I've read in many places where we get low on potassium when we go on the Atkins diet. I've used this wonderful diet for years and years. I do experience alot of fatigue and weakness when I am on the diet. I've heard that we can have heart issues if we get too low on potassium. How do you guys keep your potassium levels up? Do you take a potassium supplement and if so, how much?

Check out the thread on salt in my signature. Turns out the issue is with too little sodium, not potassium. Or at least, having too little sodium makes you have, in turn, too little potassium.

vegetable juice aka V8 works for me, lots of sodium potassium and magnesium.

I also salt my food like a demon

What we need is a balance of sodium and potassium. You can get a low cost blood test to tell you how you are doing.

Too much of either electrolyte can be dangerous.

Foods highest in potassium:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods...00000000-1.html

Looks like coffee and tea are great sources, and that's OK with me.

Of course, if you have renal disease or any other health issues, both the blood test and your health provider should be consulted.

Bob

I would mention caution in using potassium supplements. When I first tried low-carb someone told me you have to have more potassium, I took some supplements and it seemed they actually gave me strong heart palpitations. When I stopped taking it the palpitations stopped. A friend who's a nurse said potassium can have this side effect. I'd suggest doing lots of research and start with small doses, if you're already having the symptom you don't want to exacerbate it.

Motherwort or hawthorn extract are both excellent heart tonics. In the 50s MDs used to give heart patients hawthorn injections, it was a standard thing for heart healing. Hawthorn berry is used the most, but many supplements include all parts of the plant. Motherwort is very healing and strengthening for the heart. Oh and so is lemon balm, you can often find it fresh at the farmers markets this time of year (use it to make tea or add to sparkling water, it tastes very lemon-y!).

I have a feeling the low potassium myth comes from not eating your bananas and potatoes, which Everyone Knows(tm) are necessary for human health. Plenty of LC foods are quite high in potassium: avocados, fish, meat, other veggies.

Re supplements: the pills are only 99mg. In contrast, a pork chop has about 500 mg, salmon about 700 mg, and an avocado has over 1000 mg.

If you think you're short on potassium but not sure, a good bet is the NuSalt (Potassium salt instead of sodium.) You can put in on your food in modest amounts but it would be pretty hard to overdo it.

It's illegal to sell a potassium supplement that provides more than 99mg. FDA rule supposedly to keep people from OD-ing on it.

I don't know if that's true or not, or if taking it in pill form is different from taking it in natural foods.

Bananas are over-rated, they don't even make it in the top 200 of the list I linked to above (neither do potatoes). It's just a sales pitch IMHO.

I do know that too much can be dangerous, which is why a blood test and consultation with a health provider is good before taking supplements.

Yummy mushrooms have lots of potassium~~ almost as much as a banana that has 422mg

Portobello mushroom


Amount Per 1 piece whole (84 g)1 cup diced (86 g)100 grams1 cup diced (86 g)
Calories 19 % Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.3 g 0%
Saturated fat 0.1 g 0%
Polyunsaturated fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated fat 0 g
Trans fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 8 mg 0%
Potassium 313 mg 8%
Total Carbohydrate 3.3 g 1%
Dietary fiber 1.1 g 4%
Sugar 2.2 g
Protein 1.8 g 3%
Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0%
Iron 1%
Vitamin D 2%
Vitamin B-6 5%
Vitamin B-12 0%
Magnesium 0%

The RDA for potassium is huge. 4700-5100. The RDA is not a maximum by any means.

However, having said that I've heard that people on potassium sparing blood pressure meds can definitely hurt themselves on potassium supplements.