	Article Directory		Article Submission Service		Article Marketing Blog		Publishers		Member Log In

Article Directory :: Health & Fitness Articles

Gout - Another Reason For a Healthy Lifestyle

By Steven Carter

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 09Jul2008
Word count: 528
Viewed: 218 time(s)

Get Free Content For Your Site

There are billions of dollars spent every year to tell you why you need a healthy lifestyle, but here is one more reason - the risk of gout. Some people may not even have heard of gout but it can cause serious pain and problems if you get the disease. Gout is a form of arthritis and affects over 5 people out of every 1,000. Gout won't kill you, so it doesn't get the name recognition of cancer or aids, but the sufferers will attest to the potency of the disease.

Gout is caused by an excess of uric acid in your body, that then forms needle shaped crystals. The crystals move around in the blood and fluids of the body, until they congregate around a joint. The uric acid crystals have a party of sorts, and start to irritate the neighboring tissue. The party doesn't stop, so the tissue gets severely irritated and becomes seriously inflamed. Very suddenly, usually in the middle of the night, you have a big toe or other joint feeling like it is really on fire and burning up. The pain is abrupt, intense and liable to last for a week or more.

The pain and swelling can be debilitating for the area involved, often the toe or foot. It can mean no walking other than crutches for a week or so. The area of swelling is so sensitive that anything placed over it will be extremely uncomfortable and painful. Patients report the sheet on the bed causes great pain during a gout attack. Gout does attack, but then retreats for a time and returns to attack another day.

If you take the holistic approach to gout, there are several lifestyle adaptations available for prevention or mitigation of gout. It could be said that all of the recommended practices are beneficial in other health areas as well. The first is maintaining a healthy weight and good fitness. Extra weight on the body can lead to increased uric acid production in the body and increased risk of gout.

Lifestyle can help your body's purification systems eliminate the excess uric acid. The easiest way to help is to drink lots of water and stay hydrated. Water is essential to your body eliminating waste well, including uric acid. Another part of this practice is avoiding alcohol, especially on a regular basis. An occasional drink won't cause much problem of a problem, but long term exposure could be detrimental.

For the food aspects of diet, there are guidelines for gout prevention. Purines are a substance the body makes into uric acid. Wild meats and foods that involve the organs in an animal are very high in purines so they may help create excess uric acid. Some delicacies such as liver, kidney, heart, and brains should be strictly limited or eliminated for maximum gout prevention. Shellfish and small oily fish such as anchovies, herring, and sardines are on the list to avoid as well.

If you follow all these changes you should be in pretty good shape overall and feeling a lot better not just because you are protecting yourself from gout, but because you are healthier overall!

To learn more about gout treatments for when you are already suffering from the disease, then head over to www.squidoo.com/GoutTreatments for some great tips.

EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here