Isn't it amazing how much pain you can have from one toe? Gout comes on suddenly, but you know it when you have it. Caused by a build-up of uric acid in the joints, it usually settles in a persons big toe. Gout is extremely painful, but also extremely treatable.

If you have gout, you probably know it's time to change your diet. Once known as "the disease of kings," it's often brought on by a steady diet of rich foods like red meat, wine, cream sauces and sweets. The closer you stick to vegetarian cuisine, the faster the gout will go. You can eat some fish and lean chicken now and then, but stay away from meat for a while. Also, avoid alcohol and eliminate sugar and white flour from your diet. You may start feeling so good that you'll never want to go back to consuming those things.

It's the Cherries
The one remedy that everyone seems to agree is very effective-cherries! Eat them fresh or frozen. Also, drink cherry juice daily. You can get pure juice (concentrate) at health food stores.

Other Remedies
Soak your gouty foot in comfrey tea .
A Russian remedy is raw garlic-two cloves a day. The best way to take raw garlic is to mince the cloves, put them in water (better yet, in cherry juice) and drink them down. Chewing is not necessary. The garlic will not linger on your breath. It may repeat on you-but then, so does a salami sandwich, and this is a lot healthier.

NOTE: Eat garlic with a few sprigs of parsley to decrease repeating and smelly breath.
Eating strawberries and very little else for a few days is said to be a possible cure for gout. Strawberries are a powerful alkalizer and contain calcium, iron and an ingredient known as salacin, which soothes inflammatory. conditions. It worked so well for 18th-century botanist Carl Linnaeus (who developed the modem system for classifying plants) that he referred to strawberries as "a blessing of the gods."
Take safflower in capsule form to aid the healing process.
Extract 1/2 a cup of juice of French beans (String beans). Drink this juice everyday for a month.
Devil's Claw : Relieves pain and reduces inflammation. Acts as a diuretic, sedative, and digestive stimulant.
Apply elm leaf tea to affected area for pain and inflammation.