How to Prevent Gout Attacks With a Simple and Healthy Diet

Every time a gout attack strikes, it may well wreck all your plans for a week or even more. So you may ask yourself how to prevent these painful attacks from now on.

It is essential to realize that there's no acknowledged cure for gout, and flare-ups are impossible to anticipate. On the other hand, you should be capable to reduce the incidents and intensity of subsequent attacks simply by switching to an alkaline diet.

The Value of an Alkaline pH

The main cause of gout is a build-up of uric acid crystals within the joints. The treatment involves decreasing the level of uric acid in the body and stopping existing uric acid from crystallizing.

Normally, consuming food items which make your blood pH more acidic can accelerate crystallization, while ingesting alkaline foods may have the opposite effect. In addition to prevent the formation of crystals, an alkaline pH may also help to dissolve the deposits that already exist. These notions are considered the basis of the alkaline diet for gout.

How to Prevent Gout With the Alkaline Diet

Achieving an Alkaline pH

To obtain an alkaline pH, you must try to eat the types of food that neutralize acidity and avoid the ones that make the blood more acidic.

Ideas of foods to add to your daily diet:

While they are usually thought of as garnishes, alfalfa sprouts and parsley are a welcome boost to a salad or a soup. Raw fruits and vegetables usually have a slightly alkaline pH, so these are good additions to any meal. Specifically, melons, cherries, figs, dates, almonds, and asparagus all increase the alkalinity of the blood. When you are considering flavoring your food, the best options are cayenne pepper, natural honey and garlic. Recommended drinks include pineapple juice, sour cherry juice and apple juice.

More Alkaline Additions to the Diet

While it is important to maintain a positive alkaline balance with the meals you eat, sometimes this isn't enough to truly change the blood into an alkaline state. Go through these tips in order to achieve an alkaline pH:

One solution to improve your body's alkaline balance would be to mix 1/2 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate into an 8 ounce glass of water and drink up this mix each day. However, those who are prone to high blood pressure must avoid using this treatment because baking soda can increase blood pressure levels. You should seek the advice of a physician before trying this cure when you have hypertension. Another solution is to ingest 2 to 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar daily, either combined with a glass of water or sprinkled on salads or any other food items.

Now you understand how to prevent gout attacks, and this is with a very simple diet program. Boosting the alkalinity of your blood is a great method to reduce your gout symptoms and make attacks unlikely.

Be sure not to give up too soon though, as it could take some time to obtain a sufficiently alkaline pH to observe a result. Occasionally, there may even be a first period where you suffer gout flare-ups when you start the alkaline diet. This occurs because the uric acid deposits trigger pain as they break down and exit the joints.

When this initial period is over, however, it is possible to relax and begin to appreciate a gout-free life!