Macros - K, MG, Na - faint

MissTomGettingThin

Hi
Looking over the boards I noticed someone had posted about almost passing out.
I have been exactly the same
My sister is a paramedic and we took my blood pressure. It low-ish but a healthy low, if that makes sense. It also didn't change when I stood up.
Often, when I stand up things start to go black and I feel as though I will drop. It passes quickly and all is fine.
I've recently stared exercising again and dropping calories etc so I am sure this is the cause.
The thread I saw mentioned sodium, magnesium sodium and so I looked back over my diary.
I am WAY below on all of these.

My question - and apologies it's taken so long to get to it! Is:
How do I increase my intake of these things? Do I have to take supplements or can they be found in common foods?
My fruit intake has been low recently but I've stocked up in fruit this morning and am not too bad with veg although I could be better.

Thank you for reading.
A

_Zardoz_

MFP is not an accurate way to monitor things like Potassium, iron, magnesium etc. Most database entries do not list these correctly or accurately as in most countries it is not a legal requirement to include them on food labelling and many people just don't fill that part in when adding an entry to the database. In all likelihood the figures you are looking at on MFP are totally wrong.

If you are eating a balanced diet you are most likely getting what you need. Any real worries go and speak to your doctor

Meerataila

Cronometer has a free version. It's a better layout for micromanaging. Are you also low on potassium? Or just sodium and magnesium?

Salt of course you can just add to your food. If you cook from scratch you might not be getting enough. Good sources of magnesium are listed here: http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-high-in-magnesium.php

Just in case your potassium is low: http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php

Edit: That said, like MFP, Cronometer does have user entries and can be wrong. When in doubt, you can use either or both sites by creating your own entries from a database like the USDA.

Vitamin K: http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-vitamin-k.php

leahraskie

These micronutrient deficiencies really shouldn't be causing you to feel like fainting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthostatic_hypotension For reference material to this.

However, since you think you're low on these, which you can't be low on sodium unless something is wrong like hypoatremia, here's a link to some foods that contain magnesium and vitamin k.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_in_biology#Food_sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_k#Food_sources

MissTomGettingThin

Thanks, all.
Will take on board everything you've said and look at the links.

Appreciate the responses. A