Being overweight is a common factor in most gout patients. A big reason for the connection between the two is diet. High purine foods are a major contributing factor to gout. Many of these same high purine foods are not healthy and aid in weight gain.
Risky foods such as bacon and hamburgers should not be part of your diet. However, if you wish to continue eating them, it would be advisable to only eat them occasionally. These foods not only have a big purine content, they also are loaded with fats that make it harder to lose extra weight.
Drinking multiple sodas a day increases your risk of gout by 50%. The empty calories also add to your weight problem, further increasing your risk of gout by putting more stress on your kidneys. Not to mention, high sugar content has been linked with increased risk of cancer.
Diet sodas are not a good option if you drink regular soda. Diet pops can have a negative effect on losing weight. These seemingly helpful drinks make you hungrier and some health professionals actually think diet sodas are worse than drinking regular pop. Not to mention the chemicals used in diet drinks have been found in studies to increase your risk of cancer. Just don’t drink pop. Water is a much better alternative.
You can keep the coffee. 4-6 cups of coffee was found in a Canadian study to lower uric acid levels by 50%. Decaffeinated coffee was also found to lower uric acid. I personally drink organic Green Mountain decaffeinated coffee. I use my own grinder and grind the grounds at home.
Making drastic changes at the same time is usually not a good way to go about things. Most people are not good at making such big changes quickly and therefore get discouraged and quit. Try for losing one pound a week. This is fairly simple to accomplish and you can make small changes instead of big ones. You will be more likely to stay on a healthy lifestyle regimen.
Lowering your risk for disease whether it is gout or heart disease can be accomplished if you take small steps. While you won’t see immediate improvement you will be more likely to keep on course to long term health. Your kidneys will reward you by working more productively which will reduce your risk of getting gout attacks.
There are many alternative and natural methods of improving your overall health through diet. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables not only help you lose weight, but also have nutritious properties that help you fight the symptoms and root problem of gout.
