Improper nutrition, combined with impaired absorption of nutrients, leads to the progression of gout. This disease develops when the degree of uric acid in the blood exceeds the permissible limits (for men over 420 μmol / l, for women - 350 μmol / l). The disorder of metabolic processes leads to the fact that salts of this acid settle on the walls of the intestines, blood vessels, on the articular surfaces, and damage important organs of human life.
Over time, the disease becomes chronic with frequent relapses. In the acute period, patients experience excruciating pain at the site of the localization of the pathological process. A diet for gout helps to normalize uric acid levels and reduce the incidence of relapses.
Why diet for gout?
An important task of therapeutic measures is to reduce the nature, frequency of manifestations of the disease. This can be achieved by reducing the content of uric acid in the body.
The development of gouty attacks is caused by:
- consuming large amounts of foods high in purine substances;
- metabolic disorders.
Optimization of the diet allows you to start the correct processes of assimilation and excretion of substances. Therapeutic measures aimed at eliminating the causes of the development of the disease are closely interconnected with the observance of the restrictions of some food addictions. With the help of a properly composed dietary menu, you can slow down the progression of the disease.
The food that makes up the daily diet of a person should include foods that have a large amount of substances beneficial to the body.
Nutritional therapy for gout is aimed at reducing symptomatic manifestations by eliminating the food components that provoke them. The products that a person eats every day have a tremendous effect on the state of health in general, is responsible for the chemical processes that take place in the human body throughout its entire life.
What should not be eaten with gout?
Based on the studies, scientists have identified a list of products that directly provoke the primary development of the disease and its further progression.
The list of what not to eat for gout includes:
- smoked spicy cheese and cheese product;
- cholesterol-rich meat and bone products (pulp of young animals and pigs, hooves, buldyzhki);
- meat and bone fats, ear;
- fish with a high fat content (sardines, sprats);
- pickled vegetables, pickled fruits (cabbage, watermelons, cucumbers, apples);
- hot, cold smoked products;
- legumes (peas, beans, soybeans, lentils);
- greens, which contain oxalic acid (spinach leaves, sorrel, rhubarb root);
- hot spices, sauces;
- some varieties of vegetable crops (Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, radish);
- internal organs of animals obtained during butchering carcasses (kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, brains);
- oat groats;
- products using confectionery fat;
- alcohol of any percentage;
- fruits and berries (grapes, raspberries, figs);
- hot, spicy and ethereal spices (bay leaves, horseradish, chili-pepper);
- fat and oil products of animal origin (lard, margarine, lard);
- canned meat, fish and vegetable products.
If the diet is not balanced or contains a large amount of fatty, spicy or heavy meals for the digestive system, then a person's metabolism may be disrupted.
The list of products, the use of which is recommended to be limited:
- coffee, strong tea;
- butter;
- plums;
- nightshade vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers);
- table salt, granulated sugar;
- mushrooms (exclusively at the time of remission).
To relieve an attack, as well as to maintain a state of remission, it is important to remove the above foods from the diet for a long period.
What can you eat with gout?
List of foods recommended for use by patients with this disease:
- dietary meat products (rabbit, poultry, lean beef);
- lean white fish (pike, pike perch, cod, pollock);
- bran and rye bread;
- chicken eggs (excluding yolk);
- cereal dishes (rice, wheat, buckwheat, millet, pearl barley);
- fresh vegetables (beets, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, potatoes);
- seasonal fruits, berries (watermelon, melon, apricots, strawberries, peaches, cherries, blackberries, green apples);
- pasta;
- kernels of nuts (hazel, walnuts, cedar);
- herbal teas and decoctions (Dubrovnik, basil, catnip);
- fermented milk products, cottage cheese;
- freshly squeezed juices, fruit drinks, compotes;
- cooked tomatoes;
- spices (turmeric, fennel, basil);
- vegetable oil (olive, rapeseed).
Nutritional therapy for gout will help the patient to quickly get rid of unpleasant and painful symptoms at home.
In limited quantities, natural honey is useful for gout. This product is suitable as a sugar substitute.
Honey has many beneficial properties:
- immunostimulating;
- antioxidant;
- improving metabolic processes;
- bactericidal.
During the acute period, do not abuse this beekeeping product. Patients with this disease need to eat foods rich in vitamins, trace elements, amino acids. A useful supplement is pharmaceutical fish oil for gout.
General food rules
Eliminating certain forbidden foods from your usual menu does not guarantee instant relief. In addition, the list of products varies, depending on the stage and severity of the course of the disease. So, nutrition for gout during an exacerbation involves compliance with more stringent restrictions than during remission.
There is a common set of rules for patients with this ailment, the observance of which is important in diet therapy:
- Eat food in small portions several times a day at short intervals (5-6 times). Hunger causes an increase in acetone in the urine. And this can aggravate the course of the disease.
- Chew food thoroughly, do not overeat.
- Limit the amount of table salt used in the preparation of dishes (up to 5 grams per day). Salt has the property of retaining fluid in the tissues, which, in turn, entails the deposition of uric acid salts.
- Optimize body fluid balance. To do this, it is recommended to drink it at least 2 liters per day.
- Arrange fasting days. Preferably vegetable, dairy and fruit (with the exception of those prohibited for consumption).
- Stick to restrictions for a long time, since short-term use of a therapeutic diet is ineffective.
People suffering from severe metabolic disorders and with a history of diabetes and gout need to exclude dishes that cause jumps in uric acid and insulin levels in the blood. The diet for gout and diabetes is designed to reduce these indicators, in order to avoid the development of exacerbations and complications.
How to prepare food properly?
The restriction of the grocery list is not the only item to be observed. It is important to choose the correct cooking method when preparing your meals.
There are no special requirements for the preparation of products, with the exception of meat processing.
Cooking is allowed in the following ways:
- for a couple;
- baking;
- extinguishing;
- boiling;
- languor.
Cooking is contraindicated by:
- frying;
- smoking;
- salting and pickling;
- fermentation.
Do not use stale, burnt foods. The temperature regime of the consumed food should be optimal for food and not exceed the temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. Food should not be rough and tough. If necessary, individual dishes can be chopped using a blender.
Effective diet: menu for every day
Medical nutrition in terms of the content of important components (protein-carbohydrate-fat balance), calories, vitamins, microelements, amino acids should correspond to the physiological needs of patients.
Approximate diet for gout and high uric acid:
1 day
First breakfast: boiled cod, mashed potatoes, black bread, white cabbage salad, seasoned with sour cream, a cup of weak coffee with saccharin.
Second breakfast: cottage cheese casserole, boiled egg, bran bread, tea drink.
For lunch: vegetarian soup with fried roots and potatoes, beef stew, buckwheat porridge, fresh cucumber, 1 apple.
Dinner: carrot cutlets, pasta, milk, biscuit biscuits.
At night: 200 ml of kefir.
2nd day
First breakfast: stewed white cabbage, 1 boiled egg, black bread, cappuccino.
Second breakfast: cappuccino, biscuit biscuits.
For lunch: lean borscht, bran bread, baked poultry fillet, boiled rice, fruit jelly.
For dinner: stewed potatoes with vegetables, vegetable casserole, bran bread with butter, a glass of broth.
At night: 250 ml of curdled milk.
Day 3
First breakfast: vegetable salad (white cabbage, carrots, apple), weak coffee.
Second breakfast: cottage cheese with sour cream, rosehip broth.
For lunch: barley soup with sour cream, steam cutlet, mashed potatoes, berry jelly, whole grain bread.
For dinner: carrot cutlets with fruit, semolina casserole, a glass of milk.
Before bed: steamed prunes.
4th day
First breakfast: grated carrots with sour cream, wheat porridge, a glass of green tea.
Second breakfast: dried fruit cutlets, compote, biscuit biscuits.
For lunch: Milk noodles, boiled chicken with baked pumpkin and potatoes, fruit jelly, black bread.
For dinner: baked cheese cakes in the oven, carrot and apple cutlets, a glass of tea with lemon.
At night: 200 ml of warm milk.
Day 5
First breakfast: porridge cooked in buckwheat milk, green tea.
Second breakfast: a glass of fresh carrot.
For lunch: vegetable rice soup with sour cream, boiled beef pulp, beetroot caviar, basil infusion with honey, black bread.
For dinner: pumpkin casserole with sour cream, a glass of weak tea, crackers.
Before bedtime: rosehip infused with honey.
6th day
First breakfast: chicken protein omelet, stewed beets, white bread, a glass of weak coffee.
Second breakfast: zucchini casserole, fruit and berry compote.
Lunch: vegetarian barley soup, boiled potatoes, stewed meatballs, jelly, black bread.
Dinner: rice boiled in milk, a weak tea drink.
Before going to bed: a glass of yogurt.
The standard nutritional regimen is drawn up by a physician. Combination options for dietary allowed meals are varied. Diet number 6 is common for gout. Its main principle is the exclusion of foods and dishes with a high purine component, the addition of alkaline drinks to the diet, and gentle processing during cooking. An independently compiled menu with a restriction on the amount and nature of food can lead to a protracted course of the disease.