Why Should You Include Potassium-Rich Foods in Your Diet?

If you’ve heard that potassium-rich foods are important for your diet, you must have wondered why. If not, it’s always advisable to know why you’re adding certain essential minerals to your meals and the role it plays in your overall diet. It’ll help you identify the foods you should consume to provide your body with the essential minerals.

Let’s start by discussing what potassium is before diving deeper into its many uses, sources, and benefits.

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What is Potassium?

Bananas (Photo by Eiliv Aceron on Unsplash)

Potassium is a mineral that helps with cell function and provides a pathway for the muscles, heart, and nerves to function properly. As a result, a lack of potassium could prevent you from carrying out important bodily functions.

Understanding the benefits of potassium is extremely relevant to one's goals. Now, as someone in the fitness industry, you want to ensure that your body is being able to use daily macros efficiently. You'd be surprised to learn that potassium is important for this too.

The mineral aids in the proper synthesis of protein while helping the metabolism of carbohydrates as well. Basically, potassium is extremely important for the nervous system to function properly. There are also other benefits that you can gain from potassium-rich foods.

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Use of Potassium

Transmit Messages (Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash)

When you’re consuming potassium-rich foods, you’re essentially enabling the body to transmit messages and regulate nerve signals better. It so happens that apart from that, potassium can help with regulating muscle and heart contractions as well.

Some of the other benefits of potassium are:

1. Helps with reducing blood pressure
2. Helps with preventing Osteoporosis
3. Helps with reducing water retention
4. Helps with preventing kidney stones
5. Regulating breathing problems

Of course, it’s not a given that you’ll be able to avoid water retention or kidney stones if you have sufficient potassium in your system. However, you’ll be able to protect yourself from the same to a certain extent with sufficient levels of potassium in your body.

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Sources of Potassium-Rich Foods

Leafy greens (Photo by Mor Shani on Unsplash)

Now that you are aware of the various uses of potassium and know what potassium is good for, you must familiarize yourself with the potassium-rich foods that you should include in your diet.

The following are some of the sources of potassium that you must try to include in your diet, albeit in moderation.

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Several fresh fruits and vegetables are good sources of potassium such as:

• Potatoes/sweet potatoes
• Leafy greens
• Pumpkins
• Cucumbers
• Mushrooms
• Cooked broccoli
• Bananas
• Oranges

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Some other food items are high in potassium as well:

• Tuna
• Cod
• Trout
• Lima beans
• Soybeans
• Lentils

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You should be aware of the drinks that have high potassium content:

• Orange juice
• Tomato juice
• Grapefruit juice
• Carrot juice
• Vegetable juice

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Side Effects of Potassium

Side effects of potassium (Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash)

While it’s not easy to get into a deficiency with potassium-rich foods, consuming too much potassium isn’t the greatest idea either. Sometimes, the latter can lead to vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and other types of sickness.

Moreover, individuals with chronic kidney disease must be extremely mindful of their body’s potassium levels. Too much potassium can lead to Hyperkalemia, although more often than not, this is brought on if someone is taking potassium supplements excessively.

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Potassium-rich foods are important for your diet to regulate the functions that ensure your nerves and muscles are working properly. Low levels of potassium can lead to the nervous system getting affected, and you will have to get tested for potassium levels. You’ll understand you could possibly have high levels of potassium if you experience shortness of breath, vomiting, and other problems.

Ideally, it is recommended that women aim for 2,400mg of potassium, while men should aim for 3,400mg of the same every day. Now, if you’re not being able to meet the recommended levels, and potassium-rich foods and supplements aren’t helping, you should visit a doctor or a specialist who will help you diagnose the problem and help you move forward in the best possible direction.