Gout Pal Interactive

This is a great question, Christine, that makes me realize how easy it is to overlook the simple things.

Most of the questions I get about gout refer to food in some way or another. Often they are about a specific food, e.g. “Can I eat [insert food item] with gout?”

At the heart of these questions is the belief that there is some link between certain foods and gout.

In a few cases there may be a small link, but for the most part, it simply does not matter.

Yes, that is right. Despite what you may have been told by a physician, or read in the teachings of a gout expert, it does not matter which foods you eat with gout.

What does matter is how much you eat, when you eat it, and the variety of foods that you eat.

Gout does not come from food. It comes from your body. Yes, your body needs food to survive, but the link between food and gout pain is no stronger than the link between food and toothache.

If you become obsessed with food, you are missing the most important factor. You.

You cannot even begin to discuss food, before you address several other issues:

• What is your Body Mass Index?
• How energetic is your lifestyle?
• Has your gout been confirmed?
• How long have you had gout?
• Are you taking any medications, or alternative remedies, for gout?
• Do you have any food allergies?
• What are your regular uric acid test readings?
• How much water, or other fluids, do you drink each day?
• How often do you eat?
• Do you have other medical conditions? If so, are you taking any medications for these?
• Is there any family history of gout or other medical conditions?
• Have you suffered recent trauma, such as a fall or surgery?

With the information above, and possibly a few more factors that I've forgotten for now, you can choose to try help yourself, or pass the information on to someone who can advise you.

Anyone who can help (doctor, nutritionist or other advisor) must ask about the above before talking about specific food items, recipes and diet plans. If they don't, they are not worth listening to.

If you cannot find anyone, post the information here, and I (and, hopefully, other readers) will try to help.

Even with the answers to these questions, when it comes to advice on food and diet, there are another batch of questions. It is a waste of time telling you what to eat if I do not know:

• What do you eat now?
• What do you like?
• What do you dislike?
• Do you prefer to cook, or use ready meals?
• Do you prefer a strict diet plan, or a few good healthy eating strategies?

I've realized that I need to make your choices clearer. I am improving my pages to try and highlight the choices every gout sufferer needs to make, in  food and all other aspects of gout.

For food, this post is a start, and I will strive to improve my gout food and gout diet pages to make your choices clearer. I will soon be addressing the first food question, “what do you eat now”, with a free online food diary. If you want to be amongst the first to use it, subscribe to my email news feed, or gout newsletter.