You don’t get enough Potassium Rich Foods according to your body’s need if your diet is like most people. Potassium is a mineral that is commonly found in some foods like calcium and sodium. Potassium actually helps you to keep your health good, so it’s important to take plenty of potassium-rich foods. For good muscle health, you should take a good amount of potassium. So that your muscles can contract and flex the way they should. Nerves need well potassium so that they can work well.
Why You Need Potassium
Potassium is crucial for the nervous system. It also helps to regulate muscles and heart contractions. In addition, potassium prevents kidney stones.
Potassium also helps to maintain your blood pressure. For heart patients it works in two different ways:
- Firstly, through the urine, potassium helps remove extra sodium from your body. This is a good thing because the high amount of sodium can cause high blood pressure.
- Secondly, when the walls of blood vessels are too rigid and tense, it helps to relax or loosen up. Because tense blood vessels can lead to high blood pressure and can cause a heart attack.
Food Sources of Potassium
Many of the foods that you eat on daily basis contain potassium. But the problem is that most of us don’t know which food contains potassium and which doesn’t. So here we have listed all the foods that are high in potassium. If you want to boost the quantity of potassium in your diet, then take a healthy food choice and picks foods that are listed below.
Many fresh fruits and vegetables contain high amount of potassium:
- Bananas, oranges, apricots, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew.
- Dried fruits, such as raisins, prunes,and dates.
- Sweet potatoes
- Mushrooms
- Peas
- Cooked spinach
- Cooked broccoli
- Potatoes
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini
- Pumpkins
- Leafy greens
Take juices because potassium-rich fruit is also a good choice:
- Orange juice
- Apricot juice
- Grapefruit juice
- Tomato juice
- Prune juice
Beans that contain high amount of potassium include:
- Lima beans
- Pinto beans
- Lentils
- Kidney beans
- Soybeans
Fish also contain potassium:
- Tuna
- Halibut
- Rockfish
- Cod
- Trout
Some other foods contain high potassium include:
- Nuts
- Meat and poultry
- Molasses
- Brown and wild rice
- Bran cereal
- Whole-wheat pasta and bread
How Much Potassium You Need
Everyone should take 4,700 (mg) milligrams of potassium every day. But most Americans don’t meet that amount. Your needs might be different if you are a kidney patient. In this case, you should take less potassium than 4,700 mg. If your kidneys don’t work accurately, too much potassium can cause nerve and muscle problems. If you have kidney disease then talk to your doctor and know about your potassium intake limit.
