23 Sep Nutritionist NYC September Health Tip
Lower your blood pressure and risk of stroke. Prevent bone loss. Make your blood vessels function better. You can do all this by increasing one element in your diet.
Right now you are seeing dollar signs and wondering how much this magic pill will cost. It’s a lot less expensive, and easier, than you think and does not require a visit to the pharmacy.
This just in: PUMP UP YOUR POTASSIUM INTAKE!
When the World Health Organization and American Heart Association start whispering, that soon becomes a roar. And they’re advising us that we need more potassium.
So, the buzz is about fruits and vegetables – potassium, more specifically. An increase in potassium has proven to lower our risk of stroke and heart attack, as potassium not only lowers blood pressure but also makes blood vessels more supple and able to expand when blood gets pumped through them. Moreover, there’s strong evidence suggesting potassium counters the effect of salt – too much of it – on our bodies. And the average American eats too much salt.
But the trick isn’t potassium alone, instead the combination of potassium and citrate, malate and other compounds in fruits and vegetables that the body turns into alkali. The typical American diet is highly acidic because it includes too many processed grains and protein and not enough vegetables and fruit. Our body metabolizes meats and grains and creates acids. If our body fluids and tissues become too acidic, we need alkali to balance it out. Without enough potassium, our bodies will need to tap into existing sources of alkali. Our bones are big storage bins of alkalizing components like calcium. Naturally, it’s the ideal place to balance acids. So calcium is leached out to counter our highly acidic diets.
With years of tapping into our alkali stores in bones, we expose ourselves to getting osteoporosis or loss of bone density which makes us highly susceptible to bone fracture later in life. But, if we have a high potassium diet, eating natural fruits and vegetables in proportion to grains, and nuts and beans to replace some animal protein, our bodies create enough alkali to balance our acid intake and our bones don’t need to break down.
Eating potassium found in food is much more effective than buying potassium pills. Potassium pills are potassium chloride which is not effective at preventing bone loss compared to natural foods that contain potassium citrate and maltate. Also potassium chloride in pills is very harsh on the stomach.
So, how much do we need?
According to the National Academy of Medicine and the USDA, we should shoot for 4700 milligrams of potassium a day compared to the average 3000 milligrams most Americans consume a day. How much is that? What does that look like on a plate? This USDA chart lists all the food sources of potassium, headlined by sweet potatoes.
Both protein and grains create acid in our bodies. We need to strive to have two times the fruits and vegetables in our bodies than grains. Here’s a chart by the Virginia Department of Health to help visualize how much a serving is. Half a cup of pasta or one piece of bread is a serving size of grains. At a typical restaurant, you can get four to five times that in one meal. Try substituting animal protein with vegetable sources of protein, like beans and soy, to further reduce acidity. Fish is a good source of potassium and omega 3 fats so substitute fish for poultry and red meat. And lastly most adults only need 3 oz of animal protein at each meal so by cutting your portion size you will also reduce acidity.
Potassium is found in a myriad of fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy products, so by making a few simple adjustments, it’s easy to reach this nutrient goal.
Nature offers us an inexpensive and tasty way to get heart and bone healthy. It’s just a matter of conscientiously including these foods in our diet in the right proportions.
Sources:
- Nutritionaction.com
- World Health Organization: Potassium Intake for Adults and Children
- MaryJaneDetroyer.com