Everybody knows about this condition called gout, which is but a form of arthritis. It leads to swelling of the joints, and a pain in the swollen regions. The first swelling appears in the big toe and the pain that one experiences can be excruciating. These pain attacks keep recurring until and unless the gout is completely treated. Gout can not only affect your joints but also your tendons and muscles.

Though gout afflicts both men and women, it usually occurs more in males. If you are wondering what causes this painful condition, then here is the reason. Gout strikes when too much uric acid accumulates in the bloodstream instead of being excreted.

The changes of getting gout increases when you are overweight or when you consume too much alcohol or eat food that is highly rich in purine. A proper diet is probably the best way to control and manage the symptoms of this disease. In fact, if you follow proper gout diet plans from an early stage, you may even be successful in eliminating it without the use of any medicine. Therefore, here is a list of foods which you should and should not eat if you want to make your gout a thing of the past.

Reduce purine intake
Purine levels should be curbed, and this is the first and foremost step in eliminating gout. The gout diet plans should not contain anything that is rich in purine. If you are not sure about which food items contain purine, then understand that meat sources like liver, sweetbreads, and kidneys contain purine, in a broad sense. Fish sources like seafood, herring, anchovies, sprats, sardines, shrimps, crabs, and fish roes are also highly rich in purine. Plant sources like tomatoes, cauliflower, asparagus, pulses, peas, mushrooms, and plums are good sources of purine hence its best to avoid them.

Apart from all these, there are more items in the list like tea, chocolate, oats, whole grain bread, ice-cream, brewer’s yeast, and fizzy drinks which are also purine-rich. Now that you have gone through all the sources, you must be thinking what to eat as the list covers almost everything. Well, doctors don’t recommend elimination of these foods from your diet altogether. Instead, it is advised that you don’t consume these too frequently. Moderation is the thing to remember.

Avoid beer
If you love guzzling down cans of beer and yet suffer from the painful gout conditions, then you have a pretty difficult situation in hand. Beer and gout never go hand in hand. Apart from increasing the levels of uric acid, beer also makes it difficult for the excretory system to remove the uric acid from the blood.

Consume low-fat dairy products
Up till now, you have been reading about what you shouldn’t eat, but gout does allow you to eat the low-fat dairy products. In fact, you must definitely include them in your gout diet plans as they can help you eliminate gout. These low-fat dairy products can do miracles in reducing swellings and also giving you relief from the excruciating pain. Therefore, don’t think twice and put that mozzarella cheese in your gout diet plans at once.

Drink black cherry juice
Are you aware of the numerous advantages that cherries have? If not, then you must get yourself a bit updated on that fact. Treating gout is what cherries are known for. So, they are sure to be included if you are making gout diet plans. According to various studies that have been performed, cherries have been proven to reduce the risk of gout by approximately 35%. Cherries can reduce the inflamed joints and also subside the pain. So, include cherries in your gout diet plans and see the miracle for yourself.

Increase the intake of magnesium
Magnesium is a mineral that should be taken in adequate amounts if you are suffering from gout. As everybody knows, magnesium is alkaline in nature. It can effectively reduce the formation of uric acid in the blood. Even in acute cases of gout, doctors advise consuming foods rich in magnesium. You can even take magnesium supplements apart from including magnesium-rich foods in your gout diet plans.

So, now that you have full knowledge of what to eat and what to avoid, start your gout diet plans at once and start experiencing the changes in your body. If you are obese, then exercise regularly and aim at reducing a few pounds along with maintaining a proper diet and you are bound to get good results. One last thing, do not give up your diet plan because you do not get instant results. Its always good to wait and watch for at least for a fortnight.