Foods high in potassium
Potassium is one of the essential vitamins and minerals that your body requires a regular amount of in order to keep it in good health. This page plain and simply provides you with a high potassium foods list so that you know which foods to consume in order to get your regular dose of potassium. There are a great deal of foods high in potassium but you may never know what they are unless you have cause to look for them, for instance if you have found out that you have a potassium deficiency. We have highlighted some of the best potassium foods for you and how much potassium they actually hold.
For more information on what potassium is and how much potassium you should be consuming per day please see our other page providing a further and more detailed potassium rich foods list.
Why do we need high potassium foods?
Just like with the other vitamins and minerals that we have listed on this site, and that are critical to our health, potassium is required by your body in order to help it carry out various functions. Without a sufficient amount of potassium the body will lack in it and eventually show signs that it is breaking down. Although there are other ways to get the potassium that you need, such as through potassium supplements, the best source of potassium is through foods high in potassium.
The main functions that potassium has in your body is that it helps to regulate the water and acid balance in both the blood and tissue cells. It also aids in the development of growing muscles and transmits electrical signals between the nerves and cells inside of you. As you can imagine you are going to experience all sorts of problems if these functions were to be adversely affected!
Making the effort to get all of the vitamins and minerals in food that you need every day is something that is going to go a long way to ensuring your long term health and prevent your body from breaking down unnecessarily. This is why whether you have a potassium deficiency or not you should take note of the many foods that we have on our high potassium foods list on this page so that you can include them in your diet and the diet of those that you are responsible for such as your children.
Foods high in potassium - Fruit
- Apricot
- Apples
- Avocado
- Banana - Recommended, a medium banana weighing approx 4.2 oz has 422.4 milligrams of potassium in
- Cantaloupe
- Cherries
- Dates
- Figs
- Grapes
- Kiwi
- Melon
- Nectarines
- Oranges and Orange juice
- Papaya
- Pear
- Prunes and Prune juice
- Raisins - Recommended - 1 cup of seedless raisins weighing approx 5.8 oz - 1,235.9 milligrams of potassium in
- Tomato
Foods high in potassium - Vegetables
- Amaranth leaves - Recommended, one cup of boiled Amaranth leaves has 850 mg of potassium in!
- Artichoke
- Bamboo shoots
- Baked potato - Recommended, one medium baked potato with skin has 925 mg of potassium in!
- Beetroot
- Bok Choy
- Brussel sprouts
- Butternut squash - Recommended, one cup of cooked butternut squash has 580 mg of potassium in!
- Celriac
- Celery
- Corn
- Daikon radish
- Fennel
- French beans - Recommended, one cup of boiled French beans has 650 mg of potassium in!
- Kale
- Lima beans - Recommended, one large cup of cooked Lima beans has 950 mg of potassium in!
- Onions
- Parsnip
- Peas
- Pumpkin - Recommended, one cup of cooked pumpkin has 560 mg of potassium in!
- Spinach
- Sweet potato - Recommended, one medium baked sweet potato with skin has 540 mg of potassium in!
- Swiss chard - Recommended, one cup of boiled Swiss chard has 960 mg of potassium in!
- Taro
- Turnip
- Winter Squash
- Yellow Squash
Other high potassium foods
- Chicken
- Dry roasted peanuts
- Parsley
- Seaweed (Spirulina)- Recommended, one cup of dried Spirulina has 1,520 mg of potassium in!
- Skimmed and free of fat milk
- Turkey
As you can clearly see on the above list of foods high potassium the primary sources of the mineral are through natural foods that are grown and cultivated such as fruits and vegetables. These may not be everyone's idea of tasty food but they are all good for you, very versatile in how they can be prepared and what they can be eaten with, and given the chance they really all do taste fantastic.
Knowing your potassium levels
It is important to know what your potassium levels are because not only is insufficient potassium going to lead to a potassium deficiency, but high levels of potassium can also be a problem as well.
High potassium symptoms
If you experience problems with your kidneys it is possible that they can no longer remove excess potassium from the body, so your potassium level builds up. High potassium in the blood is called hyperkalemia. If you experience any of the following high potassium symptoms then you should cut down on your high potassium foods and also contact your doctor:
- nausea
- weakness
- numbness or tingling
- slow pulse
- irregular heartbeat
- heart failure
- sudden death
High potassium symptoms can be very serious, as the symptom of sudden death implies, so if you feel this may be a problem for you it really is vital that you seek medical advice and have your potassium levels checked.
Low potassium symptoms
Where as high potassium is due to illness, low potassium is down to your diet and the fact you may not eat enough foods high in potassium. Low potassium symptoms include:
- weakness of muscles
- crampa
- fatigue
- confusion
- problems with muscle coordination
- irregular heartbeat
- heart failure
These symptoms can be diagnosed by a potassium test with your doctor who will then likely advise you get more foods high in potassium into your diet going forward.
More than foods high in potassium
While you are online you may want to take a look at the other pages that we have on this site that highlight the foods that can provide you with a regular dose of all of the other essential vitamins and minerals. Whereby this page is devoted solely to foods high in potassium, we can tell you foods that contain magnesium, iron and vitamin D to name but a few, as well as information on high fiber foods and high protein foods. We really do have all the bases covered when it comes to helping you out with foods that can keep your body fit, strong and healthy. Remember that the best way to get the potassium inside you that you need is by eating the foods shown on our high potassium foods list.
