Potassium and calcium

[DaveQB]

My girlfriend and I have been vegan since June this year. All is well. Recently I started also counting calories here: http://caloriecount.about.com

This was more curious as I have never done this before and I had no idea how much I was consuming. As a by-product I checked out the analysis it does for nutrient intake. I have noticed that I consistently come in under supplied of Calcium and more so Potassium. Some days I meet the calcium intake requirement but I don't think I ever have with potassium.

A chart with my averages since Oct 13th til Nov 9th is below:

http://www.dward.name/Analysis-2011-10- ... -11-09.jpg

The Cholesterol is from the odd occasion when I have had a "one-off"/rarely eaten food and just select a food that is already in the list rather than adding in the vegan version I had.

These RDI's I assume are US FDA quantities, so I am not sure how accurate that are for true health.

Any thoughts on this? Where do you source your potassium from?

Thanks all.

PS I am not training at the moment so I am trying to keep my calorie count down.

[Konstantin]

This is something I looked into regarding carbo loading, because potassium is crucial in storing glycogen. I get mine from tomatoes, bananas, spinach and raisins. It seems quite an easy nutrient to get, and is found in:

•raisins
•prunes
•apricots
•dates
•strawberries
•bananas
•watermelon
•cantaloupe
•citrus fruits
•beets
•greens
•spinach
•tomatoes
•mushrooms
•soy products

[DaveQB]

Thanks Konstantin

Interesting.
A typical breakfast is 2-3 bananas, 2 apples and a nectarine, peach or mandarine.

For dinner I normally cook up a stir fry with 8-10 vegetables plus a protein like tempeh or almonds.
The vegetables always include Bok Choy, Kale or/and English Spinach.

So what am I doing wrong? It looks like I have the right foods. Do I just need more of them??

Thanks

[Konstantin]

To be honest dave it's hard to tell what the problem is, especially as I'm not an expert. I understand that almost everyone has calcium levels below RDA, although you should remember that vegans need less in their diet than non vegans, especially users of cow's milk. This is because the acidic effect of milk and animal protein in the blood means theat calcium is taken out of the bones by the blood and ends up in the urine.

I use Chron-o-meter (http://cronometer.com/) and that shows that I'm low on calcium (but not by much) and everything else is atb 150-250% RDA. I think if you're still concerned, ask an expert.

[muchluv]

Potatoes are good for potassium. Blackstrap molasses is good for potassium and calcium too, i'd reccomend

[DaveQB]

To be honest dave it's hard to tell what the problem is, especially as I'm not an expert. I understand that almost everyone has calcium levels below RDA,

Oh yeah? Well I feel better now

although you should remember that vegans need less in their diet than non vegans, especially users of cow's milk. This is because the acidic effect of milk and animal protein in the blood means theat calcium is taken out of the bones by the blood and ends up in the urine.

Yes aware of that but thanks for reminding me.

I use Chron-o-meter (http://cronometer.com/) and that shows that I'm low on calcium (but not by much) and everything else is atb 150-250% RDA. I think if you're still concerned, ask an expert.

I will take it for a spin. Thanks!

[DaveQB]

Potatoes are good for potassium. Blackstrap molasses is good for potassium and calcium too, i'd reccomend

Thanks!

[Mufflon]

The potassium intake to aim for seems to be relly high in the US. The EU values are lower.

[DaveQB]

The potassium intake to aim for seems to be relly high in the US. The EU values are lower.

Yeah? Can you shed more light on this please?

Thanks

[Mufflon]

What light? According to the EU guidelines it's only 2 g per day instead of IIRC 4 g in the US and these 2 g are very easy to obtain. That's it.

[DaveQB]

What light?

This light....

According to the EU guidelines it's only 2 g per day instead of IIRC 4 g in the US and these 2 g are very easy to obtain. That's it.

Thanks mate.

[Mufflon]

No problem.

It's interesting though that the recommendation differs that much. Usually the differences between EU and USA recommendations aren't that big, e. g. calcium is 1000 mg in the US but 800 mg in the EU.