My daily diet: Am I getting enough potassium?

[Xku]

Hey, y'all. For whatever reason, nutritional labels seem to be very lax when it comes to including potassium levels. Therefore, I've had a lot of trouble calculating whether or not I should be worried about my potassium-intake.

Here is my daily diet. I would be greatly appreciative if someone could tell me whether or not I should be concerned.

Meal 1:

- Egg omelette (3 eggs)
- 2 tblspns olive oil
- Slice Kraft cheddar cheese
- Tiny amount of mushrooms
- Tiny amount of roasted red peppers
- 3 strips of bacon
- 3 vienna sausages

Meal 2:

- 3 leaves of romaine lettuce
- 1/2 a cucumber
- 1 can of tuna
- 12 medium-sized shrimp
- 1 serving of parmesan cheese
- 1 tblspn olive oil
- lots of black pepper

Meal 3:

- 2 burger patties
- 1 slice of Kraft cheddar cheese

Meal 4:

- 2 turkey hot dogs
- 1 slice of Kraft cheddar cheese

Meal 5:

- 1 Atkins Endulge ice cream bar

Meal 6:

- 1 serving of Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Slices

Beverages:

- 2 mugs of caffeinated French Vanilla coffee
- 2 mugs of caffeinated green tea

Supplements: (I take several, but I only think one is relevant, here)

- 2 500mg capsules of flax seed oil

Thanks in advance, folks. And good luck on your weight loss. I've got from 240 to about 185. :)

[Athena123]

If you enter all the foods you've eaten in a day at fitday.com, you can see which nutrients amounts you've met and which need to be increased. You just sign in and enter all the foods for the day, then click on the link on the left side of the page that says "Reports". The second drop down menu in the left column says "Am I meeting my nutrient requirements?" Choose the "Today" option where it says "For the period:" then click "Go" and it will take you to your nutrient amounts for the day.
What I'd suggest doing is entering your menus for a week, then instead of choosing "Today" on the main reports page, choose "Past Week". This way you can see which nutrients you're meeting on average, and which you might need to supplement.

[cs_carver]

Are you getting leg cramps, or the precursor I get, which is "twitchy legs?" If not, you're ok. Potassium is pretty obvious--plenty of warning that you're not getting enough long before you keel all the way over.

You might keep a shaker of lite salt in the house and use it if it feels like a good idea. I do a somewhat "holistic" approach to potassium supplementation--if I think about it, then I know that my body's asking for a bit more and I use the lite salt instead of the regular.

[kebaldwin]

The RDA for potassium is like 3,500 to 4,000 mg. So they can't put that much in a multi-vitamin. In fact they can only put 99 mg in a supplement so you have to take like 35 of them per day.

As the other poster suggested, go to your grocery store and get a salt substitute. It has like 500 mg per 1/4 teaspoon.

[Xku]

I'm not getting muscle cramps, or leg twitches, or anything like that.

I was just going over my supplemental intake, and I noticed potassium was very low. Then I checked the food labels, and for whatever reason, many don't list potassium.

I would try Fitday.com, but I entered all my foods on the custom list. I guess I can try entering generic foods.

I heard potassium is key for muscle recovery concerning workouts. That's another reason I was interested.

Thanks for the responses, folks. I guess I will get the salt if it's necessary, but I wanted to see if someone could tell from my diet whether or not it is.

[cs_carver]

Potassium in is plants. It is not in meat products. I think it doesn't have to be listed--unlike sodium, which does.

I'd suggest a test--use the salt liberally for a week and see how you like your workout recovery. You'll only be out $3 or so.

[Xku]

I thought the same thing, but apparently there is potassium in many different kinds of foods. Meat, eggs, and even water. However, they aren't listed on nutritional labels, for whatever reason. Wish I knew why.

It's especially interesting if sodium needs to be labeled, but potassium doesn't since the two have a very close relationship.

[elitest]

Bananas are the best answer

very very very good for you

[cs_carver]

And they're not the highest potassium / calorie. Don't remember what was.

Here's the deal: Potassium in VERY abundant in nature--it's in all leafy stuff and vegetables. Not so sure about the animal products, actually. We evolved with an endless supply of it all around us, and our kidneys do NOT save it--they are designed to get rid of it as fast as it comes in, aside from what we need to run our bodies.

OTOH, Sodium is RARE in nature--this is why hunters and farmers put out salt licks for their prey / herds--and our bodies SAVE it. It's HARD to get rid of sodium. You will DIE from drinking enough salt water, because it takes more water to get rid of the sodium in sea water than you get from drinking it, so you will dehydrate. Until very recently, it was IMPOSSIBLE to get too much sodium, but we changed that with processed food. Heck, the Romans PAID troops with salt!! You don't pay people with anything that's EASY to get.

Too much sodium contributes to high blood pressure. Too much potassium, except in certain highly unusual situations (like an IV push), will simply get excreted (assuming normal kidney function). People who need to monitor sodium need to know what's in the food, esp. as there is so much hidden sodium in processed food. Ergo, labelling.

Labelling costs $--the food companies have to pay for the testing. Hardly anyone needs to know how much potassium is in their food--they either get enough, or they get cramps and know they have to take more. Workout recovery is not a sufficient reason to change the labelling rules for the nation's food supply. (There are a few people with kidney conditions who need to monitor; ditto, they aren't a sufficiently powerful lobby to require labelling of something that is not a problem for most of us.)

If you are crampy or twitchy, take K. If not, experiment. (And then there's the whole rant about whether the RDA = enough in the first place, which is worth a thread of its own...)

[serrelind]

Since eating huge amounts of salad greens every day, I have not had to take a potassium supplement. My skin looks healthy, my legs have stopped cramping up, etc. I ignore the 2-3 cups of salad veggies recommendation and eat as much as I like.. probably around 8+ cup a day.

Serre

[Galadriell]

Scroll down on this site : Potassium (http://www.hoptechno.com/book29p.htm) for the list of good sources of potassium.

[kebaldwin]

Bananas are the best answer

very very very good for you


WHAT????

For example, you are supposed to eat 3,500 mg of Potassium each day http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flg-7a.html . A medium banana contains 422 mg of potassium http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/index.html . Therefore you have to eat 8.3 bananas every day just to get your potassium. BTW 8.3 bananas are 26 grams of fiber (that is the good part), 870 calories, 223 grams of carbohydrates and 120 grams of sugar.

[elitest]

I knew bananas were exciting....but I never dreamed I would get such a delightfully OTT response....LOL...BANANAS are GRATE...just admit it... ;0)

[dina1957]

1/2 avocado has almost twice amount of potassium campare to banans, in addition to high fiber, low carb and high on monosaturated fat. :yum:
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/foods_view/1,1523,46,00.html

[Xku]

Since eating huge amounts of salad greens every day, I have not had to take a potassium supplement. My skin looks healthy, my legs have stopped cramping up, etc. I ignore the 2-3 cups of salad veggies recommendation and eat as much as I like.. probably around 8+ cup a day.

Serre

Have you calculated your carb-intake, though? I'd be worried that it's too high eating 8+cups of greens a day.

Thanks for all the responses, guys.

[Xku]

1/2 avocado has almost twice amount of potassium campare to banans, in addition to high fiber, low carb and high on monosaturated fat. :yum:
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/foods_view/1,1523,46,00.html

Looks like I'm adding avocado to my daily diet! Thanks!

I could use the extra good fat in my diet along with the potassium.

[elitest]

ok then avocado AND banana sounds Great !

[Xku]

Bananas are pretty high in carbs, Elitest! They're not very lowcarb-friendly.