Gout Diet To Lower Uric Acid With Diet Chart

Reviewed by Madhu Sharma, Registered Dietitian
 by Charushila Biswas
ISSA Certified Specialist in Fitness & Nutrition
Gout Diet To Lower Uric Acid With Diet Chart

Is your painful gout giving you sleepless nights and inhibiting you from moving around? Are the medicines giving you only temporary relief? Then, you need to find a permanent or long-lasting solution to this serious problem. And one of the best solutions is to watch what you eat.

Since gout is caused due to the over accumulation of uric acid, a proper low uric acid diet will not only help your medicines work but also give you permanent relief. So gear up, read this article to know what kind of diet you should follow, foods to eat and avoid, and much more. But first, let’s find out more about gout and how a low uric acid diet will help.

What Is Gout?

Gout is a painful inflammatory disorder of the joints triggered due to a metabolic disorder. It is caused due to overaccumulation of uric acid or uric acid monosodium urate (MSU) crystals in the synovial fluid (1). The synovial fluid is a fluid found in between all the joints that acts as a lubricant. Uric acid is the waste product of chemicals called purines. Overaccumulation of uric acid takes place when the kidneys fail to excrete this waste effectively.

Increased uric acid levels does not mean that you have developed gout. When serum uric acid reaches its threshold (above 9 ml/dL), MSU crystals are deposited in the joints (2).

In some cases, it also occurs when the body is unable to produce the enzymes involved in the metabolism of uric acid. Due to an increase in the levels of uric acid, the synovial fluid becomes less effective in lubricating the joints. This causes friction and leads to inflammation, swelling, and unbearable pain. The joints become sensitive, red, and overheated (3) (4).

How Does Low Uric Acid Diet Help Gout?

Uric acid is the waste product of purines that are found in many foods, such as seafood, poultry, meat, beer, etc. If your body is unable to process or eliminate uric acid, and that is causing painful inflammation in the joints, it is best to consume foods that are low in purines or limit the consumption of foods rich in purines. This will give your body enough time to eliminate uric acid from the system and lower the uric acid levels in the blood and synovial fluid. This, in turn, will cause less friction between the bones and alleviate the inflammation and swelling.

Let’s find out what foods you should consume more, foods you should completely avoid, and foods you can have in limited quantities.

List Of Foods For Gout

Food To Eat More

  • Vegetables – Spinach, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, beetroot, green peas, potato, and collard greens
  • Fruits – Cherry, strawberry, blueberry, lemon, lime, grapefruit, oranges, pineapple, pear, and clementine
  • Proteins – Proteins from all kind of vegetables like pinto beans and other legumes
  • Carbs – Pasta, white flour, and bread
  • Grains – Rice, couscous, and quinoa
  • Beverages – Water, fresh lemon juice, fresh cherry juice, buttermilk, tea, and coffee
  • Others – Nuts, parsley, flax seeds, and apple cider vinegar

Foods To Eat In Moderation

  • Vegetables & Fruits – Tomato
  • Animal Protein- Chicken and salmon
  • Plant Protein – Legumes, beans, and pulses
  • Grains – Oats
  • Dairy – Low-fat milk, low-fat yogurt, and eggs
  • Fats & Oils – Peanut butter and olive oil

Foods To Avoid

  • Animal Proteins – Sardine, mackerel, anchovies, tuna, trout, herring, codfish, haddock, beef, bacon, pork, ham, veal, liver, scallops, duck, turkey, tofu, lobster, crab, squid, shellfish, oyster, and shrimps
  • Carbs – Sweetbread, natural and artificial sugar
  • Beverages – Alcohol and packaged fruit juices
  • Fats & Oils – Animal fat, mayonnaise, and butter
  • Others – High fructose corn syrup and chicken/fish/meat broth

Now that you have got an idea about the foods, it will be easier to follow a proper diet plan. The next section has a sample diet plan and you can use it as a template to design your own diet plan. Take a look.

Low Uric Acid Diet Plan

MealsWhat To Eat
Early Morning

(7:00-7:30 am)

1 cup water with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar + 3 soaked almonds
Breakfast

(8:15- 8:45 pm)

Options:
  • A medium bowl quinoa + 1 cup coffee
  • 1 white bread with peanut butter and blueberries + 1 cup grapefruit juice
  • 1 egg boiled or scrambled + 1 bread + 1 cup fresh orange juice
Mid-Morning Snack

(10:30 – 11:00 am)

½ cup cherries
Lunch

(12:30 – 1:00 pm)

Options:
  • Baked 3 oz salmon (without skin) and broccoli
  • Green leafy veggie salad
  • Low-fat yogurt with a pinch of cinnamon
Evening Snack

(4:00 – 4:30 pm)

Options:
  • 1 cup green tea + 2 walnuts
  • 1 cup cherry/pineapple juice
Dinner

(7.00-7:30 pm)

Options:
  • 2 oz grilled chicken with asparagus and mashed potatoes
  • Spinach pasta
Why This Works

Apple cider vinegar, though not directly related to lowering symptoms of gout, can aid weight loss and increase metabolic rate, which is essential if you have gout (5). Always be careful to take enough water along with it to maintain pH balance.

Always have a healthy well balanced breakfast before heading out. In this diet plan, low-uric acid breakfast options are listed. They are filling, nutritious, and keep your energy levels up. Since cherries are the go-to fruit for treating gout , have half a cup of cherries as a mid-morning snack. Keep your lunch light.

Green tea is great for an evening snack as it helps to scavenge the harmful oxygen radicals and reduces inflammation (6). If not green tea, a cup of fresh cherry juice or pineapple juice is great for reducing the inflammation. You may have chicken in moderate amounts for dinner. Potatoes are good for you, but make sure not to use full-fat cream to prepare the mashed potatoes. Both spinach and pasta are allowed foods, and the combo is a great option for dinner.

If you are a picky eater or allergic to any of the foods listed in the diet plan, here are the foods you can substitute them with.

Substitutes

  • Apple cider vinegar – Lemon or lime juice
  • Quinoa – 3 tablespoons of oats
  • Coffee – Green tea
  • White bread – Brown bread
  • Peanut butter – Flax seed butter
  • Blueberries – Strawberries
  • Grapefruit juice – Orange juice
  • Egg – 3 medium-sized button mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
  • Orange juice – Pineapple juice or lemon juice
  • Cherries – Blueberries or strawberries
  • Salmon – 2 oz chicken
  • Broccoli – Spinach
  • Green leafy veggie salad – Vegetable clear soup
  • Chickpea – 3 tablespoons yellow lentil soup
  • Green tea – Coffee
  • Cherry juice – Strawberry juice
  • Pineapple juice – Orange juice
  • Chicken – 2 oz duck or 3 oz salmon (without skin)
  • Asparagus – Spinach
  • Mashed potato – Mashed green peas and broccoli
  • Pasta – Rice

So, you have a lot of options to choose from, which makes this diet plan is super easy to follow. However, there is one more factor that affects the severity of gout. And it is getting enough exercise or movement. Explained more in the next section.

Exercises To Treat Gout

Lack of exercise can worsen your gout. Hence, you should include gout-friendly exercises in your workout regimen. Make sure you consult your doctor before you start working out. Here is what you can do.

  • Cycling
  • Walking
  • Swimming
  • Stair climbing
  • Dancing
  • Stretching
  • Strength training
  • Yoga

Some people need an extra boost of nutrition apart from eating low-uric acid foods. For this reason, we recommend you take the support of supplements and other remedies to reduce the inflammation. Here is what you should do.

Supplement & Other Remedies To Treat Gout

You may take the following supplements or try other remedies.

  • Vitamin C supplements (7)
  • Quercetin and Folic acid supplements (8), (9)
  • Ashwagandha (10)
  • Castor oil (11)
  • Pine bark extract (12)
  • Grape seed extract (13)
  • Celery seed extract (14)

Consult your doctor before taking or using any of the above-mentioned supplements and remedies.

To sum it up, following a low-uric acid diet will help you get rid of inflammation and swelling, reduce joint pain, help you move freely, uplift your mood, and increase your productivity. Sounds like a better idea than popping pills and getting temporary relief? Absolutely! What are you waiting for? Follow this low-uric acid diet plan and exercise regularly to say goodbye to gout.

14 sources

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Charushila Biswas

Charushila Biswas is a Senior Content Writer and an ISSA Certified Fitness Nutritionist. She is an alumni of VIT University, Vellore and has worked on transgenic wheat as a part of her Masters dissertation from NRCPB (IARI), New Delhi. After completing her Masters, she developed a passion for nutrition and fitness, which are closely related to human psychology. And that prompted her to author a review article in 2015. She has written over 200 articles on Fitness and Nutrition. In her leisure time, Charushila loves to cook and enjoys mobile photography.
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