Middle-of-the-night leg cramps often mean your diet lacks potassium. Yet increasing your level of this electrolyte does something more important than just counteract them. It moderates high blood pressure brought on by excessive sodium intake. Research published in 2009 in the "Archives of Internal Medicine" found that ingesting twice as much potassium as sodium reduces the risk of dying from heart disease by half. Even though the Recommended Daily Allowance of 4,700 milligrams may seem high, you can get that amount without taking supplements.
Eat Breakfast at Home
Although many people skip this meal, breakfast foods often contain considerable amounts of potassium. Add 4 ounces of skim milk to your cereal and drink another 4 ounces with the rest of the meal, and you’ve already consumed 382 milligrams of potassium. Eat 8 ounces of plain, nonfat yogurt with a cup of strawberries added, and you get 826 milligrams. Swirl in 2 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses and the combination now tops 1,800 milligrams, more than 38 percent of the RDA.
Cantaloupe and honeydew; prune, carrot and orange juices; and a banana sliced into your cereal also contain significant amounts of potassium.
Snack on Dried Fruit
Because dried fruits have far less water than fresh fruits, they contain more potassium -- and also more calories. Smart snacking, however, can increase your potassium intake but not your waistline. Eat 10 dried figs, for instance, and you get 1,331 milligrams of potassium, 28 percent of the RDA. The same number of prunes contain 626 milligrams; dates, 541 milligrams; and two-thirds of a cup of seedless raisins, 751 milligrams. Dried apples, peaches and apricots also have noteworthy amounts of potassium.
Create Meals Using Tomatoes, Beans and Potatoes
Adding tomato-based products, beans and potatoes when you cook and eat at home greatly boosts your potassium intake. Use 4 ounces of tomato paste in any dish, and you increase the potassium in it by 1,328 milligrams. Add 28 ounces of tomato puree to your pasta sauce and you add 3,843 milligrams of potassium to the pot. Create a soup, casserole or Mexican dish that calls for 1 cup white beans, and the amount of potassium in the meal jumps 1,190 milligrams. Eat a restaurant-sized baked potato with any home-cooked meal, and you get 1,220 milligrams, 26 percent of the RDA. Lentils and sweet potatoes also contain considerable amounts of potassium.
Limit Processed Foods
The average American exceeds the RDA for sodium by 1,100 milligrams, so you probably ingest too much salt, possibly because you eat too much processed and restaurant food. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 75 percent of dietary sodium comes from those two sources. By consciously limiting processed food, however, you do more than reduce your sodium intake. You naturally and dramatically increase your potassium intake -- and the all-important potassium-to-sodium ratio. A slice of apple pie has 80 milligrams of potassium, but an apple has 301 milligrams. Canned corn has 97 milligrams of potassium, yet an equal amount of corn on the cob has 280 milligrams.
- Pharmacology in Nursing; Anne Burgess Hahn R.N., B.S.N., M.A. et al
- SuperFoods: Health HealthStyle; Steven G. Pratt, M.D., et al.
- Archives of Internal Medicine: Joint Effects of Sodium and Potassium Intake on Subsequent Cardiovascular Disease
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005: Food Sources of Selected Nutrients: Appendix B
- Bowes & Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used; Jean A. T. Pennington, Ph.D., R.D.
- MayoClinic.com: Nutrition and Healthy Eating
- Tufts University Health & Nutrition Newsletter; The Assault on Salt
- The Paleolithic Prescription; S. Boyd Eaton, M.D., et al.
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