9 Of The Best High-Potassium Foods To Include In Your Diet
Getting enough potassium in your diet is important.
However, as I discussed in my previous article a couple weeks ago, the vast majority of adults don’t consume anywhere near the recommended 4.7 grams per day.
This is because most foods that we tend to eat don’t contain very much potassium at all.
And this is made even worse when you consider that processed foods often don’t have any potassium (while being loaded with sodium).
So while you can supplement your potassium intake by taking a handful of pills each day, it is generally much, much easier to just get your potassium from regular foods.
Thankfully, there are actually quite a few high-potassium foods that you can pick from, making it fairly easy to regularly get enough potassium by making a few changes to your diet.
In this article, I’m going to reveal 9 of the best high-potassium foods that I often recommend to clients who have trouble meeting their daily targets.
High Potassium Food #1: Bananas
Bananas are a great everyday fruit to include in your diet.
They are easy to pack for lunch, available all year round, relatively inexpensive, and contain roughly 500 mg of potassium (depending on the size of the banana).
And while this isn’t as much potassium as some of the other foods on this list, having 1 or 2 of these each day can definitely make hitting your target a lot easier.
High-Potassium Food #2: Green Vegetables
Like you need yet another reason to eat your vegetables, right?
Well, as you may have guessed, green vegetables are absolutely loaded with potassium.
The amount of potassium varies from vegetable to vegetable – but upping the amount of spinach, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and kale that you eat will make it much easier to hit your targets.
To put it in perspective, just one cup of cooked spinach contains over 800 mg of potassium, which is roughly 20% of your recommended daily intake.
High-Potassium Food #3: Avocados
Not everyone likes avocados, but if you are someone that does, then they are an excellent way to bump up your potassium.
In just a cup of sliced avocados, you are looking at roughly 700 mg of potassium.
You can easily add avocados to your salad, cereal, or even blend them up in a smoothie.
Just be careful not to overdo it – even though avocados contain mostly healthy fats, they are still a high-calorie food.
High-Potassium Food #4: Fish
Don’t worry, fruits and vegetables aren’t the only way to increase the amount of potassium in your diet.
That’s right, fish is an excellent source of potassium, in addition to providing you healthy, omega 3 fatty acids.
We’re talking most types of fish here – but especially salmon, tuna, halibut, flounder, and cod.
In fact, in just 6 oz of cooked salmon, you are getting a whopping 1 gram of potassium!
High-Potassium Food #5: Yogurt
Yogurt is a popular dairy product, which is loaded with calcium, and often contains probiotics to help with your digestion.
In addition, yogurt typically has a hefty amount of potassium – up to 400 mg per 8 oz container, depending on the type of yogurt you get.
Funnily enough, this is one of the few instances where regular yogurt is preferable to greek yogurt, since it contains almost double the potassium in every serving.
High-Potassium Food #6: Squash
Squash is a great winter vegetable.
It’s chock full of vitamins, minerals, fiber – and, you guessed it, a ton of potassium.
In fact, in just one cup of cooked squash, you’ll be getting around 900 mg of potassium without taking in very many extra calories.
High-Potassium Food #7: Potatoes
People often like to hate on potatoes these days, since they are considered a high-carb food.
However, notwithstanding the fact that carbs won’t make you fat, potatoes contains a significant amount of potassium.
In just 1 medium russet potato, you are getting roughly 900 mg of potassium, as well as a whole bunch of other vitamins and nutrients.
High-Potassium Food #8: Coconut Water
Now these last 2 foods are probably my favorite sources of potassium – both in terms of ease and calories.
Coconut water has become a popular drink in the last few years, being marketed as a healthy alternative to soft drinks.
By drinking just 8 oz of coconut water, you get about 500 mg of potassium, depending on the specific brand.
And this is only about 50 calories, making it a very easy way to get your potassium when you’re on a cutting diet.
High-Potassium Food #9: Low Sodium V8 Juice
Last on our list, we come to a drink that you have probably come across before.
V8 is basically just a vegetable smoothie, consisting of blended vegetables like carrots, beets, tomatoes, and spinach.
For this reason, it contains a lot of potassium – but also typically has far too much sodium, making it less-than-ideal to drink all the time.
However, low-sodium V8 has very little sodium, and even more potassium, than the regular version.
Yup, in just a single 8 oz glass, you are getting 900 mg of potassium and only 50 calories, making it one of the most easily consumed, calorie-efficient sources of potassium that you can find.