Put More Sulfur in Your Diet To Fight Gout

The reason that gout used to be known as the disease of kings and queens is because they were the only people who could afford the expensive diet that leads to this painful condition. Gout results from an accumulation of toxins called purines, which contribute to the formation of crystals in the joint of the large toe and damage the bone there. Traditionally, then, a change in lifestyle has been recommended. In essence, the doctor orders you to eat healthy to keep gout at bay, by:

Avoiding meats. Animal flesh is usually taboo for people with gout. The reason is that purines come from concentrated sources of protein in the diet. So it makes sense to eliminate meats like steak, pork, and lamb to help reduce the amount of purines. Seafood like anchovies, sardines, herring, mackerel, and scallops also have high levels of purine.

Staying away from drink. It is a simple admonition: if you have gout, you should not drink alcohol, especially beer which has high purine content.

Trying milk. There are published studies which show that drinking plenty of milk can help protect you against developing gout. No one yet knows the exact reason for this, but presumably, milk helps detoxify the body of purines.

Getting more sulfur. This is traditional advice that is often not given much importance. Eating more sulfur-containing foods, like eggs, asparagus, garlic, and onions helps a lot. Sulfur has been proven to help the body repair bone and connective tissue in the joints.

What Sulfur Does For You

Sulfur has been used for arthritis, gout, bronchitis, constipation and many other health problems for years. Sulfur is found in all cells in the body, and is concentrated particularly in the joints and skin. It is an important component of several amino acids that help you fight the effects of heavy metals.

One of the ways sulfur helps you is in reducing the heavy metal load on your system. Exposure to heavy metals, like lead, can cause gout. You can strengthen your ability to dispose of heavy metals by eating calcium-rich foods and chlorophyll-rich green vegetables like broccoli. You should add sulfur-rich vegetables like garlic, onions, Brussels sprouts, flowers and leaves of mustard and radish, horseradish, radish, and kale.

Sulfur plays a key role in regulating the sodium/potassium electrolyte balance inside each cell. If this delicate balance is not properly regulated, you will feel pain and inflammation. Sulfur also contributes to the maintenance of the detoxification processes and immune systems in your body, including helping your good bacteria develop penicillin-like substances that fight infections.

Tissues affected by rheumatoid arthritis diseases (like gout) have been found to contain only one-third of the sulfur concentration that is needed for health. A diet rich in sulfur-residue foods, which help you raise this sulfur concentration to the required levels, will result in greater relief.

Gout Treatment

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.

If you have a gout attack, many doctors recommend oral doses of ibuprofen or naproxen, available in both prescription and nonprescription versions, or other anti-inflammatory drugs. If you are taking aspirin, your doctor may recommend that you stop it temporarily. Aspirin can slow the elimination of uric acid and make gout worse. But if you take a low dose of aspirin to prevent other problems such as a heart attack, check with your doctor before stopping it.

For reliable Gout treatment information, read Cure Gout Now; an easy to follow, comprehensively researched eBook by Lisa McDowell that shows you how to change your diet and gain control of your gout wth 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.