Potassium

giammarcor

Can anyone recommend foods that are low-cal and high in potassium. That's the one nutrient that I continuously fall way short on. I even take a potassium supplement but it doesn't put me anywhere near the daily requirement.

Thanks.....Bob

askme12

Papayas 1 papaya 781 mg
Lima Beans 1 cup 955 mg
Plantains 1 medium 893 mg
Jerusalem Artichoke 1 cup 644 mg
Bananas 1 banana 422 mg
Oat Bran 1 cup 532 mg
Tomatoes 1 cup 528 mg
Cucumber 1 large 442 mg
Cantaloupe 1 cup 427 mg
Pears 1 pear 333 mg
Mangoes 1 mango 323 mg

Hope this helps.

bluellies

Potassium is found in many different plants, including green leafy veggies. I struggle with this as well, and I feel that it's important to have much more of it in my diet. Have no problem with it's evil clone (well, we used to think it was the same thing) sodium, but I'm just not eating enough of the right things for the potassium. Good luck!

SparkleLisa

here's an excerpt from the article I found:

bananas have 594 milligrams per one cup (297 per half cup), lima beans with 955 milligrams per cup (477.5 per half cup) and pinto beans with 800 milligrams per cup.

In the fruit department five dates or two dried figs have 271 milligrams, cantaloupe has 494 milligrams per one cup, orange juice has 496 milligrams per cup, pears have 208 milligrams each medium pear and one nectarine has 288 milligrams of potassium.

Brussel sprouts, carrots, melons, winter squash, papaya, baked sweet potato (with the skin), cooked mushrooms, lentils and artichokes all have 500 or more milligrams of potassium per serving. Baked or broiled salmon, dark meat turkey and lean beef also contain 500 to 600 milligrams of potassium per 6 ounce, or dinner meal, serving.

Read more: http://www.righthealth.com/topic/Foods_High_In_Potassium#ixzz1NWFpZQbk

1southernchick

thanks for this info!

drasr

Yellow fruits and vegetables.

CarlydogsMom

I also heard that Brewer's yeast (Lewis Labs brand in particular, it's made from beets) is also high in potassium. I struggled with the same thing, and have tried eating more dates/figs and pineapples. I'm not that big into fruits, and don't really eat bananas, so I went looking for other sources. Two tablespoons of brewer's yeast yields quite a bit of potassium. I stir that into water every morning.

SueInAz

The problem with supplements is that they are only allowed to put 99mg of potassium in them. That's not going to do much good when the suggested intake is 3500 mg. You need a prescription for anything with a higher amount or you could buy a potassium supplement and take several a day. A banana has 4-5 times that amount. It's ridiculous, really.

Some good foods are already listed by others but I might add:

Acorn squash, cooked (1 cup) 896
Potato with skin, baked (1 long) 844
Spinach, cooked (1 cup) 838
Lentils, cooked (1 cup) 731

Good luck!

giammarcor

Thanks everybody, you folks are awesome!

ajbeans

Low-sodium V8. I drink a 10-oz glass every day to help with my potassium quota.

Keep in mind that potassium exists in some level in almost all foods, especially if they're minimally processed, but since it's not required for nutritional labels, it's often not included on the label and you won't be able to find it in the database. Any time something shows up as 0 potassium in my food diary, I look it up here: http://nutritiondata.self.com/ Not by brand name, but just as the general food ("canned tomatoes" or "mozzarella cheese" as examples). And then I created a food entry called "Quick Add potassium" so I can add an estimate of the potassium content without changing the actual food entry in the database. It works for me.

MellowGa

be careful with potassium, while our body needs it, you can take to much of it, to much potassium can have fatal effets.

so anyone that reads this, follow the guidelines set, to much is a bad thing.

just a FYI, unlike other essentials potassium must be with in the guidelines.