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I have been following the low carb diet now for quite sometime. However, just recently, I had a physical and my doctor
informed me that my potassium level is too low and I need to start eating more potassium such as bananas. Now, I know
bananas happen to be very high on carbs so what can I add to my diet to stay on the low-carb diet? Thank you

Josephine wrote:my doctor informed me that my potassium level is too low and I need to start eating more potassium such as bananas. Now, I know bananas happen to be very high on carbs so what can I add to my diet to stay on the low-carb diet?

Pfft. Whatever... you don't have to eat bananas. Search by highest in potassium and lowest in carbs at nutritiondata.com and you get mostly fish on the first page. http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-0001 ... 000-w.html

I take a few potassium supplements daily, in addition to my multivitamin, and I also take several servings of Electromix no-carb electrolyte sports water with my workouts. I also eat metric butt-tons of spinach every day. Potassium deficiency is history for me!

Potassium increasing tips below! And no, bananas aren't actually all that high in potassium, it's a myth!

Meat, fish, and chicken are high in potassium, but due to the American tradition of 'grilling' our foods and allowing the fats to drain off, we lose most of the potassium as well. Eat the food as rare as you can stand it, or else save the drippings and eat them as gravy, broth, or whatever. I don't recommend eating chicken raw, but saving the drippings to put in your other dishes helps bring the potassium back to your diet.

Nature's Best Perfect Low-Carb (or Zero-Carb) IsoPure have a whopping 750mg of potassium per serving... way more than the FDA allows in any vitamin supplement (limit 99mg there)! One full serving of IsoPure per day really boosts your potassium.

I know this sounds weird, but low-carbing does cause some "dumping" of potassium and sodium into your urine. Bizarrely, just taking some bullion in warm water a few times a day during the first couple of weeks of low-carb stops it cold, and dramatically reduces symptoms of "induction flu": the general feeling of malaise and tiredness that accompanies the first few days on a low-carb diet. Check your sodium intake, and make sure you're getting enough, particularly the day after a carb-up. Even though sodium and potassium are biologically opposed in a cell as part of the "sodium pump", having enough sodium intake will ensure your body hangs onto potassium, too. Most Americans get way too much sodium, but those of us watching the diet closely and preparing our own foods may not get enough at all!

I salt my foods with Morton's "no-salt": potassium chloride. Potassium chloride is a salt, but it's not sodium chloride.

Michelle mentioned spinach. Good one. Highly, highly, highly recommended for satiety and nutrition. I like to cook around 50g of the stuff into my eggs in the morning, and I'm full for hours.

Almonds & walnuts are powerhouses of potassium. They're also really high in fat, which is nice if you aren't watching fats closely. As your body fat gets really low, though, you have to start watching fat intake to keep the fat loss coming, and if you cut down on nuts you may cut down your potassium intake too.

Soybeans (edamame variety, not the more-carby industrial variety) are also excellent for potassium, while being extremely low-carb friendly. Watch the carb content, though, as some soybeans (particularly the ones used for "soynuts" are much higher in carbs!

Good luck!

--Matt B.

How much potassium is good, since the FDA lied to us again? What's too much?

I wouldn't say the FDA lied. I would say they tailored their recommendations for what they considered an ideal diet: 2000 calories, 300g of carbohydrate (1200 cal), 65g of fat, 50g of protein. The FDA issued a statement with their DV (Daily Value) recommendations:

""They're not recommended intakes. They're really just reference points to help people get some kind of perspective on what their overall daily dietary needs should be."

The FDA does not consider itself authoritative; the goal of the DV tables is to provide information to the public so that public health risk from malnutrition is reduced. That's it, that's all, it's not some mythological ideal.

Unfortunately, we low-carbers have learned something the FDA hasn't: a low-carbohydrate diet is also vitamin-sparing. Contrary to popular belief, living on an all-meat diet for years on end won't give you scurvy. To get Vitamin C deficiency, you have to eat a high-carbohydrate diet reminiscent of that of sailors in the 19th century: beans, white flour, sugar, and a very little highly-prized salted meat. It appears, contrary to many common nutrition myths, that a low-carbohydrate diet is vitamin and mineral preserving in the human body. We don't excrete nearly as much Vitamin C, for instance, if our cells are not subject to a continual assault of high insulin levels.

So while the US Daily Values are a good basic guide for getting started with nutrition and avoiding malnourishment, they aren't a great goal. The RDA recommendations for sodium and potassium, in particular, should be taken with -- heh, heh -- a grain of salt. A doctor's measurement of your blood potassium level should be your best guide as to whether you're receiving sufficient potassium in your diet.

Eating or drinking the drippings from your meat -- if prepared in a way that will allow you to capture them -- will give you nearly all the potassium you need.

Regards,
Matt B.

marochka_raduga wrote:I also eat metric butt-tons of spinach every day.

Marochka,
How do you eat a lot of spinach? I can't eat much of it without feeling like I'm going to gag. Do you eat it frozen, canned or raw and what are some tasty ways to prepare it?

Marochka,
How do you eat a lot of spinach? I can't eat much of it without feeling like I'm going to gag. Do you eat it frozen, canned or raw and what are some tasty ways to prepare it?

Pfff, that's the boring ways of eating spinach, she has smoothies from it

I'm eating plenty of it too.Some days 3 of my 7 meals might have spinach(with all of other veggies). It makes you feel full for hours.

andrewpmast wrote:I can't eat much of it without feeling like I'm going to gag.

Me, either. My spinach has to be fresh. I'll frequently cook it into my morning omelette, sauteed along with mushrooms and onions, and prepared in that way it really cooks down the volume but remains filling & tasty. I also like it fresh in salads, but the spinach ends up being the bulk of the salad.

Canned spinach, or spinach by itself when cooked, grosses me out.

--Matt B.

andrewpmast wrote:

marochka_raduga wrote:I also eat metric butt-tons of spinach every day.

Marochka,
How do you eat a lot of spinach? I can't eat much of it without feeling like I'm going to gag. Do you eat it frozen, canned or raw and what are some tasty ways to prepare it?

I didn't need to do anything to the quart ziploc bag full of raw baby spinach I just chowed down on for my lunch today. I rolled bunches of leaves up and dipped them in a little Walden Farms bacon ranch dressing and ate them with some pepperoni. I find baby spinach sweet and mild, so that's what I use for my smoothies.

Start with modest amounts. You don't just jump in to smoothies with almost half a pound of spinach blended in! Budget for a couple ounces of frozen berries in your carb allotment for the day and get yourself some unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze. One cup has one net carb, I think. Put the almond milk in the blender and then drop in a handful of raw spinach. Whizz that up until it's just little tiny flecks left, then stop the blender and add your berries and some sweetener if desired (I use Torani/DaVinci syrups). Whizz that around until it's all homogenized, then pour into a glass and enjoy! If you like cold, icy smoothies, throw a few ice cubes in after the berries. If you have extra carbs floating around in your allotment, you could add some skyr or Greek yogurt to make it creamier. Without the berries it will be a vibrant green color; with, it's an ugly shade of brown, but that's ok, we're manly (or butch in my case) and we can take it!

I'll eat cooked spinach just fine, but prefer it raw in salads, as does my husband (he won't eat it any other way in fact). Frozen is a distant second to fresh cooked and canned is kinda horrendous. But sauteed with a little onion and crimini mushroom plus plenty of jalapeno bacon will let you choke down any greens, I assure you! In fact, I had just that for dinner last night, but collards and baby bok choy instead of spinach. It was like a soul food hash extravaganza! Next time I'll probably use turnip greens or maybe swiss chard. They're all high in potassium, and eating a variety of vegetables is good.

Another tasty way to prepare the spinach is to wilt it in a saute pan (bacon grease is nice for this if you happen to have a pan you just cooked bacon in), then add a touch of heavy cream and top it all off with Swiss and/or Parmesan cheese. You can bake this until it gets a crispy golden color on top, but I don't have the patience to use an oven, so I just stir it up and eat it like that. Add some "Nu-salt" or other salt substitute if you want to bring out the flavors and also increase your potassium intake as an added bonus.

Hope this helps!

Awesome! Thanks for the detailed reply!