The first documented case of gout is from Egypt, 2600 BC – so gout has been an affliction of man for a long time. I remember my grandfather having a bout with gout once when I was in high school. My grandmother told me that gout is typically called a “rich man’s disease” because during the Great Depression it was thought to be caused by a “rich” diet, heavy in meat. Like many old wives’ tales, there is some truth in that.
A quick Google search shows me that MayoClinic.org, CDC.gov, and WebMD.com, all agree that gout is a form of arthritis. This does not really tell you anything other than you have one of over 100 types of joint inflammation. Usually when I do a web search for something health related, I find out that I have less than 6 months to live, but this time, my odds of survival looked pretty good.
To me, gout felt like my foot was BROKEN. My first thought when the pain woke me up in the middle of the night, out of a dead sleep, was, “when did I break my foot, and how did I not notice the incident that broke my foot”. Of course, my foot was not actually broken, I was just suffering the most common form of gout, a type of inflammatory arthritis that affects the joint of the big toe. When I made it to the bathroom and turned on the light, I could see that the joint at the base of my big toe was red and swollen. Comparing to the other foot, the joint was definitely much bigger than normal. Eventually the joint was so swollen that my skin split. Touching the affected area with my index finger was met with sharp, intense pain. “What the F is going on?”, I thought, and, “how am I going to fix this”.
My standard “go-to” for healing the body is… you guessed it… going to the gym. More specifically, my method of healing is strength training. Even more specifically, I have personally developed a method of rehabilitation that utilizes the technique of applying muscular tension with free weights, at a 40-60% intensity for multiple sets of 60 second duration, from a variety of angles, at a minimum frequency (days/week). And resistance (strength) training, in general, has a great track record of providing reliable relief from arthritis.
Despite waking up with extremely painful affliction, skipping my workout on this day was not an option. Basically, I just do not “skip” workouts. There are o
nly a few situations when I will postpone, or miss a workout. One example is having a high fever. I did check my temperature and it was normal, so I was still intent on working out that day. And you know what… I would probably still lift weights (at home) with a high fever. Obviously, I will always make adjustments to insure the constructive and therapeutic effect of exercise.
It was difficult to walk. I had trouble getting down the stairs in my home. In fact, it was difficult just to get my sock and sneaker on that foot. The pain was ridiculous. But, the good news was, I found out after hobbling into the gym, I could still squat with relatively little pain! I immediately proceeded to doing many sets of squats, each set lasting 60 seconds. As my workout continued and positive blood flow increased, the pain became more bearable. I did my best to complete my planned workout for that particular day, making necessary adjustments and peppering in as many non-impact exercises as was feasible to radically increase blood flow to my foot. By the end of a 90 minute workout focused on quadriceps and core, I could almost walk without a limp.
After working out, I returned home to have my completely-real-food-based, Post Workout Shake (video recipe found HERE on IG).
Now, it was time to look at any and all options for getting rid of this super annoying gout as quickly as possible. While I did some more web searches, I iced my foot for at least 20 minutes. According to the internet, which even on a good day, is 90+% bullshit, the consensus among multiple sources was that tart cherries and/or celery can help your body clear uric acid from the body. Allegedly, a “bout of gout” is caused by a buildup of uric acid crystals in the joints, believed to a result of a chronic intake of “high purine” foods. “Okay, now we are getting somewhere,” I thought to myself. “Chronic intake of high purine foods” could certainly apply to me because, like most fitness people, I tend to chronically eat the same foods over and over. It’s easy to do. When you develop a delicious meal plan that is also compatible with your fitness goals, you tend to stick with it.
The dietary issues for me seemed to be my chronic, and sometimes excessive intake of ground turkey, hummus, dark chocolate, and COFFEE. In retrospect, and after minimizing gout symptoms and gout recurrence, it is easy to see that these foods actually were the likely culprits.
Rather than immediately buy a supplement on Amazon.com, I went to the supermarket and purchased Tart Cherry 100% concentrate and celery seed. I added these items to my daily diet while simultaneously eliminating my suspect foods. I began adding an additional half gallon of water per day to the approximately one gallon of water per day I was already drinking. This included my daily regimen of drinking 2-3 tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) diluted with 16 oz of water every morning upon waking. My nutrition program is already fairly precise, but I was more careful about logging foods and minimizing dining out at restaurants because I cannot control for all ingredients at restaurants. 
Then, I made the mistake of eating about 8oz of black beans with my dinner one night, and BOOM, the next morning the gout was back with a vengeance. 
It has been a few months now since my “bout with gout” and I am happy to report that I am now free of the pain and swelling caused by those pesky uric acid crystals building up in the joint at the base of my big toe. I no longer take the Purge! product daily, but I do continue to avoid what I consider to be trigger foods. Recently, I have my annual physical with bloodwork that included measuring Uric Acid. My level was just barely above the high end of range. So, I know I should still stay vigilant.
I hope this post will help anyone who is afflicted by this painful and confusing condition and suffering a “bout with gout”. When I looked for real world stories about people dealing with gout, I did not find much. Consequently, I decided to add this post to my blog, The Perfect 105.
Thank you for reading!
Paul Newt has a passion for learning in all its forms, and finds great enjoyment in conceptualizing, creating, and improving systems that lead to success. Paul spends his time training, coaching clients, being a great husband and father, consuming non-fiction books, tinkering with new technology, researching investments, and building on old, refining current, and discovering new successful methods to improve human health, performance, and appearance. Paul’s lifelong goal is to become the best version of himself, and add value to the world by assisting others in doing the same.