Popular as an electrolyte and mineral, potassium is an essential ingredient that should be added to your diet. You must be thinking: why? What can potassium give me? Well, Potassium can you a lot of health benefits like improving your muscle function, aids in your waste removal, regulate the different body fluid, and maintain your nervous system. It can also reduce your blood pressure if you have hypertension and lower your possibility of having a stroke.
So if you want to get all those benefits then do not have second thoughts in eating potassium-rich foods. But then again, which food should you eat? Check out some foods high in potassium below.
Foods High in Potassium
1.Potatoes
Potatoes are rich in potassium, even if it is a sweet, white, or red potato. In fact, one medium-sized potato has 900 mg of potassium. In addition, potatoes contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, fiber, and iron. To maximize the health benefits of potatoes, make sure that you bake these without adding melted cheese and sour cream. Avoid frying them as well.
2. Kidney beans
Kidney beans have 600 mg of potassium per one full cup. Other than potassium, kidney beans are also rich in fiber. The best ways you can eat kidney beans are by adding these to your salad or by mashing them with pepper and salt.
3. Tomatoes
Fresh tomatoes contain a lot of potassium. But if you want to get more, then make sure that the tomatoes are in other forms like tomato sauce, tomato paste, and sun-dried tomatoes. These type of tomatoes have 1,000 mg of potassium each per cup.
Even better, sun-dried tomatoes are low in fat while high in vitamin C and fiber. It can also be a great source of protein that can boost your immune and digestive systems. You can mix it with salads and sandwiches if you wish to.
4. Banana
Banana has been known to be rich in potassium. One banana can already provide you with 400 mg of potassium. It is also rich in vitamin B6, vitamin C, and fiber. If you do not like eating bananas, you can eat other fresh fruits like strawberries, oranges, kiwi, and cantaloupe.
5. Fish
Another ingredient that is rich in potassium is fish. Studies show that around 10% of the needed potassium amount in your body can come from fishes. But you need to know which specific fishes can give you that: wild salmon, flounder, trout, halibut, and tuna.
For example, if you eat Atlantic salmon, you can expect to get at least 500 mg of potassium. Meanwhile, salmon is rich in vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids as well. Take note that when buying fishes, make sure that these do not have mercury. Avoid frying the fish or breading it to maximize its nutrients.
6. Avocado
Avocado is a nutrient-dense food that is a good source of potassium. One avocado can give you 975 mg. Other benefits that you can get from this food vitamin and heart-healthy fats. If you are not a fan of avocados, you can make it a smoothie.
7. Roast Acorn Squash
Acorn squash might not be that popular as compared with the other ingredients here, but it can provide you with a lot of potassium. It also has minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber. Simple roast or steam the squash. Then add pepper, salt, and brown sugar.
8. Spinach and Bok Choy
Leafy vegetables also have a lot of potassium in them. But among all the green-leafy vegetables, spinach and bok choy are the best choices. Spinach has 800 mg of potassium while bok choy has 600 mg per cup.
The reason behind this is that these vegetables are high in minerals and vitamins while low in calories. That gives you more reasons to eat this every day.
9. Yogurt and milk
Vegetables and fruits are not the only ones that have potassium. You can also turn to dairy products especially milk and yogurt. In fact, one cup of milk already has 300 mg of potassium while non-fat milk has 400 mg. To easily remember this, low-fat milk has higher levels of potassium as compared with normal milk.
For yogurt, it has a range of 350 to 500 mg of potassium per cup. Just take note that the potassium level will depend on the type of yogurt. Both milk and yogurt are best taken during breakfast.
10. Dried fruits
Not only bananas and other fresh fruits have potassium, even dried fruits as well. The best example is apricots as these have 1/3 of the required potassium count in your body. Other dried foods that you can eat are dried figs, raisins, and dried peaches. Just keep in mind that dried fruits are best eaten without sweeteners, dry, and dehydrated.
The Takeaway
Having potassium in your body is great thanks to its tons of health benefits. But what would further convince you to add this ingredient to your diet is the fact that potassium-rich foods are easy to find. In just a small market, you can easily find half of what was mentioned here.
All you need to do is to make sure that you maximize the nutrient for each ingredient to give your body a boost. You can boil or not add sweeteners to make the ingredient as natural as before. Another good news is that most of these ingredients are available all year round so getting one would be no sweat.
To sum it up, the potassium-rich foods are dried fruits, leafy vegetables particularly bok choy and spinach, dairy products such as milk and yogurt, roast acorn squash, fish like halibut and wild salmon, avocado, bananas, kidney beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.
Do not forget to add these to your diet every once in a while to reduce blood pressure levels and lower your risk of getting a stroke. Moreover, the abovementioned ingredients can be added to other meals or turned into shakes so you will not entirely taste it if you do not like these.