Potassium + Keto

CardinalComb
CardinalComb Posts: 66 Member
edited December 24 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all. I’ve been struggling to understand how people are getting up to their potassium targets even on a regular diet. It’s even harder on a keto diet. I take supplements but they’re restricted to 50 mg. Any recommendations on what I can eat on a keto diet that is full of potassium. Here’s my log from yesterday.

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Replies

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2020
    I can't see your log, but many entries on MFP don't have the potassium. I log on Cronometer and am normally over my potassium goal. Looking at one day, I got a good amount of potassium from: strawberries, avocado, kale, soy milk, tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, broccoli, and cauliflower. The amount from each will vary based on the amount you eat. I excluded other foods with potassium I ate (like black beans and potatoes and some other fruit) and left the ones from that day that are possibly keto-compliant, but would have still hit my goal with just the ones I listed.

    So basically, for potassium on keto, eat as many veg as possible, plus avocado. Coffee also has some.
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    I don't know all the keto rules but I'm on a potassium kick. V8 low sodium has 850 mg/cup (but is also 10 g carb which I think keto people try to avoid, if possible)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    None of my business, but also, if you usually eat that many or more brazil nuts daily, consider whether you're getting too much selenium. There's believed to be a narrow safe range.

    According to those notorious conspiracy theorists ( ;) ) at the USDA, "Brazil nuts contain very high amounts of selenium (68–91 mcg per nut) and could cause selenium toxicity if consumed regularly."

    Details here:
    https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Selenium-HealthProfessional/

    With 87 calories worth of them, you'd be around 253mcg, almost 2/3 of the way to the tolerable upper limit of 400mcg.

    I mention this only because I deeply love brazil nuts, and learning this made me very sad. :(
  • CardinalComb
    CardinalComb Posts: 66 Member
    Thanks for that Ann. I’ve heard something like that aswell. I too love brazil nuts, not just bc they taste great but also bc thry’re cheap, compared to macadamia and pecans anyways.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited March 2020
    Potassium as a micro-nutrient is not great to track with MFP. It isn't a required nutrient on nutrition labels and since that's what users use to populate the database for the most part, it will be missing that data. Just google high potassium foods. Most of the best sources of potassium are not keto friendly foods though. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are very high in potassium for example...bananas are fairly high as well and canned/jarred tomato products and sauces. Best bet is going to be lots and lots of other vegetables.
  • youngmomtaz
    youngmomtaz Posts: 1,075 Member
    When you look up the amount of potassium in 100gm of banana vs the potassium in 100gm of bacon, the bacon is higher. Now, even when keto, it is highly unlikely that you would eat 100gm of bacon as the calories would be way too high for regular intake. As others have stated, use other databases to check potassium levels, you will find you are getting more than you thought.
  • CardinalComb
    CardinalComb Posts: 66 Member
    youngmomtaz wrote: »
    When you look up the amount of potassium in 100gm of banana vs the potassium in 100gm of bacon, the bacon is higher. Now, even when keto, it is highly unlikely that you would eat 100gm of bacon as the calories would be way too high for regular intake. As others have stated, use other databases to check potassium levels, you will find you are getting more than you thought.

    Thanks for the input. Never occured to me that potassium in the database is wrong. With regard to bacon, I’ll easily eat 200 grams of bacon 3 times a week.
  • youngmomtaz
    youngmomtaz Posts: 1,075 Member
    CardinalComb wrote: »
    youngmomtaz wrote: »
    When you look up the amount of potassium in 100gm of banana vs the potassium in 100gm of bacon, the bacon is higher. Now, even when keto, it is highly unlikely that you would eat 100gm of bacon as the calories would be way too high for regular intake. As others have stated, use other databases to check potassium levels, you will find you are getting more than you thought.

    Thanks for the input. Never occured to me that potassium in the database is wrong. With regard to bacon, I’ll easily eat 200 grams of bacon 3 times a week.

    My kinda person!! 🥓
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    edited March 2020
    CardinalComb wrote: »
    youngmomtaz wrote: »
    When you look up the amount of potassium in 100gm of banana vs the potassium in 100gm of bacon, the bacon is higher. Now, even when keto, it is highly unlikely that you would eat 100gm of bacon as the calories would be way too high for regular intake. As others have stated, use other databases to check potassium levels, you will find you are getting more than you thought.

    Thanks for the input. Never occured to me that potassium in the database is wrong. With regard to bacon, I’ll easily eat 200 grams of bacon 3 times a week.

    Also keep in mind with the recommended adequate intakes "it is unknown how the AI relates to actual requirements" so as long as you're eating a nutritious diet, are healthy and don't have any signs of deficiency there's probably even less cause for concern, IMO.

    To answer the question though, I frequently read people say they use salt substitutes for the added potassium so that might be worth considering.
  • go52182
    go52182 Posts: 133 Member
    Avocados, steak, tuna, and salmon are the foods I eat that have the most potassium. But since we have to over-salt everything I use Morton's Light Salt; it has added potassium. Sometimes I add a teaspoon to water and down it.
    Even then I never hit the 3,000-4,700mg/day recommendation...
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