Thread: Does anyone here have gout?

"Julie Bove" <[email protected]> wrote:

> I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the
> worst ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was
> unwittingly serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce.
> The chicken may have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And
> I've been making a lot of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>
> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I
> know that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs
> might be okay. But some people react to them.
>
> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed
> things about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>
> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just
> prefers the foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit.
> He is a big fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.



Julie,

I have gout but haven't had a crippling attack in years. I drink lots of
water so that keeps the uric acid crystal buildup at bay. But it's just
under the skin waiting to erupt.

There are plenty of gout and purine food ranking websites that exist,
rather than recreate here from scratch.

There are medications that mask the effect of gout, allopurinol being one.
I chose to cross foods off, benefiting my weight loss effort in the
process.

I know what I can and can't eat and wouldn't trust anyone to cook for me.
That's another reason I don't dine out.

Your friend should know this.

Your hit and miss approach amounts to his gout torture. Since you don't
know, don't cook for him.

I've said it before, I wouldn't wish gout on the enemy!

Best,

Andy

On 8/29/2012 2:49 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
> I have to cook for a person with gout.

Allopurinol is my friend.

Does cheese bother you?

No. Spinach, swiss chard, and certain other vegetables taste metallic
and nasty to me. I assume that's a warning so I eat them in moderation,
seldom.

>
> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers the
> foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a big
> fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.
>
>

He has gout because he eats those foods. Ask HIM what he is willing to
eat and willing to suffer if he chooses wrong. You aren't his doctor.
You know if he doesn't get what he wants, he'll stop out to eat.

gloria p

Julie Bove <[email protected]> wrote:

>I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the worst
>ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was unwittingly
>serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The chicken may
>have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've been making a lot
>of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>
>I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
>that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be okay.
>But some people react to them.
>
>I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
>chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed things
>about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>
>What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater.

The good news is designing a gout diet is pretty straightforward.
The bad news is that there is a lot of misinformation out there.

Here is a summary of what you need to know:

Firstly, all persons with gout should normally be on lifetime
uric-acid control medication, with periodic blood monitoring.
The purpose of the diet is to lower the serum uric acid even
further, but not many people with gout can rely on diet alone.

(Some can, but usually after decades of medication treatment, which
has finally reduced the stored uric acid in their tissues.)

On the other hand, some people with gout rely on medication
alone and simply ignore diet. If their blood work continues
to be okay, there is no real problem with this, other than
one might be using higher dosages of the drugs than would
otherwise be necessary.

Assuming one wants to address diet, the three components that need
to be restricted for a gout diet are: purines, alcohol, and fructose.

Purines are found in almost all protein sources and some vegetable sources.

Among protein sources, the only ones that is completely purine-free is
dairy. Egg whites also contain no purine. Everything else
that has protein also has purines, but in somewhat different
ratios.

Among vegetables, there are some with more purines than others --
you've already identified a couple such as asparagus and mushrooms.

Given with this information, you can go in several directions planning
a diet but the likely outcome is as follows:

1) The diet must contain the daily value of protein, but not much more.
The DV of protein is 50 to 60 grams.

2) A significant fraction of the protein should come from dairy.
(In my case, I try to get half my protein from dairy.)

3) Frutose (including all sweets) and alcohol should be cut back.

4) Vegetables are okay but avoid mass quantities of those vegetables
known to be high purine. Starches are okay (unlike sugar which is
one-half fructose, starches do not contain much fructose). Fats
are okay.

Some meat products, such as organ meats, are particularly high
in purines. On the other hand, some such as sausages or salami
are relatively low, because they are high fat without much protein.
The purines are associated with the protein part of the meat.

Previously, I posted a list of purine content vs. protein content
for various foods and I will see if I can locate that and re-post.


Steve

On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:49:25 -0700, "Julie Bove"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the worst
> ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was unwittingly
> serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The chicken may
> have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've been making a lot
> of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>
> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
> that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be okay.
> But some people react to them.
>
> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed things
> about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>
> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers the
> foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a big
> fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.
>

That will change when he gets tired of having gout attacks. In the
mean time, don't bother because he won't appreciate what you're trying
to do anyway.

It seems like everything has purines in it in one degree or another.
The first thing he has to figure out what his triggers are and then
you can work from there. My husband can't eat more than one piece of
shellfish or he'll have twinges the next day and he limits himself to
one beer if it's a social drinking situation. Red meat (beef) isn't
as bad, but we only have it a couple of times a month because if we
have it a couple of times a week a couple of weeks in a row he can
feel his body start to complain (not an attack, but getting ready for
one). My husband *loves* mushrooms and they don't trigger his gout,
so I put twice as many as I used to in sauces and gravies now (by
request). We'd eat more fish if I liked it better and was willing to
cook it... but I don't and I'm not.

We eat a lot of chicken, so I have a myriad of recipes for that. We
could eat chicken every day and not get bored because the recipes are
so different.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On 29-Aug-2012, gloria p <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 8/29/2012 2:49 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
> > I have to cook for a person with gout.
>
> Allopurinol is my friend.

Amen to that; I haven't had a gout episode since starting on allopurinol 20
years ago.
--

Change Cujo to Juno in email address.

On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:49:04 GMT, l, not -l wrote:

> On 29-Aug-2012, gloria p <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> On 8/29/2012 2:49 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
>>> I have to cook for a person with gout.
>>
>> Allopurinol is my friend.
>
> Amen to that; I haven't had a gout episode since starting on allopurinol 20
> years ago.

I'm surprised I don't have gout since I'm so pro-meat. It probably
has something to do with all the water I drink - usually about 2
gallons a day.

-sw

"Julie Bove" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:k1kl2m$7hs$[email protected]..
>I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the
>worst ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was unwittingly
>serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The chicken may
>have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've been making a
>lot of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>
> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
> that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be
> okay. But some people react to them.
>
> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed
> things about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>
> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers
> the foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a
> big fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.


Just Google purines and avoid foods high in them. It is not all seafood
that is bad it is specifically shellfish. Beef is not so bad either but
offal is. Tomatoes are bad.

http://www.acumedico.com/purine.htm

"Mark Thorson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> Julie Bove wrote:
>>
>> I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the
>> worst
>> ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was unwittingly
>> serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The chicken may
>> have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've been making a
>> lot
>> of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>
> What's wrong with asparagus? It's meat, eggs, and cheese
> that you've got to watch out for.
>
>> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
>> that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be
>> okay.
>> But some people react to them.
>
> What's wrong with spinach? I think you're confusing gout
> with kidney stones. Gout can cause kidney stones, but
> it's a different type of stone than the ones caused by
> eating spinach.
>
> Eggs are definitely NOT okay. Tofu is bad, but not
> as bad as meat and eggs. Anything that's high in protein
> is a potential problem.
>
>> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
>> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed
>> things
>> about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>
> Yes, cheese is no good when it comes to gout. Hard,
> fermented cheeses are worse than fatty fresh cheeses.
> Chicken and turkey, like all meats, are bad.
>
>> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers
>> the
>> foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a big
>> fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.
>
> All vegetables, fruit, and carbs are fine. The foods
> which must be restricted are meat, eggs, and cheese.
>
> Gout is caused by build-up of the waste products of
> metabolizing organic nitrogen, which comes mostly from
> protein. Normally, this is processed into urea which
> then goes out in the urine. But if the level of urea
> gets too high, it is converted into uric acid which gets
> deposited as crystals in the joints, which is gout.
>
> The best way to handle gout by far is PREVENTION. It's
> so easy to get gout and so painful to suffer through.
> Nearly all of my gout attacks were preceded by
> overindulging in meat. I remember many times thinking
> "I wonder if this will give me gout", and pretty much
> every time the answer was YES. I'm reeeaaallly careful
> to watch my meat consumption nowdays.
>
> I've tried the alleged cherry juice remedy. Didn't do
> a thing for me.


It's food high in purines that are the problem. I got gout from eating too
many tomatoes. And raw cherry juice fixed me up fast. You have to have the
raw stuff not the cherry juice beverage you find in most stores. At the
time TJs sold it but like everything else good they dropped it from the
inventory.

Mark Thorson <[email protected]> wrote:

-snip-
>
>All vegetables, fruit, and carbs are fine. The foods
>which must be restricted are meat, eggs, and cheese.

Because it is tomato season, I'll just mention them. They have no
purines, but are acidic. Acid triggers some folks' gout.

Cherry tomatoes are generally higher in acid than the big boys and
their ilk.

Jim

"Andy" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]..
> "Julie Bove" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the
>> worst ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was
>> unwittingly serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce.
>> The chicken may have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And
>> I've been making a lot of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>>
>> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I
>> know that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs
>> might be okay. But some people react to them.
>>
>> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
>> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed
>> things about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>>
>> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just
>> prefers the foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit.
>> He is a big fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.
>
>
>
> Julie,
>
> I have gout but haven't had a crippling attack in years. I drink lots of
> water so that keeps the uric acid crystal buildup at bay. But it's just
> under the skin waiting to erupt.
>
> There are plenty of gout and purine food ranking websites that exist,
> rather than recreate here from scratch.
>
> There are medications that mask the effect of gout, allopurinol being one.
> I chose to cross foods off, benefiting my weight loss effort in the
> process.
>
> I know what I can and can't eat and wouldn't trust anyone to cook for me.
> That's another reason I don't dine out.
>
> Your friend should know this.
>
> Your hit and miss approach amounts to his gout torture. Since you don't
> know, don't cook for him.
>
> I've said it before, I wouldn't wish gout on the enemy!

Well I am the cook which is why I am asking. I did try looking online but
mostly I found websites trying to sell me a book.

Julie Bove wrote:
>
> I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the worst
> ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was unwittingly
> serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The chicken may
> have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've been making a lot
> of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!

What's wrong with asparagus? It's meat, eggs, and cheese
that you've got to watch out for.

> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
> that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be okay.
> But some people react to them.

What's wrong with spinach? I think you're confusing gout
with kidney stones. Gout can cause kidney stones, but
it's a different type of stone than the ones caused by
eating spinach.

Eggs are definitely NOT okay. Tofu is bad, but not
as bad as meat and eggs. Anything that's high in protein
is a potential problem.

> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed things
> about cheese. Does cheese bother you?

Yes, cheese is no good when it comes to gout. Hard,
fermented cheeses are worse than fatty fresh cheeses.
Chicken and turkey, like all meats, are bad.

> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers the
> foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a big
> fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.

All vegetables, fruit, and carbs are fine. The foods
which must be restricted are meat, eggs, and cheese.

Gout is caused by build-up of the waste products of
metabolizing organic nitrogen, which comes mostly from
protein. Normally, this is processed into urea which
then goes out in the urine. But if the level of urea
gets too high, it is converted into uric acid which gets
deposited as crystals in the joints, which is gout.

The best way to handle gout by far is PREVENTION. It's
so easy to get gout and so painful to suffer through.
Nearly all of my gout attacks were preceded by
overindulging in meat. I remember many times thinking
"I wonder if this will give me gout", and pretty much
every time the answer was YES. I'm reeeaaallly careful
to watch my meat consumption nowdays.

I've tried the alleged cherry juice remedy. Didn't do
a thing for me.

"gloria p" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:k1ljql$9kf$[email protected]..
> On 8/29/2012 2:49 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
>> I have to cook for a person with gout.
>
> Allopurinol is my friend.
>
> Does cheese bother you?
>
> No. Spinach, swiss chard, and certain other vegetables taste metallic and
> nasty to me. I assume that's a warning so I eat them in moderation,
> seldom.

Thanks! Good thing I didn't buy the Swiss Chard. I almost did.

>> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers
>> the
>> foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a big
>> fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.
>>
>>
>
> He has gout because he eats those foods. Ask HIM what he is willing to
> eat and willing to suffer if he chooses wrong. You aren't his doctor.
> You know if he doesn't get what he wants, he'll stop out to eat.

He eats what I buy. He eats what I fix. I made the mistake of feeding him
a ton of beef because I know that he likes it. I had forgotten about the
gout until he began complaining about it. He will never speak up and tell
me why he can't eat something. I did notice that he didn't eat the beans
last night. But he didn't say why. It's very frustrating. He doesn't
communicate well.

"Steve Pope" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:k1lk5i$1g3$[email protected]..
> Julie Bove <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the
>>worst
>>ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was unwittingly
>>serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The chicken may
>>have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've been making a
>>lot
>>of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>>
>>I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
>>that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be
>>okay.
>>But some people react to them.
>>
>>I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
>>chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed
>>things
>>about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>>
>>What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater.
>
> The good news is designing a gout diet is pretty straightforward.
> The bad news is that there is a lot of misinformation out there.
>
> Here is a summary of what you need to know:
>
> Firstly, all persons with gout should normally be on lifetime
> uric-acid control medication, with periodic blood monitoring.
> The purpose of the diet is to lower the serum uric acid even
> further, but not many people with gout can rely on diet alone.
>
> (Some can, but usually after decades of medication treatment, which
> has finally reduced the stored uric acid in their tissues.)
>
> On the other hand, some people with gout rely on medication
> alone and simply ignore diet. If their blood work continues
> to be okay, there is no real problem with this, other than
> one might be using higher dosages of the drugs than would
> otherwise be necessary.

What he was doing was saying that the med he had didn't work. I don't think
he was taking it all the time like I know he is supposed to. After being in
the hospital he now says that he has to take it daily.

I don't know if he is just cluess about the diet or just doesn't want to
know. Daughter and I have tried to tell him. Last time it acted up we
bought him cherry juice but he refused to drink it.
>
> Assuming one wants to address diet, the three components that need
> to be restricted for a gout diet are: purines, alcohol, and fructose.
>
> Purines are found in almost all protein sources and some vegetable
> sources.
>
> Among protein sources, the only ones that is completely purine-free is
> dairy. Egg whites also contain no purine. Everything else
> that has protein also has purines, but in somewhat different
> ratios.

Ah crud. I wasn't sure about the eggs. I read mixed things on that. I was
going to do fried rice with a little egg in it.

> Among vegetables, there are some with more purines than others --
> you've already identified a couple such as asparagus and mushrooms.
>
> Given with this information, you can go in several directions planning
> a diet but the likely outcome is as follows:
>
> 1) The diet must contain the daily value of protein, but not much more.
> The DV of protein is 50 to 60 grams.

This could be the problem. He is a HUGE protein eater. I have been making
sandwiches. Must put less meat and cheese in there.
>
> 2) A significant fraction of the protein should come from dairy.
> (In my case, I try to get half my protein from dairy.)

Okay... Less meat. More cheese. Heh.
>
> 3) Frutose (including all sweets) and alcohol should be cut back.

Okay.
>
> 4) Vegetables are okay but avoid mass quantities of those vegetables
> known to be high purine. Starches are okay (unlike sugar which is
> one-half fructose, starches do not contain much fructose). Fats
> are okay.

I do have plenty of starches.
>
> Some meat products, such as organ meats, are particularly high
> in purines. On the other hand, some such as sausages or salami
> are relatively low, because they are high fat without much protein.
> The purines are associated with the protein part of the meat.

Ah... Hm! He loves the Pho with the organ meats. I guess that is bad.
>
> Previously, I posted a list of purine content vs. protein content
> for various foods and I will see if I can locate that and re-post.

Thanks!

On Aug 29, 1:11*pm, "Julie Bove" <julieb...@frontier.com> wrote:
> "gloria p" <gpues...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>
> news:k1ljql$9kf$[email protected]..
>
> > On 8/29/2012 2:49 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
> >> I have to cook for a person with gout.
>
> > Allopurinol is my friend.
>
> > * Does cheese bother you?
>
> > No. *Spinach, swiss chard, and certain other vegetables taste metallic and
> > nasty to me. *I assume that's a warning so I eat them in moderation,
> > seldom.
>
> Thanks! *Good thing I didn't buy the Swiss Chard. *I almost did.
>
> >> What can I fix? *Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. *Just prefers
> >> the
> >> foods that are the worst for gout. *Exception being fruit. *He is a big
> >> fruit eater. *Guess I need to buy more.
>
> > He has gout because he eats those foods. *Ask HIM what he is willing to
> > eat and willing to suffer if he chooses wrong. *You aren't his doctor..
> > You know if he doesn't get what he wants, he'll stop out to eat.
>
> He eats what I buy. *He eats what I fix. *I made the mistake of feeding him
> a ton of beef because I know that he likes it. *I had forgotten about the
> gout until he began complaining about it. *He will never speak up and tell
> me why he can't eat something. *I did notice that he didn't eat the beans
> last night. *But he didn't say why. *It's very frustrating. *He doesn't
> communicate well.

As for the beans...he probably didn't want the farts. there's a ton of
info on the Mayo Clinic website and you won't have to buy a book.

"sf" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]..
> On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:49:25 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the
>> worst
>> ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was unwittingly
>> serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The chicken may
>> have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've been making a
>> lot
>> of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>>
>> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
>> that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be
>> okay.
>> But some people react to them.
>>
>> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
>> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed
>> things
>> about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>>
>> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers
>> the
>> foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a big
>> fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.
>>
>
> That will change when he gets tired of having gout attacks. In the
> mean time, don't bother because he won't appreciate what you're trying
> to do anyway.
>
> It seems like everything has purines in it in one degree or another.
> The first thing he has to figure out what his triggers are and then
> you can work from there. My husband can't eat more than one piece of
> shellfish or he'll have twinges the next day and he limits himself to
> one beer if it's a social drinking situation. Red meat (beef) isn't
> as bad, but we only have it a couple of times a month because if we
> have it a couple of times a week a couple of weeks in a row he can
> feel his body start to complain (not an attack, but getting ready for
> one). My husband *loves* mushrooms and they don't trigger his gout,
> so I put twice as many as I used to in sauces and gravies now (by
> request). We'd eat more fish if I liked it better and was willing to
> cook it... but I don't and I'm not.
>
> We eat a lot of chicken, so I have a myriad of recipes for that. We
> could eat chicken every day and not get bored because the recipes are
> so different.

I have been serving lots of chicken but I was using a garlic mushroom sauce.
Need to find another way to fix it. Daughter really likes it that way.

"Paul M. Cook" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:k1lpqa$jcl$[email protected]..
>
> "Julie Bove" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:k1kl2m$7hs$[email protected]..
>>I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the
>>worst ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was
>>unwittingly serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The
>>chicken may have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've
>>been making a lot of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>>
>> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
>> that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be
>> okay. But some people react to them.
>>
>> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
>> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed
>> things about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>>
>> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers
>> the foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a
>> big fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.
>
>
> Just Google purines and avoid foods high in them. It is not all seafood
> that is bad it is specifically shellfish. Beef is not so bad either but
> offal is. Tomatoes are bad.
>
> http://www.acumedico.com/purine.htm

Oh snap! I didn't realize that tomatoes were bad. Thanks!

"Paul M. Cook" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:k1lq2t$l5l$[email protected]..
>
> "Mark Thorson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]..
>> Julie Bove wrote:
>>>
>>> I have to cook for a person with gout. And his favorite foods are the
>>> worst
>>> ones for it. Asparagus, red meat and seafood. And I was unwittingly
>>> serving the wrong things. Chicken with mushroom sauce. The chicken may
>>> have been okay but apparently mushrooms are not. And I've been making a
>>> lot
>>> of dried beans because they're cheap. Oops!
>>
>> What's wrong with asparagus? It's meat, eggs, and cheese
>> that you've got to watch out for.
>>
>>> I know that most fruit and vegetables are good. Spinach is not. I know
>>> that whole grains are good and that tofu might be okay. Eggs might be
>>> okay.
>>> But some people react to them.
>>
>> What's wrong with spinach? I think you're confusing gout
>> with kidney stones. Gout can cause kidney stones, but
>> it's a different type of stone than the ones caused by
>> eating spinach.
>>
>> Eggs are definitely NOT okay. Tofu is bad, but not
>> as bad as meat and eggs. Anything that's high in protein
>> is a potential problem.
>>
>>> I am just kind of stumped when it comes to protein. I've been serving
>>> chicken and turkey but I'm sure that will get old. I have seen mixed
>>> things
>>> about cheese. Does cheese bother you?
>>
>> Yes, cheese is no good when it comes to gout. Hard,
>> fermented cheeses are worse than fatty fresh cheeses.
>> Chicken and turkey, like all meats, are bad.
>>
>>> What can I fix? Luckily this person isn't a picky eater. Just prefers
>>> the
>>> foods that are the worst for gout. Exception being fruit. He is a big
>>> fruit eater. Guess I need to buy more.
>>
>> All vegetables, fruit, and carbs are fine. The foods
>> which must be restricted are meat, eggs, and cheese.
>>
>> Gout is caused by build-up of the waste products of
>> metabolizing organic nitrogen, which comes mostly from
>> protein. Normally, this is processed into urea which
>> then goes out in the urine. But if the level of urea
>> gets too high, it is converted into uric acid which gets
>> deposited as crystals in the joints, which is gout.
>>
>> The best way to handle gout by far is PREVENTION. It's
>> so easy to get gout and so painful to suffer through.
>> Nearly all of my gout attacks were preceded by
>> overindulging in meat. I remember many times thinking
>> "I wonder if this will give me gout", and pretty much
>> every time the answer was YES. I'm reeeaaallly careful
>> to watch my meat consumption nowdays.
>>
>> I've tried the alleged cherry juice remedy. Didn't do
>> a thing for me.
>
>
> It's food high in purines that are the problem. I got gout from eating
> too many tomatoes. And raw cherry juice fixed me up fast. You have to
> have the raw stuff not the cherry juice beverage you find in most stores.
> At the time TJs sold it but like everything else good they dropped it from
> the inventory.

We did get him raw cherry juice the last time this happened but he refused
to drink it. I am going to buy more cherries today while I can still get
them.

Thanks!

"Jim Elbrecht" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]..
> Mark Thorson <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> -snip-
>>
>>All vegetables, fruit, and carbs are fine. The foods
>>which must be restricted are meat, eggs, and cheese.
>
> Because it is tomato season, I'll just mention them. They have no
> purines, but are acidic. Acid triggers some folks' gout.
>
> Cherry tomatoes are generally higher in acid than the big boys and
> their ilk.

Thanks! I did make some things with tomato. Guess I will have to stop.

Steve Pope wrote:
>
> Firstly, all persons with gout should normally be on lifetime
> uric-acid control medication, with periodic blood monitoring.
> The purpose of the diet is to lower the serum uric acid even
> further, but not many people with gout can rely on diet alone.

I can control it through diet alone. I've never been
on medication. My last bad gout attack was over 10 years
ago. I've had a few minor ones since then, due to
carelessness in following my diet.

It all depends on the cause of the gout. If it's kidney
disease, then yes you probably need the medication. If
it's overindulgence in eating meat, all you have to do is
stop doing that. If it's excess alcohol consumption, it's
sufficient to stop drinking.

> (Some can, but usually after decades of medication treatment, which
> has finally reduced the stored uric acid in their tissues.)
>
> On the other hand, some people with gout rely on medication
> alone and simply ignore diet. If their blood work continues
> to be okay, there is no real problem with this, other than
> one might be using higher dosages of the drugs than would
> otherwise be necessary.

If you want to keep drinking heavily, you may need the
medication. That's not a good solution, but it is a
solution.

> Assuming one wants to address diet, the three components that need
> to be restricted for a gout diet are: purines, alcohol, and fructose.
>
> Purines are found in almost all protein sources and some vegetable sources.

Purines and pyrimidines are minor contributors to the
organic nitrogen load, as compared to amino acids from
protein. They are a more concentrated nitrogen source,
but less abundant in the diet.

> Among protein sources, the only ones that is completely purine-free is
> dairy. Egg whites also contain no purine. Everything else
> that has protein also has purines, but in somewhat different
> ratios.

Total red herring. Any concentrated protein can cause
gout.

> Among vegetables, there are some with more purines than others --
> you've already identified a couple such as asparagus and mushrooms.

Eat all you want. Vegetables won't give you gout.
Mushrooms can be a problem because they are high in
protein and it's very unbalanced protein.

> Given with this information, you can go in several directions planning
> a diet but the likely outcome is as follows:
>
> 1) The diet must contain the daily value of protein, but not much more.
> The DV of protein is 50 to 60 grams.

Yes, protein must be at the minimum level.

> 2) A significant fraction of the protein should come from dairy.
> (In my case, I try to get half my protein from dairy.)

The protein should be a complete protein, because
unbalanced proteins contribute more to gout and
less to the nutritional requirement for protein.
Dairy protein is complete, but so is the protein
from eggs and meat. Dairy also contains saturated
fat, which is bad.

> 3) Frutose (including all sweets) and alcohol should be cut back.

If the gout is caused by heavy drinking, you've
got to stop.

> 4) Vegetables are okay but avoid mass quantities of those vegetables
> known to be high purine. Starches are okay (unlike sugar which is
> one-half fructose, starches do not contain much fructose). Fats
> are okay.

All vegetables are just fine. Eat all you want.

> Some meat products, such as organ meats, are particularly high
> in purines. On the other hand, some such as sausages or salami
> are relatively low, because they are high fat without much protein.
> The purines are associated with the protein part of the meat.

It's the protein which is main problem. Dried meats
like salami are worse than fresh meats, just because
they're more concentrated.

> Previously, I posted a list of purine content vs. protein content
> for various foods and I will see if I can locate that and re-post.

If he posts it, ignore it. Don't believe anyone who
says you can't eat vegetables.