I have gout. How do I manage on FF30X?

Question: Hey FFP Team. I have gout. Can you tell me which fruits, vegetables, meats or seafood I should eat – or avoid? Is there any type of alcohol – wine, beer, spirits – that is better or worse for me than others?

Answer:  Because dietary management of gout is so restrictive and of limited benefit, medication is often the best way to treat gout. 

In addition to medications that treat the inflammation and other symptoms that occur during a gout attack, medications exist that can treat the underlying metabolic condition of hyperuricemia – too much uric acid in the blood – which is the main cause of gout. Hyperuricemia (too much uric acid) can occur either when the body produces too much uric acid or when the body does not excrete enough uric acid. Medications exist to treat both causes, so please work with your doctor to see if there are medications you can be taking.

Purine compounds, whether produced in the body or from eating high-purine foods, can raise uric acid levels. Excess uric acid can produce uric acid crystals, which then build up in soft tissues and joints, causing the painful symptoms of gout. 

Dietary management of gout focuses on reducing the amount of uric acid in the system and on managing the disorders that occur frequently among patients with gout, including diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

The primary dietary modification traditionally recommended is a low-purine diet. Avoiding purines completely is impossible, but strive to limit them. People with gout should learn by trial and error what their personal limit is and which foods cause problems.

Laura Rall, PhD, a nutrition researcher at Tufts University in Boston, recommends: "Begin by eliminating foods in the 'high-purine' category while reducing your intake of foods in the 'moderate-purine' category. If you don't have gout attacks after trying this, you may add more foods from the 'moderate' category or occasionally try a food from the 'high' category. Using these guidelines, you may be able to determine a safe level of purine consumption and enjoy some of your favorite foods without experiencing attacks."

Our FFP Team believes this is really sound advice.

Here are high-purine foods to be wary of:

• Alcoholic beverages (all types)
• Some fish, seafood and shellfish, including anchovies, sardines, herring, mussels, codfish, scallops, trout and haddock
• Some meats, such as bacon, turkey, veal, venison and organ meats like liver

Here are some moderate purine foods:

• Meats, such as beef, chicken, duck, pork and ham
• Shellfish, such as crab, lobster, oysters and shrimp

The Fit Father Meal Plan does have some recipes that contain high purine foods (like salmon) and moderate purine foods (like beef, chicken, and shrimp). Unless your gout is very severe, these recipes won't likely trigger gout symptoms. 

Also, the high amount of water with the Fit Father Meal Plan will help your body maintain balanced uric acid levels (and will also help if you were to ever have a "gout attack").

Overall Summary: the healthy, anti-inflammatory nature of the Fit Father Meal Plan (and the good hydration) will help your body with gout symptoms, and losing weight/getting healthier may resolve your gout entirely (it has for several of our program members). It will be important to experiment with the recipes to find which work for your body without flaring your symptoms.

- The Fit Father Project Training Staff