How I Became A (Semi) Vegetarian…By Default

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Last week I disclosed my surprising diagnosis that was based on some excruciating pain in my right toe. Yep, you guessed it (or maybe you didn’t). Gout! Please say it ain’t so. I thought I had to be well into my 50s, eat pork chops and steaks before I could ever see this happening to me. Little did I know how wrong I was about to be.

I sat in the empty room at the urgent care, as the doctor handed me a four page packet of papers to review. “You’ll need to look over this and follow the diet,” she said.

“Oh, I should be good. I don’t eat a lot of pork and beef anyway,” I rebutted.

She smiled back at me as if to say, “Oh, you poor, ignorant soul”. “There are many other things you will need to avoid besides that. Seafood, alcohol and some other things you’ll find on the list too.

Wait a minute. Seafood??? This couldn’t be right. Oh, but it was. Anybody that knows me will tell you that I love shrimp, crabs, crawfish, etc. All of these things are not the best for gout. Then, no alcohol too?! I’m no lush, but I do enjoy a good drink every now and then.

Basically, if you have gout, you should eat nearly all meats very sparingly. Chicken (specifically skinless thigh/leg meat) is best and salmon isn’t bad either. With gout, you have to stay away from purine rich foods, which include most meats, some beans (lentils, black eyed peas, etc) and even cauliflower. However, the biggest source of purines typically comes from meat…..which is why I only eat it once a day now, if even then.

Alcohol is a tricky one because it doesn’t have purines, but it does inhibit your body from filtering uric acid well. The uric acid build up is what causes the inflammation (and subsequently the pain) you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy….or at least, I hope not.

Thanks to the modifications in my diet, I haven’t had another episode since the initial one. I did take medication for a short while, but then got off of it. Look out for this week’s Thirsty Thursday for a home remedy drink that works wonders for fighting inflammation!