Are you getting enough potassium to maintain a healthy body?

Posted on :  August 19, 2020
Are you getting enough potassium to maintain a healthy body?

by Ashleigh Feltham
Accredited Practising Dietitian and Accredited Nutritionist

Are you getting enough potassium in your diet? Potassium is a mineral which plays many important roles in keeping your body functioning optimally. Potassium is an electrolyte and consequently helps maintain a healthy fluid volume and electrolyte balance in your body. This is essential for your heart, kidneys, and nerves to work well.

Potassium can be found in a variety of foods including fruits, vegetable, legumes, seafood like Safcol Seafood and dairy. Inadequate potassium in your diet is associated with high blood pressure, kidney stones and muscle weakness.

Finding an optimal balance of potassium is needed as getting too much potassium is also not good for your health. This is exceedingly rare as excess potassium is normally excreted easily by your kidneys. Inability to excrete this excess potassium can be the result of kidney disease.

Are you getting enough potassium to maintain a healthy body

The adequate intake of potassium for men aged 19 years and over is 3,800 mg/day and for women, it is 2,800mg/day.

To ensure you are receiving enough potassium daily see the recommended diet below:

Breakfast

2 slices toasted whole grain (120mg Potassium) bread topped with 1/4 of an avocado (160mg) and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (150mg)

Lunch

1 cup of quinoa (318mg) with 1 cup of your favourite legumes (around 400mg) and 1/2 cup of cooked spinach (420mg) topped with 40g of shredded cheddar cheese (39mg).

Dinner

Safcol Premium Salmon Skinless and Boneless in Springwater 100g (368mg) with 1 potato (500mg), 1 cup of cooked carrots (960mg) and 1 boiled beetroot (380mg).

Dessert

200g of yoghurt (280mg) with 1 small banana (200mg).

Total potassium: 4295mg

 

Take home message

By including a variety of whole foods, as well as Safcol Seafood in your day, will provide many important nutrients to support your optimal health. Enjoying one of the many quality seafood products available at Safcol seafood to reach your potassium needs is one more reason to enjoy these foods in your week.

Not only is Safcol the Seafood Experts tuna lunchbox friendly, but it also tastes delicious, and boasts some amazing health benefits! Tuna contains Omega-3 fats that are an unsaturated form of fat called polyunsaturated. These types of fats cannot be made by the body, so we need to include them as part of our diet to stay healthy. For good health, you need omega-3 fats in our diet, particularly the type which comes from fish and seafood because it contains two acids known as docosahexaenoic acid or DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA. These two acids are linked to better health for your body particularly for your brain and heart.