Potassium Help!

MizMareedy · October 2017

I am looking for a recipe loaded with potassium (from whole foods). I am NOT trying to get on the pill supplement game. Anyone have a recipe loaded (here that they can share) with potassium under 500 calories and generally filling? Thanks in advance. Any help is appreciated. I'm struggling with macros and this is one that has me stumped on staying under my target calories (1500 a day/500 max per meal) and flavorful.

cmriverside · October 2017

Most people get plenty of potassium. You can Google potassium-rich foods and you'll see it's easy to get enough. And yeah, don't supplement potassium. Potassium isn't a macro it's an electrolyte and you don't want to mess with potassium supplements unless prescribed. My meals usually have 1000-1800mg potassium. Vegetables, fruit, meat, grains, dairy, eggs, beans. Just regular food.

It's also not listed on most nutrition labels, so it doesn't pop up on every food entry here, even if there is a lot of potassium in the thing.

Stick with generous amounts of whole foods and you'll be fine.

MizMareedy · October 2017

Ah!!! I didn't realize it wouldn't pop up on food entries here - so when I checked I was a little stunned that I'm getting very little. This is my first week on MFP so I'm browsing a lot and learning about the site Thanks so much!

BusyRaeNOTBusty · October 2017

Potatoes have more potassium than bananas.

And yes, you are probably getting more than you think since it isn't required on food labels.

dwilliamca · October 2017

Pumpkin (394 mg/cup) and orange squashes (486 mg/cup acorn squash) are high. That is the only time I ever come close to meeting the K (potassium) goal even with my balanced diet, but I'm not deficient. I never figured out what was wrong, but maybe because it isn't always counted. I'll have to watch it.

cmriverside · October 2017

The food is user and/or admin entered into the database.

Really check the entries you use, otherwise your numbers could be way off. People enter stuff with all kinds of parameters that may or may not suit the thing you actually ate.

I track potassium on my FOOD page, and I've gone through the items I use and I have added potassium in the nutrition info.

RedSierra · October 2017

MizMareedy wrote: »

I am looking for a recipe loaded with potassium (from whole foods). I am NOT trying to get on the pill supplement game. Anyone have a recipe loaded (here that they can share) with potassium under 500 calories and generally filling? Thanks in advance. Any help is appreciated. I'm struggling with macros and this is one that has me stumped on staying under my target calories (1500 a day/500 max per meal) and flavorful.

I eat a lot of lentils. One cup has 731 mg potassium,18 grams of protein and 230 calories. I eat them with whatever vegetables I have around or big salads. I try to eat spinach, bananas, and many other foods with potassium. When you look up food entries on MFP, put USDA by the food name and you are more likely to get the potassium info.

MizMareedy · October 2017

cmriverside wrote: »

The food is user and/or admin entered into the database.

Really check the entries you use, otherwise your numbers could be way off. People enter stuff with all kinds of parameters that may or may not suit the thing you actually ate.

I track potassium on my FOOD page, and I've gone through the items I use and I have added potassium in the nutrition info.

So far I haven't eaten anything I haven't scanned in. Are those numbers correct b/c I haven't been double checking!!

janejellyroll · October 2017

MizMareedy wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

The food is user and/or admin entered into the database.

Really check the entries you use, otherwise your numbers could be way off. People enter stuff with all kinds of parameters that may or may not suit the thing you actually ate.

I track potassium on my FOOD page, and I've gone through the items I use and I have added potassium in the nutrition info.

So far I haven't eaten anything I haven't scanned in. Are those numbers correct b/c I haven't been double checking!!

Some of them will be correct and others won't. They're almost all based on user-entered data and can be wrong for potassium, as well as macronutrients and calories.

MizMareedy · October 2017

Ugh! At least I'm early on in this process. I'm going to double check since a lot of things I'm eating are Green Giant Steamed veggies and such. I want to be as accurate as possible when calculating my calories. I haven't been to the grocery yet to start my whole foods approach so soon--the recipe maker is soon going to be my best friend.

I cannot do a lot of sugary fruits as they make my stomach feel weird. Potatos are IN -- Banana's are definitely out. I'm not a huge fan of overly sweet strawberries either. I typically go for tart fruits. Right now I'm doing a protein shake and coffee for breakfast. I'm thinking of incorporating some fruits/greens into my shakes. I did this a long time ago and enjoyed it, but for the winter - freezing cold protein shakes in the morning are not really what I'm looking for. I may change it up and do oatmeal instead - but I swear oatmeal never fills me up no matter how thick or thin I make it!
Anyhow the green giant steamers I usually eat contain potatoes, sugar snap peas and red peppers. I usually eat two of those a day (which is 4 servings). I'm going to see if their website has the other nutrient information and I can edit it.

cwolfman13 · October 2017

You're probably getting enough potassium. Potassium isn't required on food labels and would thus be absent on database entries...

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, canned tomato products, watermelon, beets, legumes and lentils...just some of my favorites...

cmriverside · October 2017

I'm sure you get plenty of potassium! I wouldn't get too worried about it, you're eating vegetables and that's a really good source. The problem comes when there are a lot of treat foods and not many whole foods.

My morning oatmeal I have with half a pat of butter, three ounces of 1% milk, some flax meal and 7g of walnuts. Then topped with 60g of blueberries. That keeps me happy for a few hours. For me it's important to get fats, carbs, protein and fiber in every meal. If I had sugary oatmeal without fats I'd be looking for more food an hour later.

heybales · October 2017

Manufacturers will keep the same SKU code you are scanning - through many changes of the product it's on.

Seen some nutritional labels change a lot through the years.

Not sure how those database entries get corrected even - I've submitted corrections - but only seen it create a new entry with my corrected info.

But if you even see "New" or "improved" on a food item you get, confirm the database entry you've been using, probably changed.

MizMareedy · October 2017

Just now I went to the green giant website and looked at the nutrition label on there and it's identical to the one on my package. I sent them a message asking why potassium is listed at 0% when the dish is full of potatoes. Here I am thinking I'm getting 0 potassium and I'm actually getting a lot (I eat 4 servings of this for lunch to get the majority of my veggie requirements out of the way) Breakfast and Dinner are my protein packed meals since they keep me full for such a long time.
And YES! The sugary oatmeal I used to eat was leaving MUCH to be desired. I like the recipe you gave me with the blueberries. What is flax meal? Is that something I can get at Kroger? What section?

Spliner1969 · October 2017

MizMareedy wrote: »

I am looking for a recipe loaded with potassium (from whole foods). I am NOT trying to get on the pill supplement game. Anyone have a recipe loaded (here that they can share) with potassium under 500 calories and generally filling? Thanks in advance. Any help is appreciated. I'm struggling with macros and this is one that has me stumped on staying under my target calories (1500 a day/500 max per meal) and flavorful.

Potassium isn't listed on most labels, so it gets left out in your diary in MFP. It makes it look like you aren't getting much (and most people don't get enough, but they get more than they think). But... potatoes are a good source, so are sweet potatoes, most squash, white beans, avocado, spinach, etc. I love baked sweet potatoes and baked russet potatoes, so I'll frequently have one or the other in some form with my dinner.

cmriverside · October 2017

MizMareedy wrote: »

Just now I went to the green giant website and looked at the nutrition label on there and it's identical to the one on my package. I sent them a message asking why potassium is listed at 0% when the dish is full of potatoes. Here I am thinking I'm getting 0 potassium and I'm actually getting a lot (I eat 4 servings of this for lunch to get the majority of my veggie requirements out of the way) Breakfast and Dinner are my protein packed meals since they keep me full for such a long time.
And YES! The sugary oatmeal I used to eat was leaving MUCH to be desired. I like the recipe you gave me with the blueberries. What is flax meal? Is that something I can get at Kroger? What section?

Flax is a seed. The meal is ground seeds, it is an ancient grain with lots of health benefits, here's the info on WebMD:

https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/benefits-of-flaxseed#1

Yes, at Kroger it is in the refrigerated Natural cold case (next to the organic eggs, yogurt etc. In my Kroger it is next to the Fage Yogurt.)

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