Potassium and sodium

You aren't going to get accurate potassium unless you are careful to only use the entries for whole foods. Packaged items typically don't have it, which means for most tracking at MFP it's not accurate.

Sodium will only be accurate if you are really specific about using the precise items you did and also log any salt or other condiments that might contain it used in cooking or added after. Also any drinks with electrolytes.

I am currently using Cronometer to log things like potassium. I'm not really concerned about sodium and don't watch it since if you eat mostly whole foods it's unlikely to be too high (and I don't feel a need to reach a particular level since I don't have a problem with being too low).

Had leg cramps (mainly due to severe obesity I guess) since I started to eat healthier and do some basic exercise like walking. Recently came across a discussion on MFP about cramps and Magnesium. Gave it a try - after a week cramps virtually gone. Stopped Magnesium for a couple of days - cramps back again. Since then I take one tablet a day (Magnesium oxide 249 mg, Vitamin C 30 mg, Vitamin B 6 10 mg.) and cramps virtually gone, can walk much easier. I understand that Potassium has similar results but currently not available where I live.

When I started I kept my potassium up by eating at least 1/2 pound of fruit with breakfast (usually including a banana, orange, or cantaloupe which all have high potassium) and at least 1/2 pound of raw vegetables (especially spinach salad with cucumbers and some peas or broccoli in it which all have a lot of potassium) at the start of my dinner. The nice thing about that was it also cut down on my sodium intake because I was more full on the fresh foods so I would eat less of anything later in my meal that might have had a lot of sodium (which is most food in the standard American diet). As my diet changed more to a plant-based one I didn't have to concern myself with it as much.

Now I just focus on eating Nutritarian, which is over 90% of my calories from non-animal products. I never have to worry about counting calories, nutrients, or anything. The only things I track now are my sodium and cholesterol intake.

neugebauer52 wrote: »

Had leg cramps (mainly due to severe obesity I guess) since I started to eat healthier and do some basic exercise like walking. Recently came across a discussion on MFP about cramps and Magnesium. Gave it a try - after a week cramps virtually gone. Stopped Magnesium for a couple of days - cramps back again. Since then I take one tablet a day (Magnesium oxide 249 mg, Vitamin C 30 mg, Vitamin B 6 10 mg.) and cramps virtually gone, can walk much easier. I understand that Potassium has similar results but currently not available where I live.

I would not supplement potassium, as I'm generally nervous about messing around with electrolytes with supplements.

Both magnesium and potassium should be present in good amounts in a healthy diet -- I watch both on Cron currently. I do understand some find that taking magnesium can help with constipation issues or (I think) sleep.

I have had to track both sodium and potassium for a few weeks before to rule that out as the cause of a heart issue - Potassium is not found in most multivitamins, and pure potassium supplements (not potassium carbonate, which is more dilute) are limited to 100g by the FDA. That's how easy it is to muck up your electrolyte balance by supplementing it. Definitely recommend getting a doctor's advice if you decide to start that! If you're just looking to eat more potassium-rich foods you should be fine though.

Lower calorie sources that I like include mushrooms, swiss chard, beets, and coconut water.

Whole foods, plant based and you will never have an issue with potassium. Basically get your veggies and fruit in with your meat and you will get all the potassium you need, as well as hot that fibre you need

JTGJTG wrote: »

The problem is reaching that 3500 mark. Easy enough to have a banana with breakfast, black beans with lunch, and salmon for dinner -- that's only about 2000. Do you just eat more and more in order to make the requirement?

Yes, if all you're eating all day is a banana, some black beans, and some salmon, in amounts small enough that you're only gettig 2000 mg of potassium.

Otherwise, no, in most cases you don't have to eat more and more, you just have to use database entries that give you the information you're looking for, and maybe make some slight adjustments to what you're eating, but most likely making good database entry selections will show you you're already getting enough.

Most foods, other than pure fats, have some potassium. But many food labels don't show their potassium content, and many entries in the database don't reflect the potassium content of the food, either because it wan't on the food label or because the user who created the entry didn't include it.

It doesn't take that many calories to hit 3500 mg of potassium. Here's what I ate recently in a day to hit 3567 mg of potassium from 1224 calories of food, plus estimates for potassium in another 968 calories foods I logged that show up in the database as 0 mg of potassium, although checking similar branded or whole food entries in the USDA nutrient database shows they do indeed have potassium:


Breakfast:
blueberries, 89 g, for 69 mg of potassium
coffee, 1 cup. for 116 mg of potassium
Chobani strawberry blended yogurt, .79 cup* for 229 mg of potassium
Simply Orange orange juice, 5 fluid ounces for 281 mg of potassiium
Neufchatel cheese (aka light cream cheese), 44 g for 67 mg of potassium

total logged potassium at breakfast: 762 mg


Lunch:
Soup, stock, chicken, home-prepared, 1.5 cup, for 378 mg of potassium
Hormel Compleats spaghetti and meat sauce, 940 mg of potassium
Schmidt - Seeded Italian Bread, 2.23 slices*, for 67 mg of potassium
butter, salted, 9 g, for 2 mg of potassium

total logged potassium at lunch: 1387 mg


Afternoon snack
Tangerines, (mandarin oranges), raw, 163 g, for 271 mg of potassium

total logged potassium at lunch, 271 mg


Dinner
Explore Cuisine - Edamame & Mung Bean Fettuccine (Grams), 28 grams, for 633 mg of potassium
Cauliflower - Raw, 151 g, for 458 mg of potassium
Peppers, hot chili, red, raw, 4 g, for 13 mg of potassium
Shallots, raw, 13 g, for 43 mg of potassium

total logged potassium at dinner, 1147 mg

total logged potassium for the day, 3567 mg


Estimated potassium from foods whose entries show 0 mg of potassium:
asiago bagel* at breakfast, 100 mg of potassium
3 tbsp chocolate chip morsels* at afternoon snack, 160 mg of potassium
4 turkey meatballs* at dinner, 290 mg of potassium
2.5 Tbsp of peanut butter* at dinner (it was the base of a spicy sauce for the pasta, meatballs, and veggies, in case anyone is wondering), 240 mg of potassium

total estimated potassium for the day for entries that lack potassium info, 790 mg


total potassium for day (estimated + logged), 4357 mg



*I weighed these foods, but the database entries use the volume or per-piece equivalent from the pkg label.

snickerscharlie wrote: »

Mawnstroe wrote: »

When I started I kept my potassium up by eating at least 1/2 pound of fruit with breakfast (usually including a banana, orange, or cantaloupe which all have high potassium) and at least 1/2 pound of raw vegetables (especially spinach salad with cucumbers and some peas or broccoli in it which all have a lot of potassium) at the start of my dinner. The nice thing about that was it also cut down on my sodium intake because I was more full on the fresh foods so I would eat less of anything later in my meal that might have had a lot of sodium (which is most food in the standard American diet). As my diet changed more to a plant-based one I didn't have to concern myself with it as much.

Now I just focus on eating Nutritarian, which is over 90% of my calories from non-animal products. I never have to worry about counting calories, nutrients, or anything. The only things I track now are my sodium and cholesterol intake.

Are you taking any supplements?

Yup, I take a men's supplement & a DHA/EPA supplement with breakfast and a 5-HTP supplement at night. The men's supplement doesn't have Potassium in it, though, I get more than enough from the fruits and veggies. The biggest thing it gives me is B12 and D3.

@dawnaurora49, sodium, water, and fiber all work together to aid in digestion and hydration. Too much sodium causes excess water retention. Soluble fiber absorbs water to aid in "regularity". Not enough sodium and we don't have enough water. It can pass right through and we become dehydrated. Not enough water and the fiber can't do its job. Not enough fiber and we can become constipated. Too much fiber may lead to diareha. We need a balance of all three.