How do you get your potassium?

saintor1 · March 25

I relatively eat a lot of potatoes, bananas and beans, but according to MyFitnessPal, this accounts to less than 1500mg of the daily 3500. I wonder if some people here take potassium supplements? It is hard to get 2000mpg K supplements by caplets. Going in powder might be a better option; 10g of potassium bicarbonate brings you 3906mg according to this one not offered as a supplement, but for cooking;

https://www.amazon.ca/Bicarbonate-Food-Grade-Crystalline-Elos-Premium/dp/B09ZTPGBX8/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3OBYKM8AXYZ76&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mNqQFo_CrZAF7JCvauupNNLeK0VZYpW8RBga5x34aNyzbYAHqxBaj5ChePjxsHOWUL-026X4F_NltXuDOqBrjO7qvYQ_OH9n9V0wJAk2oVBmdH92GLrwSxBhjE9TR9B4FS9bNDg14FdVIfhzMWP3jvIy4vbAG8N28GDbvC5KBlwM5lLHHGohVAxQNQGAlDJoQbADgeIXwYjznq7Lo0jDXljKzNyrxlRuL0SKyR-sunBjKKawNvGR-9DRegJIvockeNx8g4GqnAOyyKKbg7pJvCMm3nNsMLsEakGJnw6qW_8.AKHwvpA333rJooKBBS2qNHjFKv34DS5LxvW8Rx-0gzc&dib_tag=se&keywords=potassium+powder&qid=1711324337&sprefix=potassium+powder,aps,107&sr=8-6

But it would be my 7th regular powder to take lol! Or I could use it in my cooking if K doesn't get destroyed by the heat...

fabgeekmom · March 25

I wouldn’t take a supplement unless I asked my doctor first. I’m not sure it’s possible to get 100% of all the nutrients.

AnnPT77 · March 25

Unless a person is quite careful, MFP totals can understate potassium intake. (Not all labels include potassium, even for foods that contain potassium. I'm sure you know that the database is crowd-sourced, so most of the data comes from labels.)

Generally, MFP shows me as getting more than the standard 3500mg goal, looking at weekly averages per day. On a rare day, I may be a bit under, but most individual days are over, too.

Sources, for me: Blackstrap molasses, milk and other dairy, coffee, lots of different kinds of veggies and fruits, flax and hemp seeds, oatmeal, beans, tempeh. (I eat really large amounts of veggies/fruits, shooting for minimum 400g daily, ideally 800g+.)

I don't take a potassium supplement.

josh250to180 · March 25

Do you weigh your potatoes? Do you weight your bananas?

3 150g potatoes will yield 1800 mg. One 130g banana drops 500 mg. 150 g of broccoli gets 460mg. 1 avocado gets a whopping 700mg.
Mash them all up, throw some cheese on it, and ya got yourself a tasty potassium-packed lunch!

Hope this helps.

*Eating this amount in one sitting is probably not wise...Maybe this is how I got myself into this mess.

ETA: define "a lot". A lot to me is more than what I measured up. For me, that's just lunch (about 1000 calories)

sollyn23l2 · March 26

josh250to180 wrote: »

Do you weigh your potatoes? Do you weight your bananas?

3 150g potatoes will yield 1800 mg. One 130g banana drops 500 mg. 150 g of broccoli gets 460mg. 1 avocado gets a whopping 700mg.
Mash them all up, throw some cheese on it, and ya got yourself a tasty potassium-packed lunch!

Hope this helps.

*Eating this amount in one sitting is probably not wise...Maybe this is how I got myself into this mess.

ETA: define "a lot". A lot to me is more than what I measured up. For me, that's just lunch (about 1000 calories)

Yeah... like you said, probably not wise, unless you're bulking or doing OMAD.

kshama2001 · March 26

I'm going to quote myself from the Sodium thread.

TL;DR: USER-created entries are not to be trusted and so the "Diary Insights" are quite possibly inaccurate. I shut this off.

kshama2001 wrote: »

When I was anemic I verified and updated the iron counts on all USER-created entries as they were invariably wrong.

Absent a medical condition, it's really not worth the time. I replace Sodium with Fiber ages ago and shut off that useless (to me) "Diary Insights" when I started using the app more.

Here's my standard bit on finding accurate entries:

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that's what MFP used to pull in entries.

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct. Note: scanning is mostly only available with Premium these days.)

COGypsy · March 26

I've taken a potassium supplement for years. I adjust the dosage every year based on my annual bloodwork. I would never, ever, ever just start randomly taking potassium and even less so would I base that supplementation on MFP entries. Potassium is (among other things) a key requirement for maintaining your cardiac rhythm and blood pressure. That's not really something I want to guess at, so I work with my doctor to make sure we get it right.

yogayarnie · March 26

Don't take potassium supplements without talking to your doctor and getting bloodwork. You can seriously mess yourself up if your sodium/potassium levels get out of balance. MFP always says I'm not getting enough potassium, but I know that I am because I just had my physical and my levels were fine, and I know I eat enough potassium-containing foods.

mtaratoot · March 27

Maybe some old grape juice?

https://www.winespectator.com/articles/health-is-wine-high-in-potassium

How do you get your potassium?

Replies

Categories