Potassium

lilylight

This is only my fifth day of doing this. I've noticed that every day, my potassium intake is much, much lower than what is recommended. E.g., today, I have 2215 mg left! But my food intake is pretty "normal," I think... I'm surprised that the deficit is so large and I'm wondering if I need to take a potassium supplement. Even if I add some high-potassium foods, like a banana, etc. -- it seems it's hard to meet what the goal is. How about anyone else -- do you actually meet the potassium goal? Does it matter?

Leahh999

I have the same problem and was wondering the same thing.

jfan175

Morton Lite Salt is 50% potassium. 350mg in a qtr. teaspoon. I use it liberally.

Pebble321

I wouldn't rely too much on MFP numbers for potassium - it isn't listed on food packaging (not in Australia anyway) so it's probably not added to many foods in the database.

suziecue66

make sure eating foods rich in potassium
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php

LemonSnap

Many of the entries in the database don't include potassium so it is likely that you aren't logging all the potassium you consume. This site has a more detailed breakdown of foods and you can edit the database entries to add potassium: http://nutritiondata.self.com/

I find that eating fresh fruit and veg keeps the potassium levels up.

bathsheba_c

MFP is pretty accurate for calories, carbs, protein, fat, and sodium; less accurate for saturated fat and cholesterol; and not very accurate for much else.

indy_jh

I have the same problem with Potassium, and I don't think the database is completely accurate, either.

However, some souces of potassium that I like are fish, broccoli and bananas. Salmon (which is cheap in Utah, and one that I could eat everyday) is a great source of potassium. Believe it or not, coffee is another good source, and yogurt is decent.

Most fruits and veggies have at least moderate amounts as well.

But, I DO know that potassium is one that we need an extra amount when we're sweating a lot. Potassium is important for muscle development, it appears, and I have been told that 3000-4000 mg for aggressive exercising is a proper amount. (Normal is about 2000-2500.)

lilylight

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone! It didn't occur to me that MFP could just be WRONG; I guess that was stupid. On the other hand, I don't eat a lot of processed food, so for just regular whole foods, I would imagine that the MFP folks would have entered potassium and the numbers would be accurate. Maybe I'll be sure to get more high potassium foods and/or that lite salt...