When sufferers of gout start to suffer bad pain from gout attacks, they will normally start to do some research on the subject. Obviously they are looking for ways to stop the attacks from happening and normally they will start to learn that their diet plays a big part in the gout attacks.

Normally gout sufferers will instantly ask, "so what can I eat then?" and immediately focus on the foods which they enjoy the most. Its only natural to do this, but you need to get over these kind of questions and start to think about your long term health and the effects these favourite foods could be having on you.

As the pain that a gout attack causes get worse, you will no doubt be thinking about how on earth to stop the pain. Aside from the common treatments that are available to relieve pain for the short term, you should be thinking more about how you can take steps to prevent the pain in the future. One of these steps involves your diet.

Unfortunately if you do not start thinking about the long term then the pain that you get from gout will just get worse. Your diet needs to be improved so that you avoid periods in hospital. The pain is caused by a build up of uric acid around the joints, in particular the joint of the big toe. If you do not take steps to control your diet and eat better, then the pain will continue.

Try to change your eating habits not just over the next few months, but over the next few years. Because you need to be making changes over a long period so that you can experience less pain from gout over a long period of time.

So what lifestyle changes should you be making right now to prevent another gout attack? Get a small pocket diary and make a note of everything you eat and drink for the next two weeks, this means you can look at your diet with certainty rather than thinking you eat to much of this and not enough of that. Two weeks is a good amount of time as it allows you to stop trying to be good and only eat salads so the diary looks good.

Keep away from foods which contain high amounts of purines. The reason for this is that it causes your body to produce uric acid which as we know can crystallize and cause gout. Therefore this is one of the main things you can cut out of your diet.

Keep the notebook that you have used to keep a record of your food intake for another two weeks and see how many foods containing this you have managed to cut out of your diet. Then move onto another type of food which you need to cut out. Over a period of time you should see a reduction in gout attacks, combine this with increasing your intake of water and you should see good benefits. So are there any foods which actually help with gout problems?