Stomachs on legs are proud to present

Hock has gout....which is a strange sort of arthritis that runs in his family. It comes from having too much uric acid in your blood which builds up and forms crystals around the joints causing shooting pain. It most commonly occurs in the big toe, which is exactly where he has it. If left untreated it can be disabling. If you seek treatment early and get the right medication it can be managed. Medical wisdom says that gout suffers should stick to a diet full of low purine foods (purine, the substance in food that is linked to higher uric acid).

As gout is a disease as ancient as the hills there are a lot of old wives tales that surround this ailment. Thus most of the websites we have been looking at tend to contradict each other quite considerably

A few foods however seem to be unanimously agreed upon as no nos for gout getters

- mushrooms
- spinach
- offal (most types)
- small oily fish
- young green vegetables
- cauliflower
- a lot of pulses
- whole wheat bread
- shellfish/ fish
- most meat
- asparagus
- beer
- roe

Yes, all those foods that are supposed to be good for you

Apparently low purine foods include

- white or low fibre bread
- highly refined foods
- rice
- gelatin
- sugar and soft drinks
- any type of yellow / orange vegetable (oranges, pumpkin, carrots, peppers)
- caffine
- dairy
- eggs

everything else falls somewhere in between

trouble is that if Hock stuck to a low purine diet I think he would end up with a whole new set of diet related problems, diabetes comes to mind

So for now he's just cutting back on beer and a few other high purine foods (although the other night when we had a japanese kaiseki meal that included a wagyu and vegetable course he off loaded his asparagus onto me and kept the beef)

This week I'm gonna start trying to navigate his new dietary restrictions better.

So far gout friendly meals planned include

- chickpea patty burgers
- cold udon salad noodles
- vegetarian fried rice
- pasta

any gout recipe tips would be appreciated