the nutrition of gout patients. A gout diet is necessary to keep uric acid levels in the blood under control.
Patients with gout should always monitor their purine levels, otherwise an acute attack may follow, accompanied by terrible and unpleasant symptoms. To understand why a diet is needed, you need to know the whole process.
How is uric acid formed, released, and accumulated?
From the above, remember that high purine levels are the cause of high uric acid concentrations. This means that it is necessary to eat foods containing low amounts of purines.
All doctors will answer “yes” to this question. Of course, following dietary recommendations is the patient’s choice, but following a special diet will only have a positive effect on the patient’s general condition. A gout diet will help prevent acute attacks of the disease.
Thanks to the diet, many patients then do not require drug treatment or their use is reduced several times. What allows the patient to continue life without any restrictions, the main thing is to follow a diet, eating only healthy foods.
Especially a diet for gout is an integral part of treatment if the patient is obese. A too strict diet will only contribute to a new acute outbreak of an attack of the disease. In this case, the diet is regulated individually, since it is aimed not only at restoring and reducing purines, but also at weight loss.
By adhering to the following rules, you can protect yourself from gout. Dietary food is required. Without it, treatment will be useless.
Rules of thumb for gout patients:
Many foods containing high levels of purines should be eliminated from the diet. Reducing their consumption will normalize their levels and uric acid in the blood, which will lead to a gradual reduction in the symptoms of the disease. In addition to meat products, many types of fish also contain high amounts of purines. To better understand what you're up against, Table 1 has been created to describe the amount of purines in foods and the level of uric acid in the body after eating a purine-rich food.
For gout, diet is the most important element of comprehensive treatment. Improper nutrition is considered one of the main etiological factors of this pathology, and therefore eliminating this cause helps to cure a person. When nutrition is optimized, gout is treated most effectively with medications. A properly composed menu is a guarantee of getting rid of acute attacks. Traditional medicine is rich in inventions, so even a reduced diet can be tasty and nutritious.
Gout is a systemic pathology that occurs when protein metabolism is disrupted. As a result of colloid imbalance, processes develop that lead to increased uric acid in the blood and the deposition of its salts (urates) in the joints. Normally, colloidal equilibrium is established in the human body, which is ensured by the production of protective substances by the kidneys that increase the dissolving ability of urine.
The appearance of uric acid and subsequent urates is associated with the breakdown of purine, the main part of which comes from food. A healthy body ensures their excretion in the urine, preventing precipitation and accumulation in the blood.
Gout develops when the body cannot cope with the products of purine metabolism. The main reasons for this phenomenon are renal dysfunction and excessive penetration of purines from food.
With increased uric acid, that is, with the progression of the pathology, the level of acidity in the body increases. The urates formed from it gradually accumulate in the joints, causing inflammation, swelling, severe pain, and redness.
The onset of the disease is signaled by an acute attack, the recurrence of which can be expected in a few months. If adequate therapeutic measures are not taken, exacerbations occur more and more often. Gout becomes a recurrent pathology, and its subsequent progression can cause chronic gouty arthritis. This development of the disease leads to the destruction of cartilage tissue and the appearance of a cavity formation with urate crystals.
Food products are an important cause of elevated uric acid in the blood, acting as the main supplier of purines to the body. When a person allows himself constant poor nutrition, gout will not take long to develop. A number of foods contain large amounts of purine; excessive amounts of them for a long time lead to the fact that the kidneys can no longer cope with the production of the necessary enzymes to neutralize it.
In addition to the direct supply of the active reagent, nutrition for gout can cause additional harm, provoking relapses of attacks. Food can increase acidity levels. Products containing oxalic acid are especially successful in this. And the general metabolic process largely determines nutrition - gout is a consequence of its violation. Another factor is salt.
Excessive salt consumption inhibits the penetration of necessary enzymes into the blood, which further aggravates the resulting imbalance.
A therapeutic diet for gout is a necessary condition for effective therapy. The fight against purine metabolism involves the following basic principles of nutrition:
Specialist nutritionists believe that in case of gout, nutrition should be organized taking into account the following recommendations on diet and eating regimen:
It is also advisable to consider the following additional recommendations:
When organizing therapeutic nutrition, you need to take into account that for gout, foods with high levels of purines and acidity are strictly prohibited:
Vegetables that should be removed from the menu:
Some products have relative contraindications for gout. They can be included in the diet if they have undergone special processing. When planning a diet for gout, the table of products with special conditions for use is as follows:
Gout is a disease of the joints (usually in the legs), which manifests itself as a result of metabolic disorders. It more often affects men over 40 than women.
After making a diagnosis, the doctor prescribes treatment that reduces the level of uric acid salts and also prevents attacks.
Treatment is carried out by a rheumatologist together with a therapist. For gouty arthritis in the legs, the following is prescribed:
But the most important thing is nutrition for gout. The fact is that if you continue to eat foods that provoke additional production of uric acid, then all treatment will go down the drain.
Unfortunately, modern treatment does not completely eliminate the disease. It only stops the development of the chronic form, and also dulls the pain during exacerbation.
The main cause of gout is the presence of a large amount of uric acid in the body, which does not have time to be excreted. Its excess in the form of salts is deposited in the joint tissue.
Uric acid is produced by the liver from purine bases. From it, the acid enters the gastrointestinal tract, is absorbed into the blood, and only then is excreted from the body with urine. If a failure occurs at any stage, a certain amount of uric acid will remain in the person’s body. It will gradually accumulate, and then be deposited as sodium urate in the joints.
Reasons for the accumulation of uric acid in the body:
Treatment of gouty arthritis is necessarily accompanied by diet.
Uric acid is a product of the processing of purine bases. Therefore, to reduce its level, drug treatment alone will not be enough. It is necessary to exclude from your diet foods that contain a lot of purines.
If a person knows that he has a hereditary predisposition to gout, he has the opportunity to avoid developing the disease. To do this, you need to try to follow the diet prescribed for gout.
A patient diagnosed with gout must be prescribed a diet. Moreover, food during periods of exacerbation is greatly limited - nutrition is needed that will contribute to the alkalization of urine, thereby helping the body eliminate purines.
What are the rules:
Compliance with these rules will also help improve your gastrointestinal tract and reduce weight.
What should be included in the daily diet menu for gout:
Gout is a disease associated with a violation of the metabolism of purines, from which, during their breakdown, a large amount of uric acid is formed. Urates (uric acid salts) are deposited in the joints and cause joint damage. Gout is an incurable disease, but following a diet can help cope with frequent attacks.
The diet for gout has the following goal: limiting the intake of purines into the body, the formation of uric acid and its salts from them, and promotes a shift in urine towards an alkaline reaction.
The diet for gout according to Pevzner corresponds to treatment table No. 6. The daily energy value of the diet is 2700 – 2800 kcal, and its chemical composition is as follows:
You need to eat 4-5 times a day, and the amount of food should be small at each meal. This eliminates overeating, which can provoke a painful attack.
You should drink at least 1.5 - 2 liters of free fluid per day, which helps reduce the content of uric acid in the body and remove it through the kidneys.
It is necessary to avoid drinking alcoholic beverages, especially beer and carbonated wines, as these alcoholic drinks slow down the removal of uric acid from the body and can provoke an attack of the disease.
Salt should be limited (no more than 10 grams per day), since salt complicates the functioning of the kidneys, and, consequently, the removal of uric acid and urates from the body.
Weight needs to be normalized; obesity and excess body weight provoke frequent attacks of the disease, and the load on already sore joints also increases.
Increased sugar consumption not only increases weight, but also affects the course of gout.
If possible, you should stop taking animal proteins that are rich in purines and replace them with plant-based ones.
Foods that are prohibited or limited are those that are rich in purines. You should also not drink strong tea or coffee (this affects the cardiovascular system); soups and broths made from mushrooms and meat are also prohibited, since purines turn into liquid when cooked. At the same time, fasting should be avoided, which leads to excessive breakdown of proteins and the formation of large amounts of uric acid.
List of prohibited products:
The list of permitted products includes those that normalize purine metabolism, which prevents attacks of the disease.
The menu is predominantly vegetarian, with some concessions, since vegetables contain virtually no purines.
Once a week it is necessary to observe a fasting day (curd, fruit), which not only has a positive effect on the removal of uric acid from the body, but also helps normalize weight.
Allowed products reduce the load on the kidneys, alkalinize the urine and blood, which neutralizes uric acid.
List of permitted products:
A diet followed for gout helps reduce relapses of the disease, relieves painful attacks and normalizes the functioning of the urinary and cardiovascular systems.
In addition, a treatment table for illness normalizes weight and is one of the principles of a healthy lifestyle.
A diet for gout affects your well-being and somewhat rejuvenates the body. Also, following the treatment table allows you to stop taking many medications.
The consequences of not following a diet for gout include:
Find out your probable illnesses and which doctor you should go to.
Gout affects mainly middle-aged men. This disease can cause a lot of discomfort, affecting the joints of the hands, toes and other larger ones. A diet for gout and knowledge of the table of foods that can be included in it are important for the patient, because it is poor nutrition that sometimes causes exacerbations of the disease. What you can’t eat if you have gout is usually stated by your doctor, but not every person follows the restrictions and prohibitions. It is food and alcohol that often become the trigger for an attack, so information about what you can eat with gout can help you feel “great” for a long time.
Drawing up and following a diet for gout is considered as part of the treatment of this disease. The pathology develops against the background of salt deposition in the joints due to improper purine metabolism and excessive formation of urates - uric acid salts. They are found in abundance in many foods, which is why it is important to evaluate what you should not eat if you have gout in order to prevent excess salts from entering the body.
The food table, or rather, the diet for gout, is in accordance with treatment table No. 6 . Basic rules of this diet:
Knowing the principles of what you can eat if you have gout is not the only necessary path to success. It is also important to follow the diet and other subtleties and nuances. So, a person should eat little by little, but 4-5 times a day, no less. You should not starve or overeat: this will only worsen metabolic disorders. If there are no problems with the kidneys or heart, then you need to drink 2-3 liters of water per day (the last figure refers to periods of relapse of the disease).
There are big differences between the patient’s menu during an attack and the diet outside of an exacerbation.
In the acute phase , the list of what not to eat for gout is impressive. It almost completely excludes food of animal origin. In the first days, only semi-liquid cereals, pureed vegetables, and fruits may be present in the diet. After 2-3 days, low-fat cottage cheese and kefir are included in the diet in combination with vegetable and fruit dishes. This type of nutrition leads to alkalization of urine and improvement of a person’s condition.
Beyond exacerbation. Below is a list of products that experts impose bans of varying degrees outside of gout exacerbation: