Potassium is a Mother

I've been wanting to do a post about potassium for a while now. Yet, even as I type, it seems like a strange choice of topic.

A few months back I began tracking my nutrition on myfitnesspal.com. At first I tracked vitamin A, vitamin C, and fiber. Apparently I'm really good at getting those vitamins and fiber in my diet. I hit my daily recommended amount nearly every day. I was on a nutrition-guru high! Boo-yeah!

Then I decided to switch things up. I began tracking protein, calcium, iron, and potassium.

Um . . . fail! Almost every day, I came under in each of these categories.

Thanks to myfitnesspal I've found where my nutrition needs tweaking. But of those nutrients, potassium by and far has proven to be the most difficult for me to include sufficiently in my diet.

Many of you are probably thinking, "Just go eat a banana!"

It's harder than that. I do eat plenty (plenty!!!) of bananas daily - usually at least 1 or 2 every day. Each large banana has a little under 500 mg of potassium. That takes me part of the way to the recommended 3500 (some say 4700) milligrams, but bananas aren't the sole solution.

I've made changes to my diet. I've started eating more yogurt and cottage cheese. I've started seasoning more of my food with herbs like thyme, basil, parsley, and oregano (all high potassium/low calorie additions). I've started throwing spinach into everything from eggs to smoothies to burritos. A tablespoon or two of cocoa in my smoothies gives me a little bit more. Eating beans and lentils is one area where I was already doing pretty well, but I don't eat them every day. Tuna and salmon have been excellent sources as well. Also I eat a good amount of veggies every day.

All that said, there's only been one or two days where (by my calculations) I've successfully reached my recommended potassium intake.

What more can I do?

I still don't want to take a supplement. My goal is to tailor my nutrition in such a way that I get what I need without pills, but man!

Potassium is proving to be a mother!