sodium and potassium questions.

tony56pr
tony56pr Posts: 141 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Ok, so just over 10 month into my journey and I've done really good. I'm almost were I want to be. Started at 295+ and now this morning I weighed 171.8 pounds. I'm shooting for 8% body fat or so, currently 11% or so. I've done this with low carb, 6 months of 1950 calories and 50 or less grams of carbs a day. Then I upped my carbs to 50-100 grams with sweet potatoes, little rice, and Kachi go lean cereal. Lately I'm hitting over 100 grams a day, max being 175 or so. I've been on my fitness pal since before I started, but honestly haven't used except to look up calories. Until a week ago when I decided to start logging.

It has worked great other than when scanning foods and nutrition labels not being complete or different from label on product. However, I was simply in shock at how little potassium I was getting and crazy amount of sodium I was consuming.

I thought I was eating good, but I can't see how to get more potassium and less sodium. I try to cook my own food but even fresh stuff has lots of sodium and little or no potassium. What do I need to do? I live in oklahoma so there isn't a lot of farmers markets that are open when I'm not at work and though I've found some low sodium chicken, it was almost $7 for 1 pound. Anyways still leaves potassium, I do eat sweet potatoes but not daily and then not a lot, I get apples but juice is out because of sugar and honestly fresh fruit lacks flavor so I buy frozen. I don't add salt, but I've had to cut cheese and Worcester sauce (along with grill mate because of sodium.) I also ate atkins dinners for convenience, but have cut them because of sodium. I still eat serving of cottage cheese, but likely cut it out too because of the high sodium. (Eat for added protein)

Sorry for such a long post but this has got me down. I almost wish I didn't start logging.

Replies

  • aedreana
    aedreana Posts: 979 Member
    As a vegan, it is a daily challenge for me to get enough sodium. Too little sodium and/or too much potassium causes dehydration because your body won't retain water. But I am a vegan for ethical reasons, not health reasons. I do my best to try to eat enough salt every day.
  • countscalories
    countscalories Posts: 418 Member
    I buy Friendship's no salt added cottage cheese (in the red container). After the first spoonful or two, you won't miss the "regular" stuff.
  • tony56pr
    tony56pr Posts: 141 Member
    I'll try to find here and I don't mind low sodium, don't need it, I just didn't pay attention to how much was in everything. (i looked at calories, carbs, and protein. The rest I never even looked at until I seen how much I was getting) hope I can find. Been buying Nordica because low fat has least amount of sugar among others available, 5 instead of 9.
  • bv109
    bv109 Posts: 83
    eat greens and bananas
  • JoshD8705
    JoshD8705 Posts: 390 Member
    Your potassium isn't as low as you think. Potassium isn't a required listing on a nutrition label, so unless it's a major selling point for the product. It's left off for space.

    If you're worried get blood work from your doctor. That way you can really see your weak spot in your diet.
  • xDawnsgrace
    xDawnsgrace Posts: 436
    Your potassium isn't as low as you think. Potassium isn't a required listing on a nutrition label, so unless it's a major selling point for the product. It's left off for space.

    If you're worried get blood work from your doctor. That way you can really see your weak spot in your diet.

    QFT


    9 times out of 10, potassium won't be listed on the packaging.
  • ruthejp13
    ruthejp13 Posts: 213 Member
    A couple months ago I ago super sick. I made some chicken broth with spinach. I was shocked how much sodium and how little potassium. My legs were cramping something awful from being so dehydrated and out of electrolytes. I looked up sweet potatoes and I would have had to eat 5 of them to get enough potassium. The next day I made what I called potassium soup which was tomato paste, broccoli, bell pepper, spinach and parsley. It still wasn't enough and went out and bought Morton Salt Lite which is half salt and half potassium. Luckily because I don't eat processed foods I can add salt to my foods.

    Did you know a Big Mac, Chocolate Milk Shake and 1950's McDonald's French Fries all have more potassium than a banana?
    Check out: http://youtu.be/yWuS-0cEbOo
  • tony56pr
    tony56pr Posts: 141 Member
    Well 5-21 I went to dr because of low energy, they gave me a full checkup and my blood work came back good except anemic and I'm following dr instructions there was told to keep diet and to add multi with iron (was taking multi without iron). Sodium and potassium were within normal range, both were in middle of ranges. Also should say I drink a lot of water everyday, 12-16 16.9 oz bottles, I work outside as a welder so I sweat during the day (not anywhere close to how much when I weighed 295 pounds though) too. Plus 5 days a week of workouts.
  • BigTireFlipper
    BigTireFlipper Posts: 116 Member
    How low sodium are you trying to get? $7 a lb for chicken in order to get lower sodium? Typically chicken is pretty low unless they've shot it full of preservatives. I'm in Texas and can go to the local HEB to pick up chicken legs at 99 cents a lb and they have 80 mg sodium per 100g serving. I have to watch sodium to manage my BP so I end up cooking most of my own stuff. I try for less than 1500 per day and it can be nearly impossible if you're not preparing your own meals. If you want to flip through my diary to see what kinds of stuff I tend to stick to in order to get some ideas of your own then feel free to send me a friend req and ask questions.
  • tony56pr
    tony56pr Posts: 141 Member
    Some show 0mg of potassium, other leave of. From my research salmon is supposed to have but the frozen raw salmon I have don't list potassium at, but I don't know how much to log here. Other things I have no idea.

    Should also mention blood work showed cholesterol to be 147 and triglycerides were 37, which blew me away.
  • tony56pr
    tony56pr Posts: 141 Member
    Most of fresh and frozen chicken has 180 mg of sodium per 4 oz serving (100 calories), few I saw had 110 mg, all of them said "15% of natural chicken broth added" the one I bought was 75 mg (didn't see added broth on it).
  • tony56pr
    tony56pr Posts: 141 Member
    Should say that's for boneless skinless breast. Pork chops I saw were over 200 mg and beef and salmon show 90 mg. Of course, no BBQ sauce, found head country was low in sugar but has lots of sodium. It all adds up quick I've found out since logging. All other numbers I've done pretty good on.
  • BenjaminMFP88
    BenjaminMFP88 Posts: 660 Member
    If you are trying to up your potassium, just down some fresh fruits and some veggies. They are typically packed with a few hundred mg's.
  • myfitnesspale3
    myfitnesspale3 Posts: 276 Member
    "Lite salt" is half potassium but previous posts have correctly indicated you already get more K than is listed.
  • rejectuf
    rejectuf Posts: 487 Member
    Yeah, as people said more things have potassium than you'd think.

    If you're really worried about it, you can try a product like Nu Salt which is potassium instead of sodium. Coconut water, sweet potatoes, bananas, spinach are all foods high in potassium.

    You lose potassium, as well as other minerals in your sweat so if you're athletic your requirements will probably go up.

    Don't neglect things like magnesium and zinc too.
  • 2BeHappy2
    2BeHappy2 Posts: 811 Member
    Foods with more potassium than a banana...
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/potassium-foods-banana_n_1898078.html
    http://www.highbloodpressureinfo.org/foods-with-high-potassium-levels.html

    Potassium in a banana....
    http://www.ehow.com/how_4529727_much-potassium-banana_.html

    Hope this helps
  • tturley
    tturley Posts: 73 Member
    12 oz V8 juice contains 640mg and only 70 calories.
  • HelenCDavis
    HelenCDavis Posts: 20 Member
    Here is a good resource about potassium:

    http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=90&tname=nutrient

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