That's what I'm doing.  No I have no idea what that means either.  As I slide downslope having gotten over the peak of this gout attack (it was not pretty) I have been drinking 100% blueberry juice.  Blueberries and blueberry juice is apparently nature's #1 antioxidant.  I know this because it says on the bottle.  The back of the bottle helpfully explains that antioxidants are good for me because they neutralize free radicals. Ooookay.

Wikipedia to the rescue...

...a "free radical" is any molecule that has a single unpaired electron in an outer shell.

I guess free radicals readily combine with other compounds in your body and thereby oxidize them.  Apparently this can have some damaging effects, but an antioxidant combines with the free radicals so they can't oxidize other compounds in your body.  Okay.  If you say so.  I'm just drinking it because it is recommended for gout sufferers.

I have to tell you it's pretty acidic and has a sharp taste.  I don't think I could drink a lot of this stuff.  It's also a little thicker than other fruit juices... has a little more body to it.  Not like syrup but noticeably heavier.  Can't say I like it very much but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Crap!  My daughter was sick all last week, but thankfully she is feeling better now.  Unfortunately now it is my turn with her cold... which is bad enough in and of itself.  Except that I was stuck at home all weekend and there was a shortage of beverages in the house.  And generally when I have a choice of water or nothing, I choose nothing unless I am direly thirsty.  (I'm sure this will provoke a "typical man" comment from somebody.)

Anyway most of the food I ate was salty.  On Sunday I snacked on Ritz crackers with easy cheese spread, quite a few crackers actually.  Okay a LOT of crackers.  As you know those are quite salty as is the cheese spread.  I barely drank anything except one cup of tea.  It should have occurred to me that this would dehydrate me, but it didn't.

That is until late last nite when I woke up with a sharp pain in the knuckle where my big toe ends and my right foot begins.  Then it occurred to me that what I ate just before bed was a big bowl of salty lipton cup-a-soup.  Greeaat.  So I staggered downstairs and got a glass of filtered water and then hobbled back to bed.  It's probably too late now.  Once the gout starts it really needs to run its course.  I had managed to eat well enough to avoid it for a few years, but here it is again.

Ouch.