Eating Healthy Helps Keep The Gout Away

Did you know that a gout-like disease linked to faulty uric acid metabolism also affects the Dalmatian breed of pedigree dogs? It turns out that this ancient disease, once called the ‘rheumatism of the rich,’ is actually the result of a metabolic flaw. Gout is not caused by, but is surely aggravated by, overindulgence in food and drink.

Gout has been described in the bible: “And Esau in the thirty ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceedingly great: yet in his disease he sought not the Lord, but to the physician” (II Chronicles 16:12).

Gout was believed to be due not only to high living (a Spanish proverb says, “Gout is cured by walling up the mouth”) but also to lechery. In his Poor Richard’s Almanac, Benjamin Franklin, who had interminable bouts of gout, wrote in 1734, “Be temperate in wine, in eating, girls and sloth, or the gout will seize you and plague you both.” That it is necessary to live a moderate lifestyle is, at least, established.

You will have to find recipes for gout. It might help to think of it not as removing something from your diet but as finding creative ways for eating healthy. Here are two recipes adapted from “The Gout Hater’s Cookbook” (3d ed., revised) by Jodi Schneiter.

Lasagna

- 1 package (2 kilograms) lasagna noodles
- 1 and 1/2 cups no-fat cottage cheese (or ricotta cheese)
- 2 jars (about 740 grams each) spaghetti sauce (without any mushrooms or meat)
- 1/4 kilogram each of mozzarella cheese and provolone cheese, both with reduced fat

  1. Follow directions in package for preparing noodles. Set aside, after draining and rinsing.
  2. Grate the cheeses and mix.
  3. Coat a light layer of olive oil on a deep baking dish (a pan good for 2 liters will suffice).
  4. Lay out a layer of noodles at bottom then spread sauce evenly.
  5. After sauce, sprinkle a layer of the cheese mixture and cover liberally with sauce.
  6. Repeat sequence in layering various ingredients until used up; top layer should be noodles.
  7. Top off noodle layer with sauce to avoid burning top layer in oven.
  8. Place in oven set at 350 degrees and bake until sauce on top layers starts turning brown, or about 45 minutes.

Sweet Potato Pie

- 1 unbaked piecrust, about 9 inches, with reduced fat
- 3 egg whites (or any egg substitutes equivalent to two eggs)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. of cinnamon, ground
- 1/2 tsp. each of salt and ginger
- 1/4 tsp. of cloves, ground
- 1/8 tsp. of allspice mix
- 2 cups sweet potatoes, mashed
- 1 cup milk (preferably low fat or skim)

Get oven pre-heated to 425 degrees. Put all ingredients (except the piecrust) in mixing bowl and blend thoroughly with an electric mixer. Pour mixture into piecrust and bake at 425 degrees for fifteen (15) minutes. Continue baking but lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Finish baking after 45 minutes or until you are satisfied with a toothpick test. Remove pie, let cool, and chill at least four hours in refrigerator (better if overnight).

Is Gout Treatable … and Even Preventable?

Yes, gout is one of the most treatable forms of arthritis, and with proper treatment, you need not have any long-term consequences. Medications are available to relieve the pain and inflammation of acute bouts of gouty arthritis. For long-term care, you may need to take medications to treat the underlying metabolic disorder along with making such lifestyle changes as avoiding alcohol (primarily beer) and foods high in purines and increasing intake of dairy foods.

To find out more about how to treat and prevent gout, read Lisa McDowell’s Cure Gout Now. It is an easy to follow, comprehensively researched book that shows you how to change your diet and gain control of your gout with useful strategies that have been proven to improve health for people with gout.

Find out how Lisa, a long-suffering wife of a gout victim, challenged the uncaring drug companies and made a shocking discovery that cured her husband once and for all. You’ll learn how to cure gout quickly and naturally in 7 easy steps. These tips will put you on the fast track to better health.