Potassium requirement: how important is this?

NaomiBusler

I find I'm always pretty below the daily requirement for potassium. How important is it to meet this one? If it is important, how do I increase it in a healthy way?

mohamedahmed07

It is important but it's a lot more important if you follow a ketogenic diet.

to increase it, basically eat a lot of vegetables, 2-3 cups a day, greeny leafy vegetables like spinach and kale

TavistockToad

NaomiBusler wrote: »

I find I'm always pretty below the daily requirement for potassium. How important is it to meet this one? If it is important, how do I increase it in a healthy way?

Mfp isn't great for tracking micros - most food items in the database don't have it listed.

AnnPT77

TavistockToad wrote: »

NaomiBusler wrote: »

I find I'm always pretty below the daily requirement for potassium. How important is it to meet this one? If it is important, how do I increase it in a healthy way?

Mfp isn't great for tracking micros - most food items in the database don't have it listed.

Expanding on that: Most packaged food labels don't list it (not required in USA), so most MFP database entries don't have potassium shown at all, even those that are decent sources. Consider spot-checking a few typical days of your eating against resources that identify potassium-containing foods. You may be getting enough. If you're worried, used those food lists to identify things you like (and that meet your other nutritional goals) that you can eat more of.

Christine_72

If you eat packaged foods don't expect the potassium numbers on here to give you a true number. My iron % is always woefully low, but because our food labels don't list iron then i really have no idea how much I'm really getting.

I had a blood test done a couple weeks ago, and all my levels were perfect, including iron.

I do get plenty of potassium, which mainly comes from the watermelon and cantaloupe i have everyday. There's around 1100mg of potassium in 420g of cantaloupe.