Why is Potassium SO hard to find?

ujjz

13 grape tomatoes is 1000 mg

bokchoybaby

Unless your soup has only three or four lonely beans floating in it, even it is bound to be a decent source of potassium. Beans have tons.

tedrickp

White Potatoes, Spinach and Mushrooms are packed with potassium and all relatively low calorie.

chivalryder

Those cans of beans/soup you eat are actually also relatively high in potassium, it's just never listed on the label. Sure,it's high in salt, but any raw food item (fruit, veggies, legumes, meat, etc.) all contain a relatively high amount of potassium. I'd say don't worry about it, you're probably getting enough unless you eat exclusively "processed" food (i.e. frozen food in a box).

nicholjenny

I have a very difficult time getting enough potassium. I take Lasix for medical reasons. I found that V8 juice has a huge amount of potassium. Strangely too, Chef Boyardee pastas, which I know you have to watch for calorie purposes. I did see my doctor who prescribed a supplement that delivers 1500 mg!!! Hope this helps.

BringingSherriBack

potatoes, bananas, V8 juice (low sodium), orange juice

Gkfrkv

From my Magical Nutrient List, from way back when I tried to be vegan:

bananas, potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, winter squash, raw cauliflower, avocados, kiwifruit, strawberries, honeydew melon, cantaloupe

lar4290

Glad I found this thread because I've been wondering the same thing.

The federal guidelines recommend 4,700 mg/day for adults (higher than the amount listed on MFP), and I've been using the gov't site to calculate the amount in foods: http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/appendixB.htm#AppB1 (this is also a good site: http://www.krispin.com/potassm.html#Formula). According to that, you'd have to eat 10 bananas daily to get that amount! And that's a LOT of bananas (or cups of spinach or dried apricots or whatever other food has around 350-500 mg/serving). I just don't see how anyone gets enough potassium without only eating raw fruits and vegetables high in it?

qtgonewild

i didnt read through the thread. but artichokes!!!!!!!!! low calorie as well.

SakuraRose13

green beans. potatoes. bananas of course I have days where I actually go over my daily intake , I have a harder time with calcium and protein intake myself .

robsheer

Coconut water, 11.2 oz = 690 mg of potassium + 60 calories only
Drink 3 a day and that's 2070 mg of potassium, 180 cals, easy to do, but can be expensive. BTW, it's delicious and a great way to hydrate. Just be aware that, at this level, potassium acts as a diuretic and natriuretic, i.e. expect to go to the bathroom a lot, and your bloodpressure will drop a little bit since you will excrete more sodium. The good news is that a diet high in potassium, >3500 mg per day, will couter the effects of a higher sodium diet as well as the vasopressor response to stress... A great way to avoid or control hypertension.

blazterx

Eat a large serving of any green vegetable with every meal and you will have tons of potassium.

Myhaloslipped

Low sodium V8 juice. 50 calories and 900 units of potassium per serving. Bam! FIFY.

tturley

Medium potato = 1240
Blackstrap Molasses = 450 (Put it in your protein shake, be sure to check the label, they're not all the same)
V8 Juice 12oz = 650 & only 70 calories, yes it's high in sodium but I don't care
Orange juice = 400ish

pds06

Uh because too much can kill you?

jayjay12345654321

Switch to NoSalt salt substitute? Not sure if that's the same thing as what was asked.

walterm852

Check out:

http://potassiumrichfoods.com/

Keep in mind also that potassium isn't required to be listed on nutrition labels. (Kinda dumb if you ask me) So a lot of foods in the MFP database and elsewhere will erroneously list a food as having no potassium when in fact the food is a good source of potassium. To address this, many potassium-minded MFPers add potassium to the name of the food in the database. My morning java is listed in MFP as "Homemade Black Coffee - Brewed (W/Potassium)" (Three cups of black coffee have as much potassium as a medium banana)

I would not take potassium supplements however. Much better to get it from foods.

I second this.

When adding foods (like russett potato), scanning the barcode usually has the potassium amt included, if it does, I try 3-4 entries and one of the usually has it

MoreBean13

You can find it in the spice aisle of the grocery store as salt substitute. Mortons makes one and french's makes one called No Salt.

ETA: I just looked at the Morton's one in my kitchen. 610mg potassium per 1/4 teaspoon. Easy to make up gaps by adding some to your meals regularly.

SugarLou57

Have you considered taking an enzyme supplement to help with the "bean" problem? I find that works great for me. I have no knowledge of potassium to add to this string.

gusterguy79

This website has the top 10 food sources. http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php

elyelyse

Yup, I totally thought I was lacking potassium too, until I realized it's not on nutrition labels, so most things in the MFP database say 0. When I looked it up, I realized I get enough without trying.

poohpoohpeapod

tomato juice, pure coconut water, raisins

Myhaloslipped

Wow. I eat most of the potassium-rich stuff that has been listed here all the time. I must have potassium coming out the wazoo!

CeeCee_28

All natural, no sugar added coconut WATER not coconut juice

ygstzip

Gotta agree with the coconut. Lowest cal with lots of potassium. Make sure it is Young coconut water/juice though. Oh and Young coconut meat too. If it's hard to chew or hard to scoop out of the coconut, it's mature coconut already- in that case just drink the water and discard the meat.

the others I usually have are

- Sweet Potato
- Kiwi Fruit
- Milk
- Plain Low Fat Yoghurt
- Plain Low fat Milk
- All-Bran
- Potato
- Lay's Original
- Banana
- Dates
- Raisin
- Tuna
- Pork

chinadoll44

APO-K is a slow release potassium-chloride supplement with 600mg per pill

TheLeGames

As someone with Kidney failure, I have to watch my potassium levels. MyFitnessPal has horrible tracking of Potassium because none of it is officially verified -- even the "user verified" stuff is completely wrong. This place is going to get me killed (high Potassium is very bad for dialysis patients).

Sadly, I have to go elsewhere and track my own Potassium levels.

Just a word of advice -- EVERYTHING has Potassium in it -- it is a mineral that is present in all foods. If MyFitnessPal lists Potassium as zero, it is 100% wrong.

csuhar

Its in almost everything it just might not show up in the MFP nutrition data.

This is a very big player. Potassium isn't required to be included on nutrition information labels (at least, not in the US), so it can be hard to tell what you're getting because the food companies aren't telling you.