The so-called uric acid diet is a low-purine diet that avoids foods that cause gout. Here are the foods you should gladly avoid and the foods you should eat as part of a uric acid diet.
The term “uric acid diet” is actually incorrect. What it really means is a diet that helps lower uric acid levels in the blood. And you need to reduce them and keep them at these healthy levels simply because high uric acid levels can lead to the formation of urate crystals in your joints that cause gout symptoms.
Uric acid is formed from the breakdown of important chemical compounds in your body called purines. Your kidneys normally process the acid and excrete the excess out of your body, leaving relatively low levels in your blood. Occasionally, for a number of reasons, they don’t and you end up with higher than normal acid levels which can lead to crystals in your joints and such an unbearable taste.
But here’s the rub, purines also exist in foods in a range of concentrations, from relatively low purine levels to very high levels. So if you suffer from gout, you need to seriously address your diet if you want to lower your uric acid and keep it at lower, healthier levels.
Basically, you should avoid foods that are high in purines and stick to a diet of foods that have relatively low purine concentrations…
YOUR URIC ACID DIET
Here are relatively low-purine foods you can eat as part of a great-tasting diet:
Vegetables; cabbage, parsley, kale, green leafy vegetables, but not cauliflower, spinach, or asparagus.
Foods rich in vitamin C; red peppers, red cabbage, potatoes, oranges, tangerines, etc.
Low fat dairy products; cheese, milk (not soy), yogurt, etc.
Complex carbohydrates; rice, pasta, cereals, breads (not white flour), vegetables and fruits, etc.
Essential fatty acids; seeds, nuts, flaxseeds, tuna, etc.
FOODS TO GLADLY AVOID
You should avoid those foods that are high or very high in purines. Therefore, you should avoid:-
fatty red meat; steaks, roasts, hamburgers, etc.
Play; deer, squirrel, pheasant, grouse, etc.
Poultry; turkey, duck, etc.
offal meat; liver, kidneys, heart, etc.
certain fish; for example, mackerel, herring, anchovies, sardines, etc.
Seafood; shrimp, prawns, scallops, mussels, etc.
dried vegetables
Yeast and yeast products.
Alcohol, particularly beer.
Now, while your ‘uric acid diet’ is a solid foundation to help you control your gout, there are many other issues that can affect the likelihood that you will have more gout attacks. These are things like your weight position, any medications you are taking, any existing medical conditions, your family history, your lifestyle, etc.
And you don’t want to have multiple gout attacks because of the potential dangers of permanent joint damage and kidney problems over time.