potassium and iron???

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es2189
es2189 Posts: 142 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've been doing mfp now for awhile, and what I've realized is that I find it almost impossible to get enough potassium and iron in my diet. A couple issues: I don't eat bananas or liver, and I rarely eat red meat. I realize this limits my options, but there has to be a way.

Does anyone have any ideas? I've tried: kale, chick peas, tomatoes, spinach, kiwi, sunflower seeds, and raisins.

Especially potassium seems like it's really impossible to reach the goal. 3500 mg??? Even on a day when I am obsessive about it, I'm still less than halfway toward my potassium goal and about the same on iron (although I think I've made it to the iron goal once or twice when I ate a burger).

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  • Brendajo510
    Brendajo510 Posts: 153
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    For lunch today I had Cheddar Potatoes with Broccoli Lean Cuisine, 820mg Potassium. But it also has a lot of Sodium (600mg). 210 Calories. I think it’s just about checking the nutrition but I noticed that as well. It’s crazy how little I get daily. Is the amount MFP a goal or the limit? Like it’s good to have low sodium, but you want to get 100% vitamins.
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
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    Lots of canned beans have plenty of potassium.
  • Car0lynnM
    Car0lynnM Posts: 332 Member
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    Potatoes and avocados have lots of potassium. Do a google search on foods that are high in those nutrients and find the ones you like the most. There are lots of options!!
  • fitzie63
    fitzie63 Posts: 508 Member
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    raisins (has high levels of both); pistachio nuts, canned beans (you get your sweet boots!), baked potato (eat that skin). Google search for a long list of such foods ~~~ it's a no-brainer
  • dimoul
    dimoul Posts: 137 Member
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    part of the problem is that potassium is not listed on many food labels. i think i read somewhere that the fda doesn't require it. also potatoes and beans have lots of potassium.
  • StonesUnturned
    StonesUnturned Posts: 94 Member
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    One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of nutrition labels don't seem to list potassium and a lot of foods in the MFP database have it recorded as zero even though it may not be.
    Almonds have a fair bit of iron I think.
  • lynnemack
    lynnemack Posts: 4 Member
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    here is a link that may help, the site is http://www.healthaliciousness.com/

    http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-iron.php

    http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php
  • adegilio1
    adegilio1 Posts: 1 Member
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    I was having the same issue with potassium and iron. I learned that apricots are very high in potassium and also have iron in them....

    Most common as a snack, dried apricots can also be chopped and served in a salad. A good source of Vitamin A and potassium, apricots provide 6.3mg (35%DV) of iron per 100g serving (about 20 dried apricots), or 7.5mg (42% DV) of iron per cup.

    Read more at http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-iron.php#yAFMtzqzTDQDDBzU.99
  • es2189
    es2189 Posts: 142 Member
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    thanks everyone! I did the google searches and found a bunch of foods (the ones I listed above) but I was just wondering what others' experience is because it just seems like you have to be so conscious of it. even the highest potassium foods only have about 1/7 of the daily goal.
  • ShaneOSX
    ShaneOSX Posts: 198
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    Believe it or not the MFP number for iron is actually significantly LOWER than the standard medical recommendation.
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
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    Believe it or not the MFP number for iron is actually significantly LOWER than the standard medical recommendation.

    How do you know what the number is? It seems to be given as a %.

    Since it goes by % it seems like it would be the RDA since that is how packages are labeled.

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