high blood pressure & gout

thelegendofsmiles

I was wandering if there were any foods I could be eating to help keep my high blood pressure low and my gout at bay? I am also on blood pressure and gout meds as well.

Cant_think_of_a_username

I also suffer with gout and spent a year working through an exclusion diet to establish exactly what triggered an attack for me - as it happens tomato products especially those using puree (even waaayyyy down the ingredients list) is a REAL problem for me. Probably the next most significant thing I found was that keeping properly hydrated made a massive difference. I also gave up alcohol - which has not been the trauma that I thought it might (and I was a serious home brewer for many years before that).

The difficulty in giving you specific advice is that the triggers are different for each of us - there are many gout sufferers who are fine with tomato products but couldn't drink the fruit juices that I am fine with, so you will have to work systematically through foods figuring out what works for you - although staying hydrated is a tip that does apply to everyone.

Stay away from obviously purine rich foods and try to get a lot of plant proteins would be my starter.

My blood pressure was at the top end of the high-normal range for as long as I can remember... but since losing some weight and starting lifting it has naturally come down into the comfortably normal range.

Cant_think_of_a_username

Forgot to say - you will read a lot about cherries helping people but as far as I could find much of this is anecdotal. For example - if I had hit on cherries at the same time as realising tomato triggered an attack I might be tempted to say it was the cherries that had helped. There are some studies about the effects of cherries as anti-inflammatory agents but I don't think they have enough real world application to determine any sort of levels in the diet etc however vitamin C is good for you and can be helpful in excreting uric acid so adding cherries certainly wouldn't do any harm (but don't expect a miracle cure).

brassylassy1

Cant_think_of_a_username wrote: »

Forgot to say - you will read a lot about cherries helping people but as far as I could find much of this is anecdotal. For example - if I had hit on cherries at the same time as realising tomato triggered an attack I might be tempted to say it was the cherries that had helped. There are some studies about the effects of cherries as anti-inflammatory agents but I don't think they have enough real world application to determine any sort of levels in the diet etc however vitamin C is good for you and can be helpful in excreting uric acid so adding cherries certainly wouldn't do any harm (but don't expect a miracle cure).

Interestingly, Cherry tree bark IS an anti-inflammatory and is used in herbal medicines as cough syrups and anti-inflammatory teas. So, it's somewhat feasible that the fruit could be, too.

That said, I don't, as far as I know suffer from gout, but the high blood pressure is getting to me and I'm working on bringing that down too, so I'm definitely reading these suggestions too!

Bentforkx

For high blood pressure, lower your sodium intake, many cardiac diets suggest 1500mg/day. Make sure you're ingesting your daily recommended amounts of Potassium ~4700mg/day. Drink lots of water, dilutes the sodium levels in your blood. Exercise and lose weight.

Don't know much about Gout other than alcohol tends to exacerbate the condition....