Potassium

Seanb_us

Hi,

Aside from eating a bijillion bananas, how do I meet my daily quota of Potassium.

Am 5-7, 225, working out with weights/cardio 50/50 5 days/ week and just want the Potassium to promote recovery. The MFP Potassium number is hard to hit. Supplements seem to offer only 2% of the RDA, so they're no good.

Thanks,

Sean

Kminor67

Multi-vitamins?

ckdub428

orange juice

Larius

I think when most people enter foods they often don't enter the potassium. So, you are probably getting more than MFP shows. Other potassium rich foods include oranges and potatos. Tip: whole wheat foods have ~3 times the potassium of white flour products.

kristy_estes21

I just Googled foods high in potassium and got this website.
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/potassium-foods.htm

Dornroschen

I may be wrong, but I believe that potassium is a very recent addition to the nutrients that food labels are required to track, and that being the case, some of the foods on here might not register potassium when if fact they do have some (??) You maybe getting all the potassium you really need. Can anyone else confirm this? I'm known for reading random things and then quoting it as gospel.

mallorybriann

Coconut milk.

anna_lisa

From what I hear the postassium counts are not super accurate because many do not add the potassium when adding food to the database. You can research sources of potassium online.

I WOULD NOT TAKE A POTASSIUM SUPPLEMENT UNLESS YOU CONSULT A DR.
TOO MUCH POTASSIUM CAN BE DANGEROUS VERY DANGEROUS

P90XCertifiedCoach

I think when most people enter foods they often don't enter the potassium. So, you are probably getting more than MFP shows. Other potassium rich foods include oranges and potatos. Tip: whole wheat foods have ~3 times the potassium of white flour products.

I totally agree, it seems the potassium isnt accurate

424a57

I WOULD NOT TAKE A POTASSIUM SUPPLEMENT UNLESS YOU CONSULT A DR.
TOO MUCH POTASSIUM CAN BE DANGEROUS VERY DANGEROUS

Be leery even of doctors. My step-mother DIED of a potassium overdose (5 heart attacks in a 12 hour period)-- while under her doctor's care at the hospital.

Samantharose8akaDebbie

I agree with the above poster.....be careful.... too much can be very dangerous.

velvetkat

I found I hadnt been getting 1/'3 of the potassium I was supposed have and didnt realize it until I started getting muscle cramps and constipation. This had been going on for a couple of months. I thought I had a muscle injury not a cramp as I was getting enough sodium.. I Didnt realize that potassium had a hand in that also.
What I have done is started drinking muscle milk light which has 570mg of potassium, i take a multi-vitamin, eat spinach with my salad and googled high potassium foods to find others. my muscle cramps are almost gone but I still struggle each day to get all the potassium I need... The muscle milk is a great addition.

I started out eating bananas but they have a higher glycemic index number so I really dont eat them.

Oh and the Doctors I work for say to NOT take a potassium supplement. For one thing they dont have a lot of potassium in them so you need to take a lot plus having too much can be deadly.

Seanb_us

Thanks, I do take a multivitamin. One. I would not take a Potassium supplement alone or extra multivitamins. Also, am an EMT, so am aware of Potassium's effects on the heart -- but thanks for the heads up. I might go for orange juice -- that seems a good accessible idea (though I don't need the sugar). Looking to just help muscle recovery a little is all.

cmriverside

Yeah, Sean don't supplement potassium. I tracked it for about a year here.

Here is my favorite site for potassium info, along with a good chart for potassium rich foods. Basically shoot for fresh fruits and fresh or frozen veggies, beans, whole grains, lean meat, nuts, dairy. Green leafy veggies, tomatoes, beans, avocado, fruits. Bananas are a superfood in general, but many fruits have the high potassium like bananas do. Go for a well rounded, fresh, whole food diet.

Potassium site: http://www.krispin.com/potassm.html


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Dcgfeller

I just had bloodwork done the other day for the first time in forever and had perfectly normal potassium levels. According to MFP my "normal" diet is nowhere near the recommended amount...like under half most days.

Either the databases are off (as suggested) or Im just super good at potassium regulation internally hah.

lovejoydavid

Thanks, I do take a multivitamin. One. I would not take a Potassium supplement alone or extra multivitamins. Also, am an EMT, so am aware of Potassium's effects on the heart -- but thanks for the heads up. I might go for orange juice -- that seems a good accessible idea (though I don't need the sugar). Looking to just help muscle recovery a little is all.

Then you know that if your kidneys are normal, excess potassium will simply clear, and I am not aware of any amount of food form that can actually pose a risk. While there is no RDAs on it, the new recommendations are 4700 mgs per day, which is the amount used in the DASH diet. Apparently, it is actually cardioprotective and blunts the effect of sodium on hypertension. That is what I shoot for. A previous poster mentioned coconut milk, and that is brilliant. As well, I use muskmelon (with cantoloupe being a favorite), avocados (1 gram per), sweet potato, and the most common, nonfat milk. The amount in things like gatorade is pitful, and those have far more sodium.

lovejoydavid

I just had bloodwork done the other day for the first time in forever and had perfectly normal potassium levels. According to MFP my "normal" diet is nowhere near the recommended amount...like under half most days.

Either the databases are off (as suggested) or Im just super good at potassium regulation internally hah.

You can hold on to it if needed, and its functions are primarily intracellular, with extracellular levels (which are what are tested in bloodwork) being just a hint as to what is going on in the cell. Acidotic states, among other things, can interfere with the accuracy of the results. Currently potassium recommendations are for a diet that is intentionally higher than can be used to just maintain the intra/extra cellular levels needed for keeping membrane potential.

lovejoydavid

I WOULD NOT TAKE A POTASSIUM SUPPLEMENT UNLESS YOU CONSULT A DR.
TOO MUCH POTASSIUM CAN BE DANGEROUS VERY DANGEROUS

Be leery even of doctors. My step-mother DIED of a potassium overdose (5 heart attacks in a 12 hour period)-- while under her doctor's care at the hospital.

Hyperkalemia is almost always a function of renal failure, not supplementation. Sadly, the people we give supplements to are usually those taking diuretics, often for heart failure, and they are the highest risk group of acute renal failure. They are also very likely to be on insulin, which can mask hyperK for awhile. Healthy kidneys can deal with almost any amount of K. That being said, supplements are not shown to have the same cardioprotective, hypertension blunting effects as food form potassium.

Hip_Dancer

I try to use blackstrap molasses as a sweetner. It has 600mg per Tbsp.

lovejoydavid

I try to use blackstrap molasses as a sweetner. It has 600mg per Tbsp.

Incredible! I had no idea. That is super useful info!

Dcgfeller

I just had bloodwork done the other day for the first time in forever and had perfectly normal potassium levels. According to MFP my "normal" diet is nowhere near the recommended amount...like under half most days.

Either the databases are off (as suggested) or Im just super good at potassium regulation internally hah.

You can hold on to it if needed, and its functions are primarily intracellular, with extracellular levels (which are what are tested in bloodwork) being just a hint as to what is going on in the cell. Acidotic states, among other things, can interfere with the accuracy of the results. Currently potassium recommendations are for a diet that is intentionally higher than can be used to just maintain the intra/extra cellular levels needed for keeping membrane potential.

Interesting info.

myukniewicz

i take a potassium supplement (575mg) daily... also, potatoes, orange juice, v8 juice, kiwis, coconut water and zucchini are fantastic sources of potassium.
just google potassium and you will find a whole list of foods that are full of it

good luck!