Lisa Cicciarello Andrews - The Healing Gout Cookbook: Anti-Inflammatory Recipes to Lower Uric Acid Levels and Reduce Flares

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Interior and Designer: Darren Samuel
Art Producer: Karen Williams
Editor: Erum Khan

Photography Darren Muir, Food styling by Darren Muir,

courtesy of Michael Morris

ISBN: Print 978-1-64611-446-7 | eBook 978-1-64611-447-4

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This book is dedicated to my wonderful familyRyan, Iris, and Mariawho love and support my creative ventures. And to my parents, Frank and Joanne Cicciarello, who taught me to appreciate good food.

Contents

If youve ever experienced a gout flare-up you know how painful it can be. Simple activities like getting dressed, driving, or cooking can be a serious challenge. Gout is just one of hundreds of forms of arthritis and affects up to 4 percent of the population. While gout more commonly impacts older men, women can also suffer gout attacks, particularly after menopause.

During a gout flare-up the last thing you may feel like doing is preparing a meal for yourself or your family. Swollen, painful hands can make it difficult to perform otherwise simple chores like using a can opener or chopping vegetables. Standing on a swollen toe in front of a hot stove, even for a few minutes, can feel like torture to someone with gout. Lack of sleep from a painful joint waking you up in the middle of the night can zap your energy the next day. While you may look perfectly healthy to other people, your pain is real .

As a registered dietitian with 30 years in clinical practice, Ive witnessed firsthand how difficult living with gout can be. From the frustration of not being able to feed oneself or open a carton of milk to difficulties with getting dressed, gout can really put a damper on someones life. Gout attacks can come out of nowhere and last a few daysor more than a week. On a personal level, I have lived with rheumatoid arthritis for most of my adult life and understand how debilitating chronic pain can impact quality of life.

But theres good news. You can control your gout and experience relief from this painful arthritic condition. Research shows that a healthy, low-purine diet may aid in the prevention and treatment of gout flare-ups. Some simple tweaks in your diet to treat gout may also reduce your risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity, and cancer. While diet is not a cure for gout, it is an adjunct therapy that may be helpful. I have counseled many clients on how to manage their gout and overall health without seeing diet changes as punishment and have seen patients experience fewer flare-ups. Im excited to share my knowledge with you.

The Healing Gout Cookbook is a guide to sound nutrition science plus simple, delicious recipes that reduce gout flare-ups. This cookbook will help you separate fact from fiction when it comes to healthy eating. Recipes are based on both the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and an anti-inflammatory diet, both of which reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic illnesses.

In this book, youll learn about which foods are truly gout-friendly and which to limit in your diet. The Healing Gout Cookbook will expand your understanding of uric acid and how to control your levels. You will discover which purine-containing foods will likely cause a gout flare-up and which are fairly safe to eat in moderation. As a dietitian, I want to go beyond saying what you cant eat and focus instead on what you can eat.

The recipes in this book are easy to follow and can be prepared in a short amount of time. Youll spend less time in the kitchen and enjoy more time doing the things you love without pain.

Lisa Cicciarello Andrews, MEd , RD, LD

If you suffer from gout or live with someone who does, you recognize how difficult it can be to deal with. While the Internet and well-meaning friends and family are full of suggestions for how to manage the condition, information on diet and lifestyle is often conflicting. How do you know what information is true or anecdotal? This chapter will cut through the fog so you understand what it means to live with gout, learn how to fight flare-ups, and get clear on which foods are truly gout-friendly.

What Is Gout?

Gout is a painful form of arthritis that may present as acute or chronic swelling in the hands or feet. It has historically been considered the disease of kings. Gout was first discovered by the Egyptians in 2640 BC and was thought to be triggered by the excessive consumption of rich foods and alcohol that only the wealthy could afford. The word gout comes from the Latin word gutta (drop). It relates to the perpetuating belief in the four humors, an ancient Greek medical term for the liquids that they believed influenced health: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. When in balance, the humors would maintain good health, but under certain conditions, they could move, or drop, into a joint, creating inflammation and pain. In some eras, gout was seen as desirable by the politically and socially powerful because it implied having money to spend on fine food and wine.