Potassium

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toughmudderMN
toughmudderMN Posts: 129 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does any body track and/or supplement potassium? I know it is important for the sodium/potassium pump process in our bodies. I also noticed that I am usually low on my daily intake.

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Have you had blood tests? Is the information on your intake from your food diary? Potassium is not required on labels, so often not stated, and not entered in MFP's database, and if it's not there, it will not be added to your tracker. Most whole foods have more potassium than sodium; it's the added salt of prepared foods that skews the ratio in most cases.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Look at a can of beans. Beans are high in potassium.
    But you will not see potassium listed.
    Why? Not required.
    So you could be eating a lot of potassium and not know it.
    My regular milk has potassium, but it's not on the MFP database (not on milk label).
    Did you know that coffee and tea also have potassium?
    Supplements can be extremely dangerous (to say the least).
    If you are still concerned, just cut down on sodium.
  • CaptainJoy
    CaptainJoy Posts: 257 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Have a low sodium V-8 juice during the day. It's got a decent amount of potassium.
  • cpereyra831
    cpereyra831 Posts: 16 Member
    edited March 2016
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    I track it and supplement it with pills. it helps me prevent cramps in my legs at night (I cycle) and it's supposed to help with muscle contractions. I take ~1200 mg per day unless I ride more than 2 hours in which case I take 1800 mg. For comparison sake, 1 banana has 422 mg. It's hard to overdose on potassium unless you have kidney disease.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    White beans and almond squash showed up on a google search for "Foods high in potassium". So, like a good little mfp'er I bought such a squash and such beans. Like a good little mfp'er I learned to cook said squash and beans without salt, butter, brown sugar, or any evil condiments which would blow my macros out of whack. Like a good mfp'er I ate the the whole thing. In little pieces. Little tasteless, bland, please let me die now pieces. Then I bought a bottle of potassium gluconate and now I supplement.

    Not too many years ago I started supplementing with magnesium to help lower my blood pressure. It worked. Three years ago a co-worker, who was uninsured, needed some way of reducing his blood pressure so that he could have a dental surgery. I told him about the magnesium. He searched online and learned about the potassium. He started supplementing with both, and his blood pressure dropped to a range suitable for his dental surgeon to proceed.
  • djspacecaptain
    djspacecaptain Posts: 366 Member
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    I track my potassium to help combat muscle cramps. Potatoes are extremely high, a glass of milk has a bunch and then theres always bananas. Those are the sources i go to since they have a bunch.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I've read that most of us get ample potassium, it's just not required to be on food labels therefore it's not reflected in our diaries.

    If you want to find out how much potassium is in the foods you eat, you can double check here:

    http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search

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