So, as part of this week’s never ending drama Brian had another gout flare up. He woke up with a ginormous foot and off to the doctor we went to get the usual meds and some treatment. He gave up things like soda and brocolli (big gout triggers) to keep this at bay and it just wasn’t working.

The nurse took sympathy on him when she saw his 6 foot 4 inch frame with his arm around my shoulder coming in the door. He couldn’t get a shoe on his foot, and he couldn’t put weight down on it without cringing in pain. He was put into a wheelchair upon arrival. I walked across the street to Walgreen’s during his visit to pick up a walking stick, figuring we might as well be prepared for future similar days. And he left the facility on crutches.

But, he also received one other thing this time that he was never given in the past, other than the crutches that is. A detailed review of what he had eaten in the past week. Yes, it had been discussed during previous flare ups. Yes, there were things said, “No soda, no brocolli, avoid shellfish.” I had done various reading online about foods and found some good information. However, yesterday we learned we were doing it all wrong, wrong, wrong. No wonder the man was in so much pain.

We were so misinformed before yesterday. The nurse was so much more helpful than anyone he had ever seen prior to this visit about his gout. Before it was just no soda, no brocolli. She went over everything with him that he had eaten in the past five days to try and find the triggering point. Only to find out that the trigger was everything he was eating! Over half of the food he had eaten in the past few days were trigger foods for gout. How could this have happened? She will be getting a thank you card from us for sure, as will the rest of the staff at the Patient First facility. (Also where I went with my allergy flare up, and probably some the best medical care either of us have ever received in our lives.)

Big mistake number one. Whole wheat bread. We buy whole wheat breads and pastas and cereals. Guess what? Huge no no on the gout diet. White bread or rye bread only. Avoid whole grains in all forms. Who would have thought such a crazy thing? Here we are thinking that we’re doing a good thing for a diet by eating the whole grain good for you stuff.

Cucumbers are a no no food as well. And well we go through a lot of cucumbers around here. It’s probably one of the few things that every single person in the house likes so we go through a few of them a week. No more cucumbers for Brian. Peanuts are also a favorited no no food. Brian is now firmly planted in the no peanut corner with Dylan. No PBJ, no peanut butter cookies, no peanuts of any kind. All other nuts are fine, just no peanuts. There were a few other surprising things on the list that we didn’t realize were trigger foods for gout. Things like celery, cabbage, lentils, turkey - foods that you would normally think of as good for you foods!

So, what am I asking for today? I’m asking for your help in creating the new meal plan and diet guide for Brian. And I’m going to try and incorporate the whole meal plan for all of us to match up with his diet as much as I possibly can. Of course we don’t all have to follow his strict guidelines, so I’m not going to make the kids do that. That would be silly. But, I don’t want him to feel like he has to constantly prepare his own special different than everyone else in house meal at every sitting.

This is the list of foods he is allowed to have. This is it. No meat, with the exception of broiled chicken once or twice per week. If it’s not on this list, he’s not supposed to eat it.

Fresh cooked or canned peaches, pears, apricots, bananas, berries, cherries, grapes, grapefruit, oranges, plums, and pineapple.

Cooked apples. (raw apples are not allowed)

Fruit juices.

Any cereal that is not whole wheat.

Milk or cream soups made from allowed vegetables.

Eggs, cooked in any way.

Crisp bacon
Broiled chicken
Broiled lamb

Cottage cheese

Carrots
Beets
Corn
Lettuces
White Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Tomato
Hominy
Eggplant

White bread
Rye bread

Small amounts of butter are allowed as topping or to prepare food with.

Beverages - milk, postum, buttermilk, teas, decaf coffee

Desserts - rice pudding, custard, jello, fruits as listed above

All nuts, except for peanuts.

So click on Recipe Submissions and send me your recipes that use the above list of foods! We’ll be trying out plenty of new things this summer I’m sure.

I’m not normally a cook from the cookbook type of cook, but I just added The Gout Haters Cookbook Series to my Amazon Wishlist too! Thanks to Val for the tip on those books!

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Filed under : Menu Planning