Water & Coffee
Water
Sweetened drinks are generally a no-go if you're dealing with gout. Pure fruit juice isn’t bad, as long as it doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup. You might consider watering it down to get a lower sugar intake, too. Even cherry juice is recommended in low quantities.
But you can have as much water as you want, and the more you drink means the less gout attacks you may have. Keeping hydrated is going to help you body move uric acid along more smoothly, and although no conclusive results were reached about why it works, the research definitely showed a reduction in gout attacks as more water was consumed.
Coffee
The other good news is that you can keep drinking coffee. Obviously, your best option is to drink it black or with only a low- or no-fat creamer. A spoonful of sugar might not hurt, as long as you’re taking necessary precautions across the rest of your diet. Additionally, coffee is another great choice that may actually provide some help. One study showed four to five cups a day reduced the risk of gout by more than 40%, while more than six cups a day reduced the risk by nearly 60%! Other studies show that more coffee tends to equal lower levels of uric acid—and no it isn’t the caffeine, as tea showed no evidence of lowered uric acid, while decaffeinated coffee still proved beneficial.
On the other hand, other studies have shown more mixed results about the benefits of coffee. For people who don’t tend to be regular coffee drinkers, a sudden daily influx of coffee can actually cause a severe attack of gout to occur. Keep your coffee at a steady, normal level of intake for best results.
Did you know...
- Have you ever told your husband something and he promptly forgets it? It's not his fault, actually. It really is because he's a man. The hippocampus (the part of the brain that deals with memory) begins to shrink with age faster in men than it does in women. That's why you can remember everything, and he can't!
- Are you currently or often tired? As contradictory as it may sound, one of the best things you can do is exercise! It gives you more energy by improving your blood flow and increasing your oxygen throughout your body. You don't need to do much; a brisk walk is all it takes!
- Starting to feel claustrophobic? The smells of apples may help keep your claustrophobic feelings at bay according to a 1995 study by Dr. Alan Hirsch. Green apples, specifically, helped people change their perception of their space. Maybe they thought of expansive apple orchards? Cucumbers and barbecue made the feelings worse.
- There are many factors that contribute to your body odor, but one of the strongest links is our diet. This may be some bad news for meat-lovers because many studies have shown that those who refrained from or ate less red meat were judged as being more pleasant smelling. The meat sweats are real, and they don’t smell great!
- Does your job make you stressed? We all know that stress is psychologically bad for you, but it also has an effect on…your allergies? A Harvard Medical School study has shown that stress causes your allergies to become worse because your body's defense response loses efficacy when repeatedly triggered by stress. Then, when you really need to physically fight something off, you're less able to!