The problem is that all the gout symptoms come and go and any "issues" take a while to show up. In the past I have tended to have flareups in the spring... so I have to wait until spring to find out... and of course if I don't have a flare up, can I attribute that to a veggie diet... not sure, as I don't always have flare ups.

I'll have my uric acid levels checked in a couple of weeks and see if they have fallen down to safe levels.

Uloric brought down the levels when I tested last spring... into 4 and change, but after about 45 days I was having massive stomach cramps that occurred within less than an hour of taking the pills. So I dug into the internet (again) to see what else I could do, and discovered that vegetarians rarely have gout. So OK, lets try this and see what happens. Since I happen to really like veggies, it wasn't too hard to just cut out the meat. As a side effect I have noticed that my weight is easier to control... although with a rather sedentary job, (chained to a CAD station) the lack of daily exercise is still an issue. In the summer I ocean swim, and that really helps with weight and general health, but this time of year, the water temp and frequent big seas and seasonal short days tend to make that difficult.

There are other benefits to eating veggie... that bloated feeling from eating too much goes away quite quickly, and I certainly take in an abundance of roughage.

Like I said, the biggest drawbacks to veggie that I experience are that I do miss certain foods (bacon, BBQ, Ahi) and that finding good veggie food when I am out can be difficult. The admiral and I were at a Sushi/Japanese restaurant about 2 weeks ago, and she had various sushi rolls... and when I inquired about "veggie" the waitress just drew a blank... after studying the menu a bit, I put together a nice meal out of appetizers and side dishes that worked out quite well... after all, they had tempura, rice, and miso, as well as edamami... so it was just a matter of combining the right items. Last night we went to Roys and they had a veggie menu... with two entrees. Rather funny. Typically I end up ordering side dishes and maybe a salad of some sort or ask for something to be modified (that CAN be an "issue" at some places.) I am not militant about it at all, nor am I vegan... I am just avoiding meat and fish of all kinds. (shell fish is supposed to be the worst)