Potassium

kampers2000

I have been tracking on here for about three months and have been improving my nutritional balance according to the statistics there. I have dropped my cholesterol 50 pts into a normal range. But I can't come anywhere near the potassium goal. I had 2 bananas, 2 helpings of brocolli, a serving of tomatoes and roasted edamame on my salad today. I am still only 2/3 of the way to the goal. I stopped at the store today and looked at potassium supplements. Each pill provided 3 percent!!! of daily requirement. Any feedback?

cmriverside

I'm sure you're getting enough if you're eating all those fruits and vegetables. The foods in the database often don't have potassium entered because they are user-entered and most people don't worry about potassium. Look up your foods on a database like USDA and use those numbers.

As far as packaged food, in the US the potassium content isn't even a labeling requirement, so it's not usually in the database either, unless you use USDA entries.

cmriverside

It's easy to over-supplement, and potassium is not a issue unless you have some medical problem, in which case you'd be under doctors' care since low potassium (or any electrolyte imbalance) is pretty serious. Most people get plenty - it's not usually an issue if you are getting enough calories in general.

kampers2000

Thanks for the feedback. I may look around the USDA info also.