How do you get enough calcium and potassium?

[Pen]

I have been using a nutrition tracking app and see that both potassium and calcium are low in my foods. And I have had a blood test in past that showed low potassium.  Actually all my minerals are low unless I take a multi mineral supplement, but the calcium and potassium are still low even with that  

I’m doing a keto sort of diet so cannot eat a lot of bananas etc for potassium.

How do you get these minerals in your foods or if you use supplements for them what supplements?  

I am of course concerned now to have my potassium level too high since both too high and too low are dangerous. 

[Arcadia]

I use whole milk and cheese for calcium and coconut water for potassium but those are not suitable for Ketogenic diet. 

I find drinking a can of coconut water or from a coconut useful when I am feeling dizzy. I am too lazy to hack open a coconut often so I buy cans on sale.

I do take a multivitamin but have problems with anemia unless I take an iron supplement as well. 

[gardenmom5]

I've been tested.  I take sups.  I can take as much as 2400mg of potassium in a day to go along with nuun electrolytes . . . . its' cheaper than coconut water. (I felt better after drinking 2L) . .

[Stibalfamily]

I keep my vitamins/calcium on my dresser with a glass of water. When I am passing by to go into the bathroom, I stop and take my vitamins and drink a glass of water. Otherwise I can never remember to take my calcium or drink enough water. I use calcium citrate as I have heard that calcium from dairy does not actually help our bones. Leafy greens have lots of good calcium too. I believe that the more animal protein you eat the more calcium you need as well. As far as potassium, I am not sure.

[BeachGal]

Most in the US do not get enough potassium.

Bananas are an okay source of potassium but not the best.  Other better sources:

—beet greens

—potatoes (cold = resistant starch)

—avocados

—spinach, kale

—lima beans

—Alaskan salmon

—tomato juice

—coconut water

I eat the above to try to reach what I need but it can be difficult.

[stephanier.1765]

I keep spinach in the fridge to toss in with salads, soups, stir fries, stews...you name it. If it fits, it gets eaten. I find spinach to be an all purpose veggie.

[SarahCB]

I try to eat potassium rich foods. Beachgal posted a great list. I eat a lot of avocado. When I'm fasting, I dissolve 1/4 tsp of NoSalt in a shot of pickle juice twice a day. 1/4 tsp of Nosalt has 650mg of potassium. You could try adding Nosalt to your food. It's a safe way of getting in extra potassium. 

I don't think I have any issues getting enough calcium, but I think it would be interesting to know how much I'm actually getting. I eat a lot of green veggies like broccoli and cabbage. I eat some nuts, but not a ton. I eat a lot of cheese and also some heavy cream. When I eat canned salmon, it's the kind with the bones - wow - I just checked and it looks like a can of salmon is good for 97% of your daily calcium needs and also has 1480mg of potassium!

[Ausmumof3]

Potatoes!  Although not sure if they are keto friendly.

also some asthma medication depletes potassium levels so worth checking if this is something you use you may need to supplement although that has to be done with care.

[Pen]

28 minutes ago, SarahCB said:

I try to eat potassium rich foods. Beachgal posted a great list. I eat a lot of avocado. When I'm fasting, I dissolve 1/4 tsp of NoSalt in a shot of pickle juice twice a day. 1/4 tsp of Nosalt has 650mg of potassium. You could try adding Nosalt to your food. It's a safe way of getting in extra potassium. 

I don't think I have any issues getting enough calcium, but I think it would be interesting to know how much I'm actually getting. I eat a lot of green veggies like broccoli and cabbage. I eat some nuts, but not a ton. I eat a lot of cheese and also some heavy cream. When I eat canned salmon, it's the kind with the bones - wow - I just checked and it looks like a can of salmon is good for 97% of your daily calcium needs and also has 1480mg of potassium!

 

Green vegetables do help a lot for both and until I kept the log I thought I was getting enough that way, but it turns out that I am not.  For example a big greens salad with cheese and a small can of salmon only gives around 40% of calcium and 15% of potassium.  

How big is your salmon can? Mine seem more in the 500mg range for both calcium and potassium. 

A cooked cabbage stir fry eating a whole head of cabbage gives quite a bit, but still not enough...

I’ll look up Nosalt. That sounds like it could help. 

[HomeAgain]

Pretty much everything Beachgal listed is my diet.  I can't eat bananas (but plantains are fine, go figure), so dark leafy greens and tomatoes are always part of my diet.  We use coconut milk to make rice during the summer, I drink 4oz of calcium fortified OJ every morning, eat avocados and mangos whenever they're on sale, and take a multivitamin.

[Pen]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Potatoes!  Although not sure if they are keto friendly.

Generally not, but this particular one gives feast days when anything but processed junk food and added sugar is ok . 

also some asthma medication depletes potassium levels so worth checking if this is something you use you may need to supplement although that has to be done with care.

 

I don’t take asthma med, but it could be that other things deplete me. 

I learned that my father and an aunt are consistently low enough to be on prescription potassium daily.  

But the last time I was tested my blood level was back into low normal. 

[kbutton]

I take a supplement. Each tablet is about equivalent to eating a banana, so I am not overly worried about offing myself with it by accident even if I take a couple. My DH was sure I'd poison myself. I started taking it when potassium-rich foods (some of which I am allergic too or make me feel unpleasant) were not enough to keep my legs from feeling twitchy at night (they don't actually twitch, but they sure feel like they are). After taking potassium, I realized I have a host of other issues that went away or got better, including musculoskeletal pain. 

My diet is limited due to lots of food allergies and histamine intolerance, but many of my symptoms are things I've struggled with on an off for decades, so I think I naturally run low, and the dietary problems just exacerbate the problem.

 

[Arcadia]

2 hours ago, kbutton said:

I take a supplement. Each tablet is about equivalent to eating a banana, so I am not overly worried about offing myself with it by accident even if I take a couple. My DH was sure I'd poison myself. I started taking it when potassium-rich foods (some of which I am allergic too or make me feel unpleasant) were not enough to keep my legs from feeling twitchy at night (they don't actually twitch, but they sure feel like they are). 

 

Which one is that? DS13 seems to be in another of his growth spurt phase and he dislikes bananas and most potassium rich foods. His legs are twitching and aching again, so he isn’t sleeping well. 

[kbutton]

6 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

Which one is that? DS13 seems to be in another of his growth spurt phase and he dislikes bananas and most potassium rich foods. His legs are twitching and aching again, so he isn’t sleeping well. 

Sorry--potassium. It is possible to do harm with too much. You might want to ask the pediatrician how much is okay to start with. But the supplements I found start at pretty small doses.

[Arcadia]

6 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Sorry--potassium. It is possible to do harm with too much. You might want to ask the pediatrician how much is okay to start with. But the supplements I found start at pretty small doses.

 

I meant to ask what brand of potassium supplements. The equivalent of a banana would be probably quite safe. He is too moody due to the summer heat for a pediatrician visit anytime soon.

[kbutton]

I tried Solgar, and they are fine, but they are kind of hard to swallow (too big to be round--they should be made into a tube shape at that size). Then I switched to a local store brand--not a big chain when they were on sale, and they had smaller tablets.

Solgar stuff is supposed to be very good, and I think you could break them in half. The other ones I have are only a little smaller, but it makes a big difference. 

I don't blame him for being moody in the summer heat. I get less heat tolerant every year, lol! I hope he feels better and sleeps better soon!

[Pen]

I looked at the NoSalt, but I’m a little low in sodium so probably should stick with regular sodium salt. 

I am looking at potassium ascorbate now to see if that might work to supplement in a banana amount of potassium. I could get it powdered so no swallowing problem but would have to be careful about how much I would be taking. 

[Ausmumof3]

17 hours ago, kbutton said:

I take a supplement. Each tablet is about equivalent to eating a banana, so I am not overly worried about offing myself with it by accident even if I take a couple. My DH was sure I'd poison myself. I started taking it when potassium-rich foods (some of which I am allergic too or make me feel unpleasant) were not enough to keep my legs from feeling twitchy at night (they don't actually twitch, but they sure feel like they are). After taking potassium, I realized I have a host of other issues that went away or got better, including musculoskeletal pain. 

My diet is limited due to lots of food allergies and histamine intolerance, but many of my symptoms are things I've struggled with on an off for decades, so I think I naturally run low, and the dietary problems just exacerbate the problem.

 

Ok I have the leg thing as well and didn't realise it could be from potassium deficiency.  Or at least I did because ds gets it when he uses ventolin but never put two and two together that that could be my issue.

when I look at desired intake and the food sources I would probably be on the low side.

[shawthorne44]

I highly recommend "Potassium Gluconate Pure Powder, 1-Pound"   I buy it from Amazon.   I used to have it sent on a schedule, but then I realized that was silly since it doesn't go bad, so I bought several.   Without this I would never be able to sleep because of my RLS.   I found that adding a dose of NOW Magnesium seems to assist the potassium (and my digestion).  I am not very good about doing anything daily unless I get immediate negative consequences.  (Fortunately I dislike a dirty body and teeth)    So, whenever my legs start to feel like they might be twitchy soon I take some potassium and magnesium.   I get a big glass of water and a coffee cup with about an inch of water in it.   I drink several ounces from the just-water glass.  Then I add the powder to the coffee cup, stir, a drink it in one slug.   Then, because I'm cheap, I add more water to the coffee cup and drink to get the last of the powder.   Then I finish off the water glass.   You want to help your tummy out by not sending it just the potassium.  Also, don't take potassium when you will be horizontal in the next half hour.  

I wouldn't worry about too high potassium.   The min is in the mid-3000's and the recommended is in the mid-4000's.  If you look at your food intake, I doubt that you are anywhere near even mid-3000's.  

For those with RLS, I am sure that you are doing calf stretches.   But, I found it helpful to add an achilles tendon stretch.  Bring the foot closer in, then bend the knee.  

[nixpix5]

I have always been a liberal milk drinker. I love it and have never had any calcium deficiencies. Potassium I get from a combo of spinach, bananas, coconut and salmon. I haven't been tested though. I have issues with anemia. I appear to need more iron than typical people. Any time my meat consumption drops I get anemia side effects. 

[Pen]

5 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

I highly recommend "Potassium Gluconate Pure Powder, 1-Pound"   I buy it from Amazon.   I used to have it sent on a schedule, but then I realized that was silly since it doesn't go bad, so I bought several.   Without this I would never be able to sleep because of my RLS.   I found that adding a dose of NOW Magnesium seems to assist the potassium (and my digestion).  I am not very good about doing anything daily unless I get immediate negative consequences.  (Fortunately I dislike a dirty body and teeth)    So, whenever my legs start to feel like they might be twitchy soon I take some potassium and magnesium.   I get a big glass of water and a coffee cup with about an inch of water in it.   I drink several ounces from the just-water glass.  Then I add the powder to the coffee cup, stir, a drink it in one slug.   Then, because I'm cheap, I add more water to the coffee cup and drink to get the last of the powder.   Then I finish off the water glass.   You want to help your tummy out by not sending it just the potassium.  Also, don't take potassium when you will be horizontal in the next half hour.  

I wouldn't worry about too high potassium.   The min is in the mid-3000's and the recommended is in the mid-4000's.  If you look at your food intake, I doubt that you are anywhere near even mid-3000's.  

For those with RLS, I am sure that you are doing calf stretches.   But, I found it helpful to add an achilles tendon stretch.  Bring the foot closer in, then bend the knee.  

 

Thanks. I’m  not sure I found the exact same brand of potassium gluconate as you did but I found one (less than a pound) and ordered it. I tried to calculate how much I would need to eat to get the potassium I need from food alone and it looks like it would be absolutely impossible for me to eat that much. And thank you for mentioning about not worrying about too high potassium—I looked that up and it looks like that won’t be a problem for me. 

[Pen]

I got some magnesium too. 

[TravelingChris]

Calcium= milk, half and half, yougurt, ice cream, sardines, etc,, - never have had any issues with those numbers

Potassium is trickier-  have had issues with low potassium  but usually when I am not eating dark chocolate, nuts, potatoes, bananas,.  As my Belgian doctor told me, - with steroids, eat dark chocolate and nuts.  I am on a lot of steroids   I also find that I have to drink Powerades in prolonged hot weather.

[KungFuPanda]

I have potassium pills I keep on hand to remedy leg and foot cramps. They work remarkably fast, so I must be absorbing them easily. Usually, I do OK with diet, but I’ve been known to drop the ball and pay for it.