Potassium

ber3023

Due to taking blood pressure meds and water pills everyday, I realize I need to make sure I'm getting in good levels of potassium everyday. I started tracking it last week and realize on an average day I'm seriously LOW! Even though I eat things like bananas everyday, for the purpose of getting more potassium. I looked in a pharmacy yesterday for an OTC supplement. The only one they sold was actually Potassium Gluconate. The back of the label stated "Potassium 99mg (560mg from Potassium Gluconate)" What exactly does this mean? haha We need around 3500mg of potassium a day. Does that mean I'd need to take like 35 supplement capsules a day!? I think I'd rather eat like 10 bananas, but then I'd stress over the sugar content haha

JeSuisPrest

Supplements are ok and all but you are very better off getting potassium or any other nutrient from it's natural source.
http://www.thepotassiumrichfoods.com/

TheLongRunner

I had looked into taking a supplement too and realized the same thing you did. What I was told by the pharmacist was that you should get blood work done by your dr to determine if you really need potassium. If u are low, they can prescribe a higher dose than what you can buy over the counter.

ejohndrow

Not sure how much you need, but prunes are an excellent natural source of potassium, among other things as well.

AdAstra47

1. How many calories are you eating each day? The 3500mg mark is for people eating 2000 cals a day. If you're eating less, then you need less, so you may be closer to your goal than you think.
2. The idea that bananas are an excellent source of potassium is nothing more than really, really good marketing. There are other, better sources of potassium, without the sugar. 1 cup of plain yogurt has just as much potassium as 1 cup of banana. And potatoes and raisins have twice as much! If you're worried about sugar & carbs, try spinach, brussels sprouts, or asparagus.

My mother has always suffered from leg cramps at night, which her doctor told her was due to low potassium. She started taking a scoop of vitamin-enriched protein powder before bed each night (I don't know that brand name makes a difference, but she uses Syntrax Nectar), and she hasn't had any problems since. It only has 40mg potassium, but apparently that was enough to do the trick. And perhaps taking it regularly, not allowing your body to build up a deficit, is a key as well.

Good luck!