Gout is a form of arthritis which causes severe inflammation and pain in various joints of the body, specially the big toe. Gout mainly affects men. However it can affect women too. There are several ways you can treat gout. In this article, let us discuss a few natural methods of gout treatment.
One of the best natural treatments for this disease is to drink a lot of water. Gout is mainly caused due to excess uric acid in the body. The uric acid crystals get deposited in the joints thus leading to swelling, redness and pain. When you drink a lot of water, you need to go to the toilet often. Thus it helps in flushing out the excess uric acid from the body.
There are several advantages of drinking water for gout treatment:
1. It helps in flushing out uric acid and other toxins
2. Helps in joint lubrication
3. Helps in prevention of kidney stones
4. Helps boost metabolism rate for weight loss (excess weight may be a factor for gout)
5. Helps in preventing more gout attacks
When you don’t drink enough water, your body gets dehydrated. Dehydration may lead to other ailments like improper kidney functioning. When kidney does not function properly it might lead to formation of kidney stones, kidney infection and cause uric acid build-up. As you already know, excess uric acid is the main culprit behind gout.
Dehydration does not result just from not drinking enough water. Your body can get dehydrated if you consume drinks like coffee, tea, alcohol or carbonated drinks very frequently. So for gout prevention and treatment, the first step you need to take is to reduce the intake of these drinks and increase the consumption of water.
Sometimes it can be hard to motivate yourself to drink a lot of water everyday. In such cases you can drink fruit or vegetable juices. But it is best to stay with water as much as possible.
Other methods of natural gout treatment is to pay attention to what you are eating. Is your diet a balanced one? You should avoid foods which have high purine content as that may lead to more uric acid build-up.
Examples of such food are soy milk, sea food, meat etc. Foods which gout patients can eat are – cereals, fruits and vegetables, cherries etc.
Source by Kent Swigg