Need more potassium
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IronBatMaiden
Posts: 378 Member
Hey I'm a 25 year old woman and I'm finding I don't get enough potassium in my diet. But I have plenty of caffeine. I wanna get more sources of potassium but I don't wanna have too much sugar in the process. Got any tips?
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Replies
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Most labels don't list potassium so keep that in mind that you are probably getting a lot more than you think.
Avocado, sweet potato, coconut water, spinach, white beans and squash are good sources with out high sugars.1 -
Loads of good sources out there you can eat: Avocados, bananas, spinach, sweet potato, coconut water, white beans, acorn squash, natural yoghurt, to name but a few easy to find/eat ones.0
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Current US food labeling guidelines don't require potassium on labels (which is the source for many MFP entries), and even when the label includes the info, some users don't track potassium and so don't bother to include it when they create an entry. Are you getting that caffeine from coffee? Coffee has over 100 mg of potassium per cup. Do your entries reflect that?
Short version: You may be getting more potassium than you think.1 -
Most food entries in the database don't contain the potassium information because at this point it is not required on food labels. It's my understanding that when the new food labels start coming in to use they will show potassium amounts. Until then you have to do your own research.
I track potassium for health reason so I entered my own food entries and did the research. You can find most foods...well I am not sure about that since about 80% of my diet is fresh foods. Processed foods will probably be difficult.
Google foods high in potassium and just add more of those to your diet.0 -
Expanding on the comment above re: coffee and potassium, according to the USDA, 8 fl oz. of coffee contains 116 mg of potassium and 8 fl. oz. of decaffeinated coffee contains 128 mg of potassium.0
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I'm allergic to bananas so they aren't a good source of potassium for me but they might be for you. Other sources:
- Orange juice
- Avocados
- Apricots.
Good luck!0 -
NoSalt is a godsend. I've started using a fair amount in my various sludge recipes to balsnce out the ratio with all of the damned sodium that is in everything. Haven't had water retention issues in the month since I started using it, whereas I used to have them regularly.1
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I just took a look in my food diary. I pre-log perishable or opened canned foods -- things I want to finish before they go bad -- and carry them over from day to day, kind of as a reminder to eat them. Right now I'm looking at 610 calories of pre-logged foods, mostly veggies, that total 3,759 mg of potassium (all of the pre-logged entries I'm carrying right now have potassium values, because they're mostly USDA-derived "whole food" entries). This suggests that if you eat 400 to 500 calories of fruits and veggies a day, you probably don't have to worry (because the other foods you eat will also add some potassium). Examples, 616 mg potassium from 3/4 cup canned crushed tomatoes in puree for a "cost" of 62 calories; 558 mg potassium from 100 g of fresh spinach, which isn't much volume if you cook it, for a "cost" of 23 calories; and 475 mg potassium from 100 g of baked sweet potato, for a "cost" of 90 calories. And the other things you eat after downing all those veggies will add some more potassium, just not quite such an intensive source, e.g., 448 mg potassium from a little less than 4 ounces of baked ham, for a "cost" of 195 calories.0
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Coffee has more potassium than bananas actually, bananas are ranked like not even in the top 1000 sources of potassium, random fact for the day. Gonna edit this now that I saw how many other people posted about coffee. Anyways the below is still relevant
Not to state the total obvious and ruin the thread but no one mentioned supplements. I don't know if that's a no no or what, but I find that eating the calories I need VS the specific sources ( I.E. like proteins and fats) I supplement. Anyway the daily potassium intake advised is like 4000mg or something close depending on weight, age, sex, hieght. So I use supplements for a lot of those things just like vitamins. Just something to look at I guess.0 -
Same here!! I eat a banana and take a potassium supplement and I still don't get anywhere near my potassium goal. I stay on the whole 30 meal plan so I pretty much eat veggies all day ... I don't k ow what else to do0
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Same here!! I eat a banana and take a potassium supplement and I still don't get anywhere near my potassium goal. I stay on the whole 30 meal plan so I pretty much eat veggies all day ... I don't k ow what else to do
You would need to eat 10 bananas a day plus 3 supplements. BUT as most everyone else stated, there's potassium in almost everything, so you may be getting way more than you think.0 -
https://youtu.be/H8a9pciB_w4
Kind of longer, like 9 minutes but it may help somewhat0 -
Raisin's. Pumpkin seeds. Potatoes. Cashew. Green beans Tomatoe. Milk. all have potassium sources. I have a potassium deficiency and these are in my diet to try and bump it up1
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Coffee has more potassium than bananas actually, bananas are ranked like not even in the top 1000 sources of potassium, random fact for the day. Gonna edit this now that I saw how many other people posted about coffee. Anyways the below is still relevant
Not to state the total obvious and ruin the thread but no one mentioned supplements. I don't know if that's a no no or what, but I find that eating the calories I need VS the specific sources ( I.E. like proteins and fats) I supplement. Anyway the daily potassium intake advised is like 4000mg or something close depending on weight, age, sex, hieght. So I use supplements for a lot of those things just like vitamins. Just something to look at I guess.
My multi only has 80 mg of potassium, and I'm under the impression that in the U.S., you have to have prescription to get a supplement with more than 100 mg of potassium--although something I was just reading on the FDA site suggests to me that that may be due to cautionary tactics of vitamin/supplement makers in response to FDA guidance, rather than an absolute restriction by the FDA.0 -
Also, canned 100% pumpkin puree is amazing. 50 kcals for 350mg potassium. It's not coffee or leafy greens, but man, mix a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon into it, and it's an amazing side dish.1
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »Coffee has more potassium than bananas actually, bananas are ranked like not even in the top 1000 sources of potassium, random fact for the day. Gonna edit this now that I saw how many other people posted about coffee. Anyways the below is still relevant
Not to state the total obvious and ruin the thread but no one mentioned supplements. I don't know if that's a no no or what, but I find that eating the calories I need VS the specific sources ( I.E. like proteins and fats) I supplement. Anyway the daily potassium intake advised is like 4000mg or something close depending on weight, age, sex, hieght. So I use supplements for a lot of those things just like vitamins. Just something to look at I guess.
My multi only has 80 mg of potassium, and I'm under the impression that in the U.S., you have to have prescription to get a supplement with more than 100 mg of potassium--although something I was just reading on the FDA site suggests to me that that may be due to cautionary tactics of vitamin/supplement makers in response to FDA guidance, rather than an absolute restriction by the FDA.
It's because too much potassium will kill you.
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Get a blood test done. Unless your potassium is low (below 3.5, or 4 if you're a cardiac patient) or high (above 5) just eat a diet with plenty of fruit and veg and don't stress about supplements or monitoring potassium intake.0
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Eat a banana.....0
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Don't depend on MFP to tell you whether you're eating enough potassium. Labels aren't required to have it, so many things in the database that do have potassium aren't listed as having any. Also, being user-entered, people often only put in the macros and nutrients that interest them.
You're almost certainly getting more than you think.0 -
I usually drink an 8oz glass of V8 every morning giving me 900mg of potassium.
100g of avocado has 485g.
100g of broccoli has 316g.
100g of sweet potato at 337g.
100g of white potatoes has 421g.
Even a chicken breast has potassium...256g of potassium for 100g of chicken.
The list goes on and on. Do the research and just start including some of these things in your diet.
I have HBP and one of the ways that I help control it is to make sure that I get enough potassium to help offset the sodium.0
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