Potassium: Why and Where to get it

{A guest post by Leslie Johnson about Potassium! Thanks Leslie!}

While many different food products and parenting magazines will stress the importance of well-balanced meals for your kids that include vitamins X, Y, and Z, one nutrient that often gets left out of the mix is potassium. While most healthy individuals have sufficient levels of potassium in their bodies, this can only occurs if an individual is regularly eating healthy foods. Potassium deficiency in children can lead to many diseases and conditions that are common to adults, like hypertension, heart disease, weight gain, and depression. A common symptom of potassium deficiency is fatigue. To keep potassium at the recommended levels here are a few foods that are delicious and kid friendly.

1. Bananas

Bananas

2. Baked and Sweet Potatoes

Both baked potatoes and sweet potatoes are vegetables that kids in particular enjoy, and they are both loaded with potassium. Instead of feeding your children grease-laden French fries, try slicing both baked sweet and regular potatoes, salting them lightly, and serving with a healthy fresh salsa instead of ketchup.

3. Carrots

Although carrots were never my personal favorite when I was growing up, I did find them palatable when combined with a dipping sauce. While ranch dressing isn’t the healthiest thing, kids can’t stop with this one dressing, so think of ways to make it healthier. Some grocery stores stock a yogurt-based ranch dressing, with a fourth of the fat and calories. What’s more, yogurt happens to be a great source of potassium, too!

4. Vitamin supplements

Many doctors stress the fact that potassium levels should be adequate with a healthy diet, and a vitamin supplement should only be used to, well, supplement, real food. Some children, however, may have a specific deficiency in potassium for some reason or another, which may require additional supplements. The only way you can actually find out about this deficiency is to talk to your pediatrician, who can recommend certain blood tests to discovery any inadequacies in diet.

MastersInHealthCare.com

Author Bio:

This guest post is contributed by Leslie Johnson, who writes about health, green living, parenting related articles at MastersInHealthCare.com