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It Can Happen To Anyone – GOUT!!
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Now a bit of a conundrum. Here I am advocating a healthy lifestyle and a diet of nutrient rich food. I follow (more or less) my own recommendations on healthy eating which can be found on my website at www.thenutritiondietclub.com. I don’t expect anyone to be perfect, least of all me. I eat healthily most of the time, exercise and walk up to 1 1/2 hours daily and consider myself reasonably healthy at 66 years.
As I said I practice what I preach though not perfect – who is. I may have a couple of glasses of wine 2 or 3 times a week and the odd bowl of crisps. I don’t eat sugar (except fruit) and avoid all processed and junk foods. I only eat small portions of meat once twice a week, fish the same and the other days none at all just vegetarian. So why did I wake up one day at the end of November with GOUT!! Yes gout in my left foot.
That’s the conundrum. Gout is supposed to be caused by too much purine high foods. Red meat, offal (liver etc), alcohol (beer more than wine) all of which I ate in moderation. So if diet is to be the cure how to improve the diet and keep it practical and realistic. Trying to get any information is confusing as it is in anything to do with diet and health. One study will say one thing, another the opposite. We are told to eat more oily fish, yet sardines, mackerel, herrings are in the list of foods to avoid if you have gout.
We are all different and variety of foods should be taken, eating more fruit and vegetables, avoiding processed and junk foods most of the time. Everything in moderation. I can’t pinpoint a particular cause for the gout attack. However the initial flare up and pain has subsided after a few days of self treatment. So far no repeat of the problem. I was not as bad as the picture thankfully.
After a search on the web for answers and getting lots of good ideas I think I solved the problem by drinking a large glass of water with the juice of fresh lemons then a little later a glass of water with bi-carbonate of soda. I did this every 1/2 hour for a couple of hours to make my body more alkaline. This was meant to help flush out the uric acid crystals from the joint. Then resorting to modern medicine (anti- inflammatory tablets) for two days. Together the problem seems to have been solved quickly.
I am now looking again at my own diet and drink alkaline water. In fact finding it difficult to change my diet, drinking alkaline water seems to be the main difference and presumably enough to solve the problem. I drink mainly bottled water and what I did not know until I looked into things, bottled water is in fact generally acid. Now I add PH drops to my water to make it alkaline. You can also buy alkaline water filters. Hopefully this will stay a one off attack and I will keep you informed.
New Year – New Diet
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Well the holiday/festive season is over and a new year 2012 is upon us. Many people will be thinking of all the things they will be doing in the new year and a new diet is usually top of the list. A new year resolution to lose weight or eat more healthily is the first thought especially after the guilt of all that food and drink over Christmas and New Year.
The papers and magazines all had their diet stories and diet plans for a new you and of course a new diet pill is out to make it easy for you to lose those pounds. Once again it is an attack on fat. The new pill like many others is supposed to work by interfering with the body’s ability to absorb fat. This is not the answer. The body needs fat for various reasons but the right fats. Stop using cooking oils and margarine and spreads. Cut out the fried foods and use olive oil and a little butter. The brain is made up of a high proportion of fat and we need the fat soluble vitamins – Vitamin A, D, E, K and essential fatty acids. Why do we keep getting told to take our omega 3 oil. Vitamin D is also important for many health reasons including heart health and there are always stories about the need for Vitamin D.
The other problem with a pill is that even if it worked it does not change your diet. Which is why you got fat in the first place. If you have also changed your diet, well forget the pill. A diet of healthy highly nutritious foods as I keep recommending is the way to achieve a healthy weight loss. Plenty of fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains if you tolerate grains and legumes. Eat a wide variety of foods and as many as possible raw. You can learn more about a healthy nutritious diet at http://www.thenutritiondietclub.com. No need for a pill and so you save money as well! Happy and Healthy New Year.
