For those low on their potassium levels, please read

freakoutadams

Hello!

If you are like me and checking your potassium levels daily, only to find you are falling short of your goal every day, I have a recommendation. This morning, I had breakfast at my girlfriend's apartment and she discovered a bag of oats that were left behind by her former roommate. They were only a few months old, so we decided to cook the oats on the stove top. BTW, the brand was Fresh & Easy Quick Rolled Oats. Taste wise, bland, as you might expect from oats, but a little cinnamon and brown sugar can do wonders.

Well as I enjoyed my half cup serving, I checked the back of the box and made a startling discovery: a single serving of Fresh & Easy Quick Rolled Oats has 3500mg of Potassium! That's pretty much an entire day's potassium with ONE food!

Just wanted to share this with everyone. If you are concerned with the high amount of potassium in the oats, you may want to do a 1/3 cup or 1/4 cup serving and get the rest of your daily potassium from natural foods. Best of luck! ^_^

lemonychick

Hey, thanks for that! I struggle to get enough potassium daily and pay with leg cramps in the night, I'm going to give this a try, although the brand will be different over here.
Cheers! :flowerforyou:

swillis21

good to know! thnx

qowieury

Since most rolled oats have about 300 per serving, this sounds impossible. Also unhealthy, since potassium overdose is dangerous. Maybe it was 350? Or 3500 for the whole bag?

For anyone actually concerned about potassium levels, it is important to realize that potassium is not a mandated part of nutrition facts, which means that many foods on myfitnesspal report 0 potassium, even though they actually have some. Even though your potassium is not reaching the recommended level of 4700, you probably are higher than it shows as long as you eat enough calories.

For instance, take a very unhealthy food like, Doritos - Late Night Cheeseburger. MyFitnessPal shows 0 potassium, whereas the really good nutrition info at http://nutritiondata.self.com shows that this type of snack contains about 45 mg per 100 calories.

If you want your potassium level to be up to 4700 where it belongs, don't look for magic oatmeal or eat 11 bananas a day. Don't eat 10,000 calories of Doritos either. You probably need 300 mg for each 100 calories you are going to eat. Oatmeal only has 100 mg per 100 calories. Baked potatoes with skin are about 600 mg per 100 calories. Bananas are 400 mg per 100 calories. Spinach is 2200 mg per 100 calories. Steak is 150 mg per 100 calories. Broccoli is 900 mg per 100 calories. Carrots are 750 mg per 100 calories. Eat your veggies!

Keep in mind though, that 100 calories of spinach is an enormous amount of spinach. Raw, as in a salad, it would be about 14 cups of spinach (about 1lb). Nevertheless, you have to force yourself to eat the veggies, tons of them, if you are going to be on a calorie restricted diet. Someone eating 2500 calories a day only needs 190 mg per 100 calories. They can afford to eat steak and doritos and a baked potato. If you are only eating 1550 calories a day, you need to make sure that at least 400 of them are devoted to low calorie veggies like spinach or broccoli. Note that not all vegetables are low calorie.

For the best effect, eat the veggies raw. If you have to cook them, use the microwave, not the stovetop, and find a way to drink the water that comes off of the veggies when you microwave them (maybe add it to soup or something) since many vitamins and minerals came out with it.

This really is not just about potassium, but about every vitamin and mineral. You can lose weight if you eat 10 Twinkies a day and nothing else, but you will not be as happy with the results. Plus, imagine how full you would be if you ate 14 cups of raw spinach.

If you want the raw vegetable to go down more easily, do not use dips or salad dressing incorrectly. 2 tablespoons of regular salad dressing have more calories than the 14 cups of spinach. Oil is no better and often is worse. What should you do then? Toss the veggies with the dressing in order to use as little as possible. Make your own dressing, using mostly fruit juice. A half-cup of lemon juice and a half-cup of lime with a tablespoon of oil, tossed with 1lb raw spinach, goes a long way and only adds 170 calories to the 100 calories of spinach. 6 tablespoons of a light salad dressing would be similar. You could always use those really expensive 0 calorie salad dressings, although I think they taste terrible.

Second, mix the vegetables up. Even if you do the salad above, there is only 100 calories of vegetable. Add some broccoli and carrots to give variety. Add fruit to give it more variety. Fruit is only half as good as vegetables for packing vitamins into few calories, but they are still far better than other things.

So, using the above example, make an enormous salad of 400 grams of raw spinach (100 calories, 2200 mg of K), 300 grams of strawberries (100 calories, 450 mg of K), 300 grams of broccoli (100 calories, 900 mg of K), 250 grams lemon and lime juices (50 calories, 200 mg of K), and 17.5 grams of olive oil (150 calories, 0 mg of K). Toss this all together. You have 100+100+100+50+150 = 500 calories. And you have 2200+450+900+200 = 3750 mg of Potassium. (I emphasize how ridiculous it would be if a half-cup of oatmeal had this much K in it).

This salad would fill anyone up. It is also a good test of hunger. If you are hungry, you will eat this salad. Have some at breakfast. Still hungry at 10? Have some more. Still hungry at noon? have some more. If you think that you are "hungry for something else" then you are not really hungry.

If you are on a 1600 calorie diet, you have 1100 calories left to waste. Make sure to get some protein with them. Have 2 big macs, if you want them. Or maybe have 1100 calories of steak (nice big steak). Whatever. Just make sure that the first 400 calories are vegetables (100 of which can be fruit) and the rest does not really matter so much (as long as you get protein).

When choosing vegetables, do not make the mistake of choosing grains. Corn is not a vegetable. Potatoes are not vegetables. (although potato skins taken off of boiled or baked potatoes kind of are). Peas are not vegetables (although pea pods, called snow peas, kind of are).

If you are not such a fan of salads, try doing stir fry. The salad dressing above would make a fine sauce for vegetable stir fry, although you probably would need another 150 calories of oil. Replace the 400 grams of spinach with other vegetables. Microwave the vegetables first, to soften them, then use the stir fry to bring it all together. Add the lemon/lime juice toward the end and use some cornstarch mixed with cold water to thicken the whole thing.

Sadly, because of the bad subsidies given to farmers in this country, the salad above is far more expensive than its equivalent in twinkies. Be willing to spend the money now; you will save it later in medical bills. When you are done with the weight loss, and you just have to maintain your weight, half the salad listed above would still be a healthy way to start off your day. But while you are limiting yourself to 1600 calories or so, a salad like this should be the essential centerpiece of your day.

freakoutadams

@qowieury, you post some great insights, much appreciated! I also thought this was a fluke, since Self Nutrition Data indicates most rolled oats have about 15% of your daily potassium intake (Couldn't find the Fresh & Easy brand on there). And yes, many foods have potassium and don't list it, so the reports on MFP won't always be accurate. I've come to terms with that. But sure enough, according to the packaging and the data here on MFP, a 1/2 cup of Fresh & Easy Rolled Oats is 3500mg of potassium! And for someone like me who needs 4500-6000mg of potassium per day, I think adding meager portions of this in my diet, along with greens and certain fruits, will help. Hopefully it helps others too. Good call on the stir fry too, BTW!

skramnor

Keep in mind that the numbers on MFP for nutrition of foods, is entered by users. If the Fersh & Easy rolled oats container has a misprint of the potassium value, a user would have entered that incorrect number into the MFP database. This would not corroborate the value but merely perpetuate the incorrect value. We would all then see and continue to use the misprinted value. I have found numerous items that have been incorrectly entered.

I have looked at other Rolled Oats nutrition labels and 293mg per 1 cup serving (307 calories) is the most I have found.

GorillaEye

I found a very helpful listing at this link: http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/appendixB.htm and it looks like Sweet Potatos are the highest in Potassium according to the USDA but you'd have to eat at least 5 of them to be close to the recommended daily amount. So what all of this really comes down to is that most people get all of the potassium they need from a healthy diet rich in vegetables and fruits.

susannamarie

Potassium is something I do watch. Many foods don't have potassium values listed. I also look for the ones without the * as those do have the potassium listed. If it's something that's not on their list, I look for the data myself.

susannamarie

Also, beet greens are great for potassium if you like them. So's v8.

Lance_K

bump

tortugita718

Just ran my numbers for a typical day: 8192 mg of potassium (and I check religiously, so I know what's a fluke and what's not). My "secret:" a pound of leafy greens a day (in the form of green smoothies), root veggies like yams or butternut squash, beans and lentils, plenty of other fresh or frozen veggies (I get in two pounds of veggies every day), and limited whole grains and nuts. Basically, a whole-foods based vegan diet. I'm vegan for ethical reasons, but I can also say I enjoy the health benefits of clean eating. Eating this way, and working out regularly (I do lots of circuit training), I can easily consume 2100-2400 calories a day and maintain my ideal body weight (125-135). I don't have to go hungry, I enjoy my food, and it feels great to eat in a way that's kind to my body, the animals, and the environment. It doesn't have to cost a lot, either, if you know where to get the best prices on your veggies! Not to mention that beans, whole grains, and root vegetables are cheap, cheap, cheap!

ahoier

yea what a racket lol...I have noticed this...I think it was romaine or spinach leaves that I scanned...MF showed potassium listed but the package did not show any...sonic attributed it to something like this...perhaps at some time...the label contained potassium levels and were later removed..lol. so I kept it as is...

walterm852

Great post and follow up. Thanks everyone

Qowieury, thanks for the time in putting that together

Phaedra2014

Coffee has a lot of potassium.