Potassium Ploy
gregc50
Posts: 47 Member
I get it now. Potassium is listed so you buy the full version to figure out why you can never get enough Potassium in any reasonable/normal diet.
So I bought the full version, and now I know, you need to eat a case of bananas or a sack of spinach to meet your daily requirements.
And before you say its easy, post your 7 day nutrition view to prove you consume 1kg of potassium per week.
So I bought the full version, and now I know, you need to eat a case of bananas or a sack of spinach to meet your daily requirements.
And before you say its easy, post your 7 day nutrition view to prove you consume 1kg of potassium per week.
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Replies
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Well, the database doesn't really list the Potassium accurately. In the U.S. at least Potassium wasn't even on labels until a year or two ago and this database began in 2005...
Plus, people don't enter things correctly all the time. They enter what they think is important to them. The database is 99.9% crowd-sourced so you do have to vet each item before you use it if certain nutrients are important to you. There are correctly entered ones, you just have to either find them or enter your own.
I get an average of 3000+mg a day. I've vetted all the foods I eat and I eat a lot of whole fruit and vegetables which helps.
I'm not going to enter images for the week, my web version doesn't offer a weekly breakdown, but here's today's so far:
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OH, wait! Reports!!
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I get it now. Potassium is listed so you buy the full version to figure out why you can never get enough Potassium in any reasonable/normal diet.
So I bought the full version, and now I know, you need to eat a case of bananas or a sack of spinach to meet your daily requirements.
And before you say its easy, post your 7 day nutrition view to prove you consume 1kg of potassium per week.
You don't need to purchase the premium version to get information on potassium in individual foods, in individual meals, or per day. It's all there in the free version.
I don't think anyone can post their their 7 day nutrition view to prove they consume 1 kg of potassium per week, because if they did that, they would most likely be dead (what with that being roughly 30 times the weekly equivalent of the RDA for potassium). U.S. Dietary Reference Intakes haven't established an upper limit for potassium, but the National Center for Biotechnology Information reports cases of people dying from taking as little as two to three times the RDA.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545424/7 -
I get it now. Potassium is listed so you buy the full version to figure out why you can never get enough Potassium in any reasonable/normal diet.
So I bought the full version, and now I know, you need to eat a case of bananas or a sack of spinach to meet your daily requirements.
And before you say its easy, post your 7 day nutrition view to prove you consume 1kg of potassium per week.
The database for premium is the same database as the free version. Potassium was only recently added to the required nutrition on nutrition labels and since that's where most users input information into the database, it is typically missing. Has nothing to do with premium or not.
Also, if you simply google high potassium foods, you will find a whole lot of foods besides bananas and spinach with a good potassium amount. Cup of sliced avocado is 700 Mg...6 oz salmon has around 1,000 Mg...1 cup of cooked squash is around 900 Mg...1 medium potato is around 900 Mg...8 oz coconut water is around 500 Mg...8 oz of low sodium V8 has 900 Mg.
So yeah...it's not just spinach and bananas, though they are both excellent sources as well. It's actually pretty easy to get the recommended amount of potassium (or very close) if you're eating a lot of whole foods and your fruits and veg.6 -
Yup, as others said: same database in premium as free MFP; and either one is incomplete because labels in the US haven't had the data until recently (let alone that there are international users here who don't use US labels).
I've spot checked my potassium a few times, and do fine; with the caveat that the zero days in my chart are me being lackadaisical about logging recently (in year 5+ of maintenance at BMI 20-point-something 😆), I think I'm OK on potassium, since the database tends to underreport potassium.🤷♀️
Also yup to what the heck is with a kg of potassium per week? Just no. Did you mean a gram? Even that isn't right. Looks like my goal would be 24.5g/week, maybe?
On a weekly basis, even MFP thinks I'm close to goal most of the time, somewhat under some weeks, over others. Maybe I'm poisoning myself, since it underreports?
Just for fun: I looked at my biggest single source of potassium over a 30-day period: It's blackstrap molasses, an evil "added sugar" 🤣, at 1 tablespoon per day, pretty much every day, in my oatmeal. Over 800mg daily, right there. So, maybe eat more blackstrap molasses (pick a good brand), OP?3 -
Squash is the answer to your potassium needs. 200g each night with dinner.1
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maronesax1972 wrote: »Squash is the answer to your potassium needs. 200g each night with dinner.
That'll get you somewhere between 5% and 10% of your RDA. What are you doing for the rest of it?1 -
The database for premium is the same database as the free version.
Only on the premium version can I look back at 7 days to get a nutrient summary AND click on the amount to see PRECISELY which foods provided those amounts.1 -
Just for fun: I looked at my biggest single source of potassium over a 30-day period: It's blackstrap molasses, an evil "added sugar" 🤣, at 1 tablespoon per day, pretty much every day, in my oatmeal. Over 800mg daily, right there. So, maybe eat more blackstrap molasses (pick a good brand), OP?
How many calories is that blackstrap molasses ... I only have 300 to spare each day.
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The database for premium is the same database as the free version.
Only on the premium version can I look back at 7 days to get a nutrient summary AND click on the amount to see PRECISELY which foods provided those amounts.
MFP isn't particularly great for tracking micro-nutrients. As has been said, the database is crowdsourced and many micro-nutrients aren't required to be put on food labels and since that's largely where users get their information to enter into the database, that information is often missing. In other cases, some users only care about calories and macro-nutrients, so they don't even bother inputting the micro-nutrition. MFP really isn't a great place for accurately tracking micros.
Who cares if you can look back 7 days to get a nutrient summary when most of that micro-nutrition information is incomplete.2 -
I no longer look at micronutrients with any kind of regularity, but I used to track on a site that offered them which made it feasible to do so. Even then, I only took a peek at magnesium, calcium and the ratio of w-3:w-6.
If you're interested, it was nutritiondata.com and the database is not user sourced.0 -
Just for fun: I looked at my biggest single source of potassium over a 30-day period: It's blackstrap molasses, an evil "added sugar" 🤣, at 1 tablespoon per day, pretty much every day, in my oatmeal. Over 800mg daily, right there. So, maybe eat more blackstrap molasses (pick a good brand), OP?
How many calories is that blackstrap molasses ... I only have 300 to spare each day.
Nutrients and calories vary somewhat by brand, read labels. 20g of this one is 60 calories, 8% DV potassium, USDA docs say DV is 4700, so you'd need more like 40g (2T) to get 800, for 120 calories. (Mea culpa: I overstated the number in my PP, compared to the current label I have in my hand. Apologies. Still a good source, at 60 calories for 8%, IMO.)
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FWIW, useful USDA info about needs and sources here:
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Potassium-HealthProfessional/0 -
Just for fun: I looked at my biggest single source of potassium over a 30-day period: It's blackstrap molasses, an evil "added sugar" 🤣, at 1 tablespoon per day, pretty much every day, in my oatmeal. Over 800mg daily, right there. So, maybe eat more blackstrap molasses (pick a good brand), OP?
How many calories is that blackstrap molasses ... I only have 300 to spare each day.
1 T of my blackstrap molasses is 70 calories and provides 504mg of potassium (14%). I get it for the iron - this brand provides 20% of the RDA.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Slow-As-Blackstrap-Molasses-32-oz-Pack-of-6/17770607
Regular molasses like Grandma's is suboptimal for both iron and potassium
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Grandma-s-Original-Unsulphured-Molasses-12-fl-oz-Jar/15716722?athbdg=L1200
I like Slow as Molasses because unlike other brands of blackstrap, it is not too bitter to cook with, so now I only have to have one kind of molasses.
Also, I add it to white sugar to make brown sugar, reducing the need for an additional type of sugar.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »The database for premium is the same database as the free version.
Only on the premium version can I look back at 7 days to get a nutrient summary AND click on the amount to see PRECISELY which foods provided those amounts.
MFP isn't particularly great for tracking micro-nutrients. As has been said, the database is crowdsourced and many micro-nutrients aren't required to be put on food labels and since that's largely where users get their information to enter into the database, that information is often missing. In other cases, some users only care about calories and macro-nutrients, so they don't even bother inputting the micro-nutrition. MFP really isn't a great place for accurately tracking micros.
Who cares if you can look back 7 days to get a nutrient summary when most of that micro-nutrition information is incomplete.
Yes, I'm anemic and more often than not iron values for user-created entries are incorrect.
Potassium is likely to be worse as it just became required on US food labels recently.0 -
I get it now. Potassium is listed so you buy the full version to figure out why you can never get enough Potassium in any reasonable/normal diet.
So I bought the full version, and now I know, you need to eat a case of bananas or a sack of spinach to meet your daily requirements.
And before you say its easy, post your 7 day nutrition view to prove you consume 1kg of potassium per week.
Are you interested because the app is yelling at you for not getting enough potassium or do you have a medical issue that requires it?
I don't know why I still bother to look at the iron values in foods anymore as I'm not even trying to meet my needs via diet. My anemia is severe enough to require me to get infusions on top of supplementation.2 -
FWIW, from the USDA doc I linked upthread:Dietary surveys consistently show that people in the United States consume less potassium than recommended, which is why the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans identifies potassium as a “nutrient of public health concern” [26]. According to data from the 2013–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the average daily potassium intake from foods is 2,423 mg for males aged 2–19, and 1,888 mg for females aged 2–19 [27]. In adults aged 20 and over, the average daily potassium intake from foods is 3,016 mg for men and 2,320 mg for women.
That's with an AI (adequate intake, different from DV or RDA) of 3400mg for men 19 & over, 2600mg for women.Insufficient potassium intakes can increase blood pressure, kidney stone risk, bone turnover, urinary calcium excretion, and salt sensitivity (meaning that changes in sodium intakes affect blood pressure to a greater than normal extent) [1].
There's more, and the overall picture seems like quite a few people might benefit from getting more potassium, given that mild underconsumption is common, and mild deficiency is implicated as a factor (not necessarily the only factor) in quite a few common medical conditions, especially hypertension.
There are various nutrients people on MFP say aren't worth worrying about, and usually I agree because for quite a few specific ones, deficiencies are uncommon. I'm not sure I'd consider potassium to be in that category, personally.3 -
App yelling at me and completionism.kshama2001 wrote: »
Are you interested because the app is yelling at you for not getting enough potassium or do you have a medical issue that requires it?
I don't know why I still bother to look at the iron values in foods anymore as I'm not even trying to meet my needs via diet. My anemia is severe enough to require me to get infusions on top of supplementation.
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kshama2001 wrote: »Just for fun: I looked at my biggest single source of potassium over a 30-day period: It's blackstrap molasses, an evil "added sugar" 🤣, at 1 tablespoon per day, pretty much every day, in my oatmeal. Over 800mg daily, right there. So, maybe eat more blackstrap molasses (pick a good brand), OP?
How many calories is that blackstrap molasses ... I only have 300 to spare each day.
1 T of my blackstrap molasses is 70 calories and provides 504mg of potassium (14%). I get it for the iron - this brand provides 20% of the RDA.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Slow-As-Blackstrap-Molasses-32-oz-Pack-of-6/17770607
Regular molasses like Grandma's is suboptimal for both iron and potassium
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Grandma-s-Original-Unsulphured-Molasses-12-fl-oz-Jar/15716722?athbdg=L1200
I like Slow as Molasses because unlike other brands of blackstrap, it is not too bitter to cook with, so now I only have to have one kind of molasses.
Also, I add it to white sugar to make brown sugar, reducing the need for an additional type of sugar.
Thats pretty cool, I'll check it out.0 -
Eating at least 5 servings of fruit and veggies a day goes a long way toward sufficient potassium consumption. Squash, including zucchini, potatoes of all kinds, and mushrooms are surprise potassium stars, but not the only good choices. My suspicion is that Americans are not getting enough potassium in general because so few of them eat enough fruits, veggies, legumes and whole grains. If you look for USDA listings in the database, those are more likely to include potassium content.1
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Thank you so much for this thread! I have to eat a low-histamine diet because of hives and I absolutely have a difficult time getting my needed potassium (well and I bet other things, but this is on my radar because of other unrelated issues). Thank you for the posts, as I am on a not very high cal day because I am old, short, and generally sedentary and I had the hives before the lower cal diet. I immediately ran into super hives because all the really healthy good for you foods are high-histamine (not completely true, but the ones I generally ate on a consistent basis it was). I save my histamine abuse for my essential fatty acids, because fish oil and algae both are hive givers if I don't save my histamines for them. If I could find an omega 3 that wasn't such a hive thing (me and everyone else who has issues), I would save my histamine for bananas!2
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A banana has 422 mg of potassium.. you need 3500-4700 mg per day, so you need a lot of potassium besides a banana.
How about meat? a 3 oz. serving of chicken, beef, or fish, tends to be around 300 mg.
A large egg has 70 mg.
Better than a banana? A medium potato.. 926 mg. An avocado.. 975 mg. A cup of lima beans.. 955 mg.
Potassium is easy, if you know what foods have it.. use Google, and if necessary, enter your own values into your food tracker.. many entries fail to add that, since most people just care about calories, and macros.. maybe sodium.
If you really want accurate nutrition, you will struggle to find it.. most foods are not required to list the majority of nutrients.. just a couple are required. Some people offer more, but if you go by labels, you are going to be short in MOST nutrients, even if you are getting proper nutrition. If it is a concern, ask your doctor and get tested. I think most people are low in many nutrients, but your doctor will then be able to tell you, if any one of them is a danger.
The goal is average nutrition, since any one day, you'll hit some nutrient goals, and not others, and the next day, these will change. Usually, if it is a problem though, your doctor will address it, but if you think it is a problem, ask if you can be tested. I wouldn't worry about it though.. usually just bad tracking. Which is why tracking nutrients will cause you to panic.
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If I were to go by the MFP reports, there are several nutrients that I am deficient in. Potassium being one of them.
While I have bloodwork done monthly for liver and kidney function due to meds, last week I had a full workup done for other reasons. All of this other stuff thats not normally seen (or maybe I just never look for?), like these nutrients.
Bloodwork shows I'm not deficient in any of them.
I think this just goes to prove that if you feel that you are deficient in a particular nutrient, especially if you are only basing it off an MFP report, that it is probably best to confirm that deficiency with your Doctor and make a decision with them regarding what action to take to correct that deficiency.
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Eat your vegetables (legumes, potatoes, pumpkin like a million others), drinking coconut water. Tomato paste has insane amount of potassium in it.1
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