Nutrition Questions

meganiross

I take vitamins, and try really hard to keep away from processed foods. MFP is great for tracking overall trends, and one I've noticed is my potassium and iron intakes are both really low, like less than half the daily recommendation.

Potassium - I found this page http://www.ehow.com/how_2069648_increase-potassium-intake.html on high-potassium foods, but it just seems like you'd have to eat a TON of stuff to get to the 4700mg recommended intake. Anyone else notice this? Suggestions?

I eat a variety of foods, and even when I have high meat intake (I LOVE the occasional steak, and eat a fair amount of tuna), I can't get enough iron in my diet. The people at the blood bank give me a hard time about it too! Again, anyone have suggestions?

kristen807

Any protein is usually a good source of iron. In regards to the tuna, you actually do have to be careful with the amount you consume because of mercury. red meat, poultry, spinach, seafood, artichokes, beans, eggs.

Potatoes, dried fruits and yams are an excellent source of potassium. Yams have around 20% bananas have around 8%

kristen807

It might be helpful if you opened up your diary for us to see only if you are comfortable with that though!

Mel1509

Most women apparently have low iron, my doctor told me to take an iron supplement (nothing to high on the mg) - I picked this one up from GNC. I've been using it for a few weeks and feel better

http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3719245

athenagv

Just a suggestion...take Prenatals. You don't have to be pregnant to take them and they have pretty much everything you need in them! I was always on the anemic side...but once I started taking them, my blood has been perfect!

meganiross

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. As soon as we get through the Costco vitamin bottle, I'll switch to prenatals - not a bad thing to start anyway, since I'm hoping to get pregnant in the next year or so. May get an iron supplement in the meantime, though.

Kristen - didn't realize my diary wasn't set to view by friends, so that's fixed. I knew bananas were a good source, but they can cause *digestive* issues if I have more than one in a day. No food source seems to be able to get you more than a quarter of the RDA of potassium, and my caloric intake would be ridiculous. I guess it's supplements for that, too.

vguynes

I take One-A-Day for Women (when I think about it). I just may switch to Prenatals after I finish this bottle. Thanks!