Should I try Plant Based Diet again?

RashadLavelle

Okay, so hear me out. I'll answer the why right now and then give the history of the diets I've tried.
Why? I cannot conquer gout (too much uric acid in body or body cannot eliminate it properly.

It seems when i'm making progress with resistance training & cardio, the gout attacks come and I am immobile for weeks and I tend to lose my motivate for the gym.

Again? So I was vegan for 2 years, LFHC, read all the books from Dr. Neal Barnard, Michael Greger, T. Cambell, Dr. Sebi, etc.. I have an entire shelves of books. Unfortunately my gut doesn't like gluten, grains and beans. In fact, I had high blood pressure and gained weight. 2 years seems like a long time.

Next, I did keto, and felt the best ever... Lost weight quickly. But the gout came back hard due to the ketones in the body. I read all the books and videos of how it will eventually go away, but it didn't.

Then, I went back to plant based, (thinking, maybe i didn't do it right). I went back to the Neal Barnard approach, the LFHC, but avoided the gluten. Still no luck with beans, quinoa, lentils, etc, I had the worse bloating ever and I gained weight again.

Lastly, went to the carnivore diet. Interestingly. I had few gout attacks, but more minor gout flare ups, which I knocked it out easily with Advil. I felt incredible than ever, testosterone was perfect, and bursts of energy. But I did still have a gout attack that lasted normal than usual, and the strict diet is hard to do.

Finally, I just went from a balanced diet... The best of all of them and avoided the carbs that caused problem. Unfortunately, I still had a gout attack, (could be the red meat again or intense cardio). Really not sure, but i'm at a standstill with working again.

My best workouts are from resistance training, and i feel like if I go back to plant base, without the beans, lentils, grains, that my muscle definition will probably be non-existence.

I've heard the phrase, "where do i get my protein" which to me is a fallacy, because unless you supplement with protein shakes, you just won't get enough with just some green leaves and veggies. I know I wont know until I try, but what are your thoughts?

L1zardQueen

Are you under a physician’s care?

I found this

https://www.arthritis.org/diseases/gout

AnnPT77

I think you think quite a few things that are common in the blogosphere that I don't agree with.

If a balanced diet worked, why not do that, and work on figuring out in a more disciplined way what your gout triggers are? That seems simplest. If you can get access to a registered dietitian, s/he can help you with an elimination diet of some sort to figure out what your food triggers are, if any. Some of the techniques from doing that are likely to help you with figuring out whether you have exercise triggers, or other factors in your life that are triggers. (Can stress be a trigger? Poor sleep? Inadequate hydration? Other things? I don't know, I don't have gout, am not a doctor *or* a dietitian.)

I don't see why you'd return to a diet that inherently includes things you're quite certain trigger your gout or other negative symptoms, i.e., plant-based.

It's possible to get enough protein on a plant-based diet without using protein powders/shakes/bars (although I can't say whether it's possible without provoking your gout triggers). (I'm not fully plant-based but have been vegetarian for 46+ years: Long enough to know that it isn't true that "you just won't get enough with just some green leaves and veggies". Well, it is true that you won't get it *just* from leaves and what people commonly think of as veggies, but fully plant-based eaters don't *need* to use supplements to get adequate protein . . . even bro bodybuilder levels of protein, in all likelihood.)

There is no tricksy fad trendy diet that has special magic for weight loss. Eat fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose fat. (Some of the loss may be hidden on the scale by water weight if something you're eating, or something else in your life, is triggering water retention, but the fat loss is still happening.)

I suspect there are "gout diets" in existence, that suggest limiting certain foods that contribute to uric acid production. (I see that Mayo Clinic, a reputable source, has such information, for example.)

My advice is to work with a registered dietitian, or at least reputable sources, and don't keep cycling through the trend-o-sphere eating plans. But I'm just a cranky opinionated li'l ol' lady amateur. 🤷‍♀️

JessAndreia

I'm curious, why the insistence with the low fat high carb plant-based diet? Why not moderate carbs and more fat? Are you able to eat soy and nuts? Being intolerant to gluten and legumes is definitely going to make it harder getting protein in on a plant-based diet.

RashadLavelle

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I think you think quite a few things that are common in the blogosphere that I don't agree with.

If a balanced diet worked, why not do that, and work on figuring out in a more disciplined way what your gout triggers are? That seems simplest. If you can get access to a registered dietitian, s/he can help you with an elimination diet of some sort to figure out what your food triggers are, if any. Some of the techniques from doing that are likely to help you with figuring out whether you have exercise triggers, or other factors in your life that are triggers. (Can stress be a trigger? Poor sleep? Inadequate hydration? Other things? I don't know, I don't have gout, am not a doctor *or* a dietitian.)

I don't see why you'd return to a diet that inherently includes things you're quite certain trigger your gout or other negative symptoms, i.e., plant-based.

It's possible to get enough protein on a plant-based diet without using protein powders/shakes/bars (although I can't say whether it's possible without provoking your gout triggers). (I'm not fully plant-based but have been vegetarian for 46+ years: Long enough to know that it isn't true that "you just won't get enough with just some green leaves and veggies". Well, it is true that you won't get it *just* from leaves and what people commonly think of as veggies, but fully plant-based eaters don't *need* to use supplements to get adequate protein . . . even bro bodybuilder levels of protein, in all likelihood.)

There is no tricksy fad trendy diet that has special magic for weight loss. Eat fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose fat. (Some of the loss may be hidden on the scale by water weight if something you're eating, or something else in your life, is triggering water retention, but the fat loss is still happening.)

I suspect there are "gout diets" in existence, that suggest limiting certain foods that contribute to uric acid production. (I see that Mayo Clinic, a reputable source, has such information, for example.)

My advice is to work with a registered dietitian, or at least reputable sources, and don't keep cycling through the trend-o-sphere eating plans. But I'm just a cranky opinionated li'l ol' lady amateur. 🤷‍♀️

I guess the reason I was considering the plant based, is that I had the least of the triggers. I can maybe recall once or twice that my gout triggered during the 2 years as a vegan, and from my journal, it's when I started to go running again. At this point I want to get a good workout in, build muscle, but i'm hesitant with attempting the plant base, because of how it made me feel mentally and the high blood pressure.

As I tweaked my balance diet approach was working well, but after battling gout for over 7 years, and nearly every major type of diet, It just left me into a mental slump! I just want to work out and reach my goals.

AnnPT77

RashadLavelle wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I think you think quite a few things that are common in the blogosphere that I don't agree with.

If a balanced diet worked, why not do that, and work on figuring out in a more disciplined way what your gout triggers are? That seems simplest. If you can get access to a registered dietitian, s/he can help you with an elimination diet of some sort to figure out what your food triggers are, if any. Some of the techniques from doing that are likely to help you with figuring out whether you have exercise triggers, or other factors in your life that are triggers. (Can stress be a trigger? Poor sleep? Inadequate hydration? Other things? I don't know, I don't have gout, am not a doctor *or* a dietitian.)

I don't see why you'd return to a diet that inherently includes things you're quite certain trigger your gout or other negative symptoms, i.e., plant-based.

It's possible to get enough protein on a plant-based diet without using protein powders/shakes/bars (although I can't say whether it's possible without provoking your gout triggers). (I'm not fully plant-based but have been vegetarian for 46+ years: Long enough to know that it isn't true that "you just won't get enough with just some green leaves and veggies". Well, it is true that you won't get it *just* from leaves and what people commonly think of as veggies, but fully plant-based eaters don't *need* to use supplements to get adequate protein . . . even bro bodybuilder levels of protein, in all likelihood.)

There is no tricksy fad trendy diet that has special magic for weight loss. Eat fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose fat. (Some of the loss may be hidden on the scale by water weight if something you're eating, or something else in your life, is triggering water retention, but the fat loss is still happening.)

I suspect there are "gout diets" in existence, that suggest limiting certain foods that contribute to uric acid production. (I see that Mayo Clinic, a reputable source, has such information, for example.)

My advice is to work with a registered dietitian, or at least reputable sources, and don't keep cycling through the trend-o-sphere eating plans. But I'm just a cranky opinionated li'l ol' lady amateur. 🤷‍♀️

I guess the reason I was considering the plant based, is that I had the least of the triggers. I can maybe recall once or twice that my gout triggered during the 2 years as a vegan, and from my journal, it's when I started to go running again. At this point I want to get a good workout in, build muscle, but i'm hesitant with attempting the plant base, because of how it made me feel mentally and the high blood pressure.

As I tweaked my balance diet approach was working well, but after battling gout for over 7 years, and nearly every major type of diet, It just left me into a mental slump! I just want to work out and reach my goals.

Have you tried just the balanced nutrition, but eliminating purine-containing foods and any other personal triggers? I'm personally always a believer in using a few restrictions as necessary to get the results a person wants. If you have special health conditions, it seems like following those dietary recommendations is complexity enough, without trying to layer some other kind of structured/restrictive diet on top of that (unless you have some major other reason to do so).

🤷‍♀️

Your call, obviously.

P.S. Many of the vegan protein powders are going to be sourced from the plant foods you say you want to avoid. There may be some without those, but I haven't made a study of it. I don't like and don't use protein powder (just a taste/preference thing), so I don't know much about the plant based ones, but know that many use pea/legume or grain proteins. Perhaps the extraction processing removes your trigger substances, though.