Gout

LikeAChampion3

New member
I have a question for those of you battling gout while continuing to BBQ: What meats (or other proteins) can you tolerate without causing flare ups (pun intended)?

I was recently diagnosed and am in denial after the Doc recommended no more red meat. Did I mention that I just got my first pellet smoker a few weeks ago?

Thanks!

PS - No joke, the doctor laughed out loud when I told him how much I've been using the smoker. It didn't cause the gout (genes did that for me), but he's fairly certain that eating smoked meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is what caused my current symptoms. :) My wife and neighbors might be worse off than I am.
 

Big Poppa

Administrator
I have it..had no problem with it for 10 years and they put me on blood pressure medicine that they should ave asked....Its been a very ahrd 6 months but Im rounding the corner and still eating meat
 

mrbbq

New member
LikeAChamion3---I too suffer from gout. Had some very bad flare-ups this year. My gout med. prescription had expired and I was in royal pain. One of my friends suggested drinking Lemon/Ginger tea. And guess what?! It's been pretty effective. With that said, beef, pork, lamb--any meat with levels of fat is going to contribute to flare-ups. Fish and chicken are generally suggested by most doctors. Stay the heck away from shellfish. It's a known trigger for gout flares. So moderation is going to be your best bet. OR...get your DR. to prescribe Uloric, which has been very effective for me and others I know who also have gout.

You might also alternate between meat and vegetables. I did that before going to Texas recently where I hit some well known BBQ joints. Went practically 100% vegetarian for 2 weeks prior and after to help reduce the possibility of a gout flare.
 

Goosehunter51

New member
Gout is horrible, I have been able to control mine with two TB Apple Cider Vinegar (with the Mother) mixed in Tart Cherry Juice daily from Trader Joes or Spouts. The medication to treat gout has more issues associated with it than the pain itself in my opinion. I still eat red meat, shell fish, you name it but I am stubborn. And yes I still drink alcohol which is another trigger.
 

LikeAChampion3

New member
First of all, thanks for sharing and good luck to you all with this nasty disease. I'm relatively young (32) and was shocked about the diagnosis until I realized it's genetic and runs in my family. Oh yeah, and I just came off a "stay-cation" during which I consumed an inordinate amount of smoked meat, beer, and bourbon. I also do a lot of running and cycling which probably kept the gout symptoms away until this point in my life but certainly didn't help things when I ignored the initial pain and kept at it. Like I said, my doctor pretty much laughed at me when I was wondering why it kept getting worse.

Anyway, I really appreciate all of the advice. I've heard exactly the same things from friends and colleagues as far as treatment is concerned. I'm going zero meat and zero booze until this flare up goes away and will play the moderation game from then on out (something I probably should have been doing anyway). Someone should write a book called "Loving BBQ and Living with Gout"...I'll write the sequel, it'll be called "How to Drink Great Beer and Not Get Fat"!
 

TentHunter

Moderator
Another Gout sufferer here.

If your doctor told you generically, "no red meat," and didn't tell you about other foods, then he/she is not up on current gout info.

When I was diagnosed, I was fortunate to have a doctor who did his research to find the latest info. I also did a lot of research.

First, it is now known that NOT ALL red meat is bad for gout! Beef is probably the biggest red meat culprit in our society, while pork has been shown to be relatively benign for some gout sufferers. Other meats, including turkey and certain fish/shellfish are also known to trigger gout.

Out of all fish, Talapia is the biggest no, no! It's very high in Omega 6 which causes inflammation.

Mushrooms are a big trigger for some.

One of the biggest Gout culprits that's been uncovered in recent years is too much fructose in your diet, and especially high fructose corn syrup which is in so many processed foods and soda! Soda turned out to be a big trigger for me.

There's lots of info out there. Here's a quick link of 10 common triggers:

10 Trigger Foods for Gout


Good luck! :)
 
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LikeAChampion3

New member
I'm also doing a lot of research but I think it'll be some time before I know what my triggers are. I don't drink soda and only have seafood a couple times a month so I'll have to test different combinations and see what happens. I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of the triggers out there are more about correlation than causality, but only time will tell.
 
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