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Arthritis of any sort is painful, but gout is probably tops in that department. Forget shoes and socks, bed sheets cause too much pain. If you can walk, it’s not very far and definitely not easy. That’s because gout usually attacks the right big toe first.

Once the doctor has diagnosed the problem, treatment options are discussed. If you want to avoid a repeat performance, prepare for your life to be changed. Your choices of food and drink will be limited, as will the use of some medications and herbal remedies. You may even have problems with your normal exercise routine.

Gout is caused by excess uric acid, the waste product from the purine found in protein. If the kidneys don’t filter it all out, it forms into crystals. After they hit a certain weight, they become to heavy and get dropped off into joints. The irritation caused by the sharp crystals are the symptoms of gout.

You can limit the number of flare ups with a careful diet. Avoiding some foods can help, and adding or increasing others will also be beneficial. Here are a few examples:

Alcohol: With the exception of limited amounts of red wine, alcohol should be avoided. Beer and its cousins are particularly bad, as they do two things; dehydrate and provide extra purine. Dehydration is one way to ensure a new bout.

Aspirin: This pain killing product can change how well your kidneys filter out uric acid, leading to an excess amount in the blood. Low dose aspirin (81 mgs and under) may not be as bad as higher dosages.

Cherries: This fruit and tart cherry juice may be a tasty way of getting rid of a gout flare up and preventing future ones. Recent studies indicate that cherries may significantly reduce uric acid levels in the blood and increase excretion of it.

Protein: Foods high in protein, including meat, seafood and vegetable sources, contain purine. Organ and processed meats contain the highest amounts, but even beans and other vegetables have some. It’s not known if vegetable purine acts the same way that meat purine does, but it is a good idea to watch even those foods.

Diet is important in getting rid of gout. But knowing what makes a good diet is confusing. Here, you’ll find a recommended gout diet that lists foods to avoid and foods you can eat, to help you get rid of gout.

Why is diet just so important when trying to get rid of gout? It is all because of chemical compounds called ‘purines’. These help to convert your food to energy and your genes to protein among other things. During this metabolizing process, they break down and uric acid is produced as a byproduct.

And, as you probably already know, high levels of uric acid can lead to the formation of uric acid crystals in your joints that cause the symptoms of gout. So, as a gout sufferer, you need to lower your uric acid levels to help get rid of your gout.

Now, purines also exist in your food, as well as your body’s cells, so that you need to reduce your intake of those foods that are high in purines. But there are foods which have relatively low purine levels which you can eat without any problems.

In general, the foods with the highest purine concentrations are those that have high protein levels. This includes fatty red meat, offal, game, poultry, some fish, shellfish, legumes, yeast, etc. Alcohol should also be avoided.

In particular, it is recommended that you avoid venison, pheasant, partridge, heart, liver, kidneys, anchovies, sardines, herring, mackerel, broth, gravy, shrimp, scallops, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, soy, oatmeal, mincemeat, meat extracts, and yeast including yeast extracts.

And the foods, with low purine levels, that you can safely eat, generally fall within; low-fat dairy products, high vitamin C foods, essential fatty acids, complex carbohydrates, most green leafy vegetables, and fruit.

So typical foods you can eat as part of a recommended gout diet are: tuna, flax-seed, nuts, rice, pasta, cereals, potatoes, red bell peppers, red cabbage, green cabbage, kale, parsley, celery, low-fat yoghurt, low-fat cheese, low-fat milk (not soy), cherries, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, etc.

But there are other important issues that affect your propensity to get gout such as; your lifestyle, your weight position, your family history of gout and/or arthritis, medical conditions, medications, etc.

And preventing recurring gout is really important, because frequent gout attacks can result in permanently damaged joints over time, as well as kidney problems such as very painful kidney stones.

You’re in luck though. There’s a special gout report available online [see below] that has all the information you need in one place. It is what thousands of ex-gout victims worldwide have successfully used to prevent their gout returning. It also contains a special 2 hour gout pain relief program.

And it uses fully-researched, totally natural methods. So that you benefit two ways:

(1) you get rid of your excruciating pain very fast, and,

(2) you prevent your gout returning, so that you reduce the risk of permanent damage.