Benefits of Vegetables
In every case of gout I ever came across in practice, the person wasn't eating enough vegetables. Vegetables play a lot of roles in the body. Some of the benefits of vegetables include providing a lot of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, as well as acting as a detoxifier and reducing high uric acid levels in the body.
So the big question is: how is it that you are going to start eating more vegetables? Are you one of 'those' people who hates vegetables and can hardly stand eating salads? Well, starting with soups may be your best bet.
Why You Need to Eat Vegetables
I had a patient in her early 50s who sat in my office and clearly stated she hated her vegetables and her mother made her eat them when she was young. As a result, she absolutely refused to eat her vegetables. The problem is that in her rebellion of her mother which had lasted over 40 years, she was harming herself. She wouldn't eat anything more than lettuce. “I don't like the feel of the vegetables in my mouth!" she told me.
“Well, somehow you're going to have to figure it out and start eating them because not eating them is killing you." I don't make these decisions for my patients because it takes too many hours to determine what in their brain went wrong about vegetables. That's their job. I did offer an idea – make soups with the vegetables you do like, add one vegetable you don't like to it, and blend it up in the blender. This way you won't see it, and can still get the health benefits of vegetables.
Her friend told me she had somehow started to eat vegetables again.
What to Put in Soups
What's the method you are going to use to consume veggies? There are dozens of vegetables and I'll bet you haven't tried very many of them at all. Maybe you're a broccoli hater. Well, a vegetable soup with half or a quarter of the usual amount of broccoli in soup plus cheese will camouflage the taste of broccoli; add the juice of a lemon, too.
The bottom line is there are many health benefits of vegetables, including preventing your gout from literally eating up your joints. You're at a crossroads and the decision you make is going to affect the rest of your life. Why not start adding the veggies you don't like to soups, one by one? Before you know it, you'll realize that celery is sweet when cooked. Red pepper tastes good when roasted. Kale can be made into chips by baking it. Cauliflower can be whipped up to look like mashed potatoes.
Conclusion
Make yourself a commitment of one cup soup daily for a month. You might even start with a week. But the soup can't be high sodium or canned. That won't work. It must be homemade. You can do this. Start with simple soups of one or two vegetables, then as you develop a liking for vegetables, you can start to add more. This can be a fun activity to do. It doesn't have to take a lot of time. Make one pot of soup, you'll have enough for the entire week.
So, what type of soup is best for gout? Every imaginable vegetable soup you can get down. Now it's time to start!