Potassium Rich Foods

Maintaining good physical condition is always the name of the game for everyone who engages in physically demanding activities such as playing sports. As athletes, or even non-athletes, go about their routines like working out, training hard or while playing a game of whatever sport, it cannot be helped that sweat would be secreted from the body. Sweat is the body’s main mechanism of cooling off as the temperature inside the body rises every time the heart pumps faster and faster, increasing the metabolism and other chemical processes inside the body. If people cannot let the steam off through the pores in the form of sweat, the blood pressure would go high enough until arteries and veins would just rupture inside the body, and that is detrimental for any human being.

Often times, when people perspire, the tendency of almost everyone is to drink lots of water. There had been cases that people collapsed still even though they were rehydrated by water. Research found out that water is not the only thing lost when a body perspires. The body also tends to lose an important nutrient called potassium. The potassium content that goes out of the body through the cooling process known as sweating are usually referred to as mineral salts or electrolytes. What caused those people to collapse even though they were rehydrating themselves constantly with water was that because while they were sweating, precious electrolytes that contain potassium and sodium salts are also lost along with water. Deficiency in electrolytes should be avoided at all times as they are the carriers of electrical impulses from cell membranes to cell membranes. In short, potassium is a key ingredient in maintaining a homeostasis state inside the body. Extreme deficiency in potassium can cause hypokalemia. If losing potassium ions due to sweating can render one unconscious, a person who naturally lacks potassium in his diet could cause muscular weakness, constipation, muscle pain and loss of reflexes.

Potassium has now also been the used as an ingredient to table salt. Normally, sodium chloride is the formula for table salt but health experts are recommending potassium chloride as a substitute for people who need to need to increase potassium levels and as well as those who want to reduce intake of sodium in order to control hypertension. But for all it’s worth, a lot of people still prefer the good old effect of sodium chloride to the taste buds and that’s why it is not surprising that a lot of those people taking potassium chloride still mix in some sodium chloride because pure potassium chloride tastes rather a bit bitter and not as flavorful as the sodium laced one. Normally, to replenish potassium in the body, potassium chloride is commonly used by diluting it and then taken in orally or intravenously. However, potassium chloride should not be in reach of children or to anyone without a proper prescription from doctors. Potassium chloride is considered highly toxic when ingested in excess amounts. In fact, it is the same ingredient used for lethal injections. When taken in at amounts above the recommended limit, it can just make the heart to stop pumping leading to cardiac arrest.  

To increase potassium in the body, one needs to eat potassium rich foods. Vegetables like tomato, beet greens, potatoes and white beans are known good sources of potassium. Orange juice and banana fruit are good sources as well. To be sure that the body would have ample supply of potassium, it is recommended having potassium through natural means as it is always the best way to have a balanced potassium level in the body.