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    Getting enough potassium

    Posts: 244 Member
    edited November 2024 in Social Groups
    I'm sorry if this has been addressed before, but I don't see a way to search this group's topics.
    My question is how do you all make sure you get sufficient potassium? Mine is always very low on my nutritional summary, and tonight I broke down and had an extra snack of spinach and avocado just to boost the amount ( tomorrow morning's blood sugar reading will probably reflect that but I was getting that concerned about it). Do any of you supplement? There's virtually none in my multi-vitamin formula. Your experiences would be appreciated!!
    Thanks!

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    • Posts: 4,227 Member
      edited February 2015
      Most meat has potassium, it's rarely listed on MFP. A pound of beef has about a third of your RDA. A couple cups of coffee is another 200mg. A lot of foods include it... few of them are listed on MFP as containing them. Keep in mind, it's possible and dangerous to go too high on potassium. Which is why many supplements don't include it.

      Are you experiencing symptoms of low potassium? If so, then use some lite-salt (which contains a lot). If not, I wouldn't worry about it. The values given by MFP are almost certainly massively under-reporting it.

      I do not supplement it, but then I am the anti-supplement jerk around here. LOL

      Edit: MFP reports that I have had 252mg of potassium today. My actual amount as estimated by cronometer (which is more concerned with tracking micros and is most likely to have the full data) was over 4,200mg. That's just a hair below the RDA. This is why I don't supplement. And, I definitely wouldn't supplement based on the data from MFP, which is reporting only 1/17th of the amount I probably am consuming.
    • Posts: 2,424 Member
      It's highly unlikely that you're low on it, unless you have a medical issue contributing to it. I keep a supplement on hand for when I do go low (leg cramps), but that's the only time I use it.
    • Posts: 244 Member
      I was hoping you'd respond, FITgoat! Thank you! That helps a lot! Yes, I was really not wanting to mess with danger by adding a K supplement. I didn't know that about coffee- my coffee alone should keep me pretty covered, lol!
    • Posts: 4,227 Member
      Healthymom_5 wrote: »
      I was hoping you'd respond, FITgoat! Thank you! That helps a lot! Yes, I was really not wanting to mess with danger by adding a K supplement. I didn't know that about coffee- my coffee alone should keep me pretty covered, lol!

      LOL, me too. I drink about a pot of coffee (sometimes more) a day. That alone is over 20% of my RDA.
    • Posts: 244 Member
      Thanks to you both. I feel reassured!
    • Posts: 1,164 Member
      How do you get MFP to track your minerals etc?
    • Posts: 4,227 Member
      totaloblivia wrote: »
      How do you get MFP to track your minerals etc?

      The short answer is, you don't. It was never intended to track minerals and vitamins. At its core, MFP is meant to be a calorie counting website. The entries are often complete only in respect to calories, sometimes they don't even include macros.

      For tracking nutritional completeness, I use cronometer. There are other sites that do a similar thing, but I don't know them off the top of my head.
    • Posts: 1,164 Member
      OK thanks. Had to google cronometer as thought it was something to do with time.
    • Posts: 691 Member
      Glad everyone chimed in with the possible danger of too much. I have to take extra due to a condition called hyperaldosteronism. At one point I was taking 240,000mg a day and my potassium was still under 3.0. That much in a normal person would kill you. Thankfully I am down to 120,000 a day now cause they are some HUGE nasty pills LOL.

      As they said, your food intake should probably cover it all for you. If you get cramping, or tingling in your hands and face, or even sometimes constipation can be a sign, maybe eat an extra serving of something high in potassium. Tomato paste is surprisingly high in it too. :)
    • Posts: 4,227 Member
      totaloblivia wrote: »
      OK thanks. Had to google cronometer as thought it was something to do with time.

      Yeah, sorry. I am hesitant to link directly to it because it is a competing product with MFP. It's very similar (although not as good with bar-codes and variety of foods) as MFP except with a focus on nutritional completeness and density of foods you eat. Because of their focus, it can be very useful for checking for areas where you might be missing something, amino acid composition of your diet, and such things.

      I find it to be better in some ways and worse than others. For example, it is convinced that I will steadily gain weight (regardless of weight trend or even calories) based on the macronutrient composition of my diet. If I eat 800 calories at 80% fat and 20% protein... it will still predict that I will get fatter.
    • Posts: 1,164 Member
      Yeah, sorry. I am hesitant to link directly to it because it is a competing product with MFP. It's very similar (although not as good with bar-codes and variety of foods) as MFP except with a focus on nutritional completeness and density of foods you eat. Because of their focus, it can be very useful for checking for areas where you might be missing something, amino acid composition of your diet, and such things.

      I find it to be better in some ways and worse than others. For example, it is convinced that I will steadily gain weight (regardless of weight trend or even calories) based on the macronutrient composition of my diet. If I eat 800 calories at 80% fat and 20% protein... it will still predict that I will get fatter.[/quote]

      Thanks for all your help :lol:

    • Posts: 629 Member
      I would love to get that cronometer, is this an app or is it something separate?
    • Posts: 4,227 Member
      It is an app and a website. The app is not free. The website is.
    • Posts: 629 Member
      Ok, i just got the app and will mess with it. Thank you!
    • Posts: 1,850 Member
      FIT_Goat wrote: »
      Most meat has potassium, it's rarely listed on MFP. A pound of beef has about a third of your RDA. A couple cups of coffee is another 200mg. A lot of foods include it... few of them are listed on MFP as containing them. Keep in mind, it's possible and dangerous to go too high on potassium. Which is why many supplements don't include it.

      Are you experiencing symptoms of low potassium? If so, then use some lite-salt (which contains a lot). If not, I wouldn't worry about it. The values given by MFP are almost certainly massively under-reporting it.

      I do not supplement it, but then I am the anti-supplement jerk around here. LOL

      Edit: MFP reports that I have had 252mg of potassium today. My actual amount as estimated by cronometer (which is more concerned with tracking micros and is most likely to have the full data) was over 4,200mg. That's just a hair below the RDA. This is why I don't supplement. And, I definitely wouldn't supplement based on the data from MFP, which is reporting only 1/17th of the amount I probably am consuming.

      Fit Goat, I looked up Cronometer.com, pretty cool! Is that what you are using? Very well thought out. But I can't tell if there smart phone app has barcode scanning capabilities or not. It would be a shame if they didn't.

      I uploaded that question in their forums. Do you know?

      Dan the Man from Michigan

    • Posts: 4,227 Member
      I don't have their app. I don't know if it does scan barcodes. I just use the website. Since I rarely track or count, I just go every once in a while and input an "average" day to see what the nutrition balances out to be. If I add or subtract something from what I'm eating (on a regular basis), I pop over there to see if it dramatically changes the composition of my diet.

      This isn't to say that my breakdown is near 100% on the RDAs of everything. I get 0% of the RDA of vitamin C, for example. There are a couple other things where I am either low or high. But, I don't stress too much about it. Most of the stuff I am low in are things where the animal source is a much better quality source (like Vitamin K), and the RDA from animal sources would be much lower than from plant sources.

      It's actually very useful. It's the main reason I stopped with the supplements, I was getting way too much of many vitamins and minerals without realizing it. Probably not harmful amounts, but it wasn't beneficial to me to keep doing it.
    • Posts: 629 Member
      I've got the app, it doesn't have bar code. But I'm liking it so far :) If MFP doesn't have certain electrolytes or anything else this app does
    • Posts: 1,850 Member
      itcphotog wrote: »
      I've got the app, it doesn't have bar code. But I'm liking it so far :) If MFP doesn't have certain electrolytes or anything else this app does

      Thanks itc & Fit_Goat. Since I have two jobs and limited time, there is no way I would get that app if it doesn't have a bar code scanner. Additionally, I don't have time to input my diet into two separate systems. So I'm sticking to MFP. I have been on MFP since last summer and I have noticed that the app is getting better. Hopefully they will keep improving it.

      Dan the Man from Michigan

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