Good Sources of Potassium

Potassium is a mineral that most of us get every day through the foods we regularly eat — and that's a good thing. "Potassium is a mineral necessary for good health," explains Alexa Schmitt, a clinical nutritionist at Massachusetts General Hospital. "It aids in maintaining heart health by helping to regulate the fluid balance in the body." 

Potassium is classified as an electrolyte, which means that it carries an electric charge in your body. The body needs balanced amounts of electrolytes — including potassium, sodium, magnesium, and others — to keep the blood chemistry at the right levels so that your body can function at its best. Potassium also helps your body put the protein you eat to work, building muscle, bones, and other cells. 

Who Needs to Pay Attention to Potassium?
Even though potassium helps our bodies in many ways, Schmitt says she cannot simply make a blanket recommendation about eating more potassium. That's because different people need different amounts of potassium, depending on their overall health.
So who needs to watch their potassium intake?

• People with kidney disease are at risk of having too much potassium in the blood. They tend to retain potassium because their kidneys don't get rid of extra potassium as normal kidneys would. Hyperkalemia, or high levels of potassium in the blood, can be caused by a number of things (including certain medications and hormonal deficiencies), but kidney disease is the most common culprit. High levels of potassium can lead to irregular heartbeats. Therefore, your doctor may periodically check your potassium levels, especially if you have kidney disease.
• People with high blood pressure are at increased risk for having low potassium levels (hypokalemia) because some high blood pressure medications can deplete potassium levels in the blood. Other conditions that can cause low potassium include vomiting, diarrhea, and eating disorders. Certain laxatives and diuretics have been found to cause low potassium as well. Low potassium is characterized by weakness, fatigue, constipation, and muscle cramps. If your potassium level becomes too low, it can also affect your heartbeat. Talk with your doctor about monitoring your potassium levels if you take high blood pressure medication or have a condition that may cause low potassium.

Foods High in Potassium
Though a lot of people associate bananas with potassium, there are a number of other foods that are high in potassium, which Schmitt defines as having at least 350 milligrams of potassium per serving.

In addition to bananas, Schmitt’s high-potassium food favorites include dried apricots, cantaloupe, beets, figs, honeydew melon, and orange juice. "Cantaloupe and honeydew are great [for potassium] because people tend to eat more cantaloupe in one sitting than they would bananas or dried apricots,” she says. Other foods that are high in potassium include potatoes (with the skin on), soy products, dairy products, and meats.
Many of us already enjoy foods that are high in potassium, but if you’re worried about your potassium intake because of conditions such as high blood pressure or kidney disease, talk to your doctor or see a nutritionist. They can help you plan a healthy diet.

Say No to Soda, Yes to Healthy Drinks

Sodas are sweet, sparkling and tasty — but don't confuse them with a healthy drink. Doctors have discovered a ton of health risks connected with drinking soda pop. Worse, you're robbing yourself of a healthy drink alternative brimming with needed vitamins and minerals every time you chug down a soft drink. 

"If you're choosing a soda, chances are you aren't choosing a healthy beverage," says Keri M. Gans, a nutrition consultant in New York City and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. There are a number of healthy drink choices you can make instead.

Why Say No to Soda?

• Soda is truly worthless to your body. "In my opinion, there's really one major reason to not drink soda," Gans says. "It has absolutely no nutritional value. Soda is filled with sugar and calories and nothing else." Even diet sodas — low to no calories and sugar — don’t have any redeeming virtues, nutritionally. Healthy drinks, on the other hand, have vitamins and minerals the body can use. Even plain water can rehydrate your body without adding extra calories to your diet.
• Sugary sodas contribute to obesity and diabetes. Soda is loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener that has been linked to obesity. Soda consumption also has been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, both due to its sugar content and its effects on the body's hormones. And diet soda? It may not be any better. At least one study has linked artificial sweeteners, such as those used in diet sodas, to increased appetite, greater difficulty losing weight, and a harder time maintaining weight loss.
• Soda damages your teeth. The sugar in soda coats your teeth, combining with bacteria in your mouth to form acid. Both regular and diet soda also contain carbolic acid through carbonation. These acids work to weaken tooth enamel, causing cavities and tooth decay.
• Drinking soda can weaken your bones. Most sodas contain phosphorous and caffeine, agents that are believed to contribute to osteoporosis. Experts also worry that people consume soda in place of milk or other healthy drinks, depriving the bones of calcium.
• Soda can harm your major organs. Research has demonstrated that increased soft drink consumption may be linked to chronic kidney disease, development of metabolic syndrome (a group of symptoms that add up to increased heart risk), and fatty liver, a chronic liver disease.

Healthy Drink Alternatives
Luckily, there are limitless options when choosing a healthy drink over a soda pop. Some soda alternatives include:

• Water. It is the ultimate healthy drink. "It's free in every sense of the word," Gans says. "It has no calories and it comes straight from your tap."
• Fruit juice. Gans urges you not to drink straight fruit juice, which contains a lot of sugar. "Drink some seltzer with a splash of juice for a little flavoring," she says. "Rather than drinking juice, eat a piece of whole fruit. You're also getting the fiber in the fruit."
• Milk. This is another essential healthy drink, particularly for kids. "An 8-ounce glass of nonfat milk has 80 calories and nine essential nutrients," Gans says. "You get a lot of bang for your buck."
• Tea. Whatever teas you prefer — green, black, herbal — they all have been shown to contain high levels of antioxidants, which are believed to protect the body from damage.
• Powdered drink mixes. They contain no tooth-rotting carbonation, and come in sugar-free varieties. They give your sweet tooth a fix without harming your overall nutrition.

And remember that you can always cut up some fresh fruit and pop a little into a tall glass of water for an extra flavor kick. Choosing healthy drinks over soda: Give it a try. Your body will thank you.

Tips Diet Right for Your Heart Health

For maximum heart health, you need to eat a well-balanced diet. But what does that really mean? “Try a diet low in saturated fat and high in fiber,” recommends Lisa R. Young, PhD, RD, adjunct professor in the department of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. Here’s how to put such a diet in place. 

Diet for Heart Health: Get Plenty of Fiber

Fiber can help lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of diabetes (a risk factor for heart disease) and certain types of cancer. “We recommend about 25 grams of fiber a day, for men a bit more. It’s based on your weight,” Young says. “Most Americans eat much, much less than that. If you follow a good diet, you’ll get enough, but so many of us don’t.” 

The best way to include fiber in your diet is to eat a variety of whole grains and a mixture of fruits and veggies that have both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber helps clear out cholesterol from your bloodstream. Good sources of soluble fiber include oatmeal, barley, dried beans, and peas; insoluble fiber is found in vegetables like beets and brussels sprouts, as well as whole-grain bread. 

Diet for Heart Health: The Role of Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates should be 50 to 60 percent of your diet. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, get your carbohydrates from legumes, whole-grain breads and pastas, and brown rice. Carbohydrates from these sources are considered good because they offer you nutrients, vitamins, and fiber, in addition to the calories. 

However, Young explains that carbohydrates are often vehicles for saturated fats like butter, sour cream, cream cheese, and dips and spreads. That’s not good news because saturated fat increases your LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol. So you want to watch what you put on your carbs, and how much of them you eat.

• Eat the right carbs and the right fats. While too much LDL cholesterol is bad news, replacing all the fat in your diet with carbohydrates is not the answer either. “A diet too high in carbs and too low in fats will decrease the HDL cholesterol,” says Young. The HDL cholesterol, found in certain good (non-saturated) fats, is actually good for your heart.
• Understand the role of triglycerides. Fruits and vegetables contain carbohydrates and are jam-packed with nutrients that your body needs. Other simple carbohydrates, like breads, cakes, and cookies made from white, refined flour, have less nutritional value. After we eat, our bodies turn carbohydrates, fats, and protein into triglycerides, the chemical that our cells use to give us energy. We need some triglycerides to fuel us throughout the day. But too much of this chemical has been found to increase the risk of heart disease. “It depends on the type of carb,” Young says. “White bread, for instance, elevates the triglycerides.”

Diet for Heart Health: Vitamins for the Heart
While many people swear by vitamins and supplements, there’s not much evidence to support the idea that any particular vitamin is good for the heart. “There was a lot of talk about vitamin E, and it didn’t really pan out,” Young says, “and the folates, B-6, B-12 — these vitamins didn’t pan out either.”
“As they say, there are no quick fixes and no miracles,” Young adds. Most of us can get all the nutrients our hearts need from a well-balanced diet — full of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Foods that Reduce Bone Density

You probably know that calcium and vitamin D are needed to build strong bones. But what you may not know is that there are certain elements in your diet that can actually reduce bone density, increasing your risk for osteoporosis. 

Diet and Osteoporosis: Too Much Protein May Lower Bone Density

You need protein to build strong bones, but when you eat too much protein, your body produces chemicals called sulfates that can cause calcium to leach out of the bones. This effect on bones is more likely to occur with animal protein than vegetable protein. In the recent Nurses Health Study II, conducted by Harvard Medical School, 116,686 women were followed for 10 years. The researchers found that women who ate red meat at least five times a week were more likely to have a bone fracture than women who ate red meat only once a week. 

Diet and Osteoporosis: The Role of Caffeinated Drinks

In a recent study of 31,527 Swedish women ages 40 to 76, conducted by the Swedish Department of Toxicology’s National Food Administration, researchers found that women who drink 330 milligrams of caffeine or more a day — the equivalent of about four cups of coffee — have an increased risk of bone fractures. This risk was especially noted in women who had a lower consumption of calcium. The researchers did not find an association between tea consumption and an increased risk for bone fractures. One reason could be that the caffeine content of tea is typically half that of coffee. 

The recent Framingham Osteoporosis Study measured the bone mineral density in the spines and hips of 1,413 women and 1,125 men against the frequency of their soft drink consumption. The researchers concluded that cola and diet cola beverages (though not other carbonated drinks) may cause bone loss in women and may involve not just the caffeine, but the phosphorus in colas, too. “It may be that the connection between colas and bone loss is due in part to the substitution of soda for milk, decreasing calcium intake,” says Kristine Cuthrell, RD, research nutritionist and project coordinator, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii in Honolulu. 

Diet and Osteoporosis: The Retinol Form of Vitamin A

In the Nurses Health Study II, researchers found that women taking vitamin A in doses exceeding 3,000 micrograms (mcg) a day were twice as likely to suffer a hip fracture than women who take 1,500 mcg or less a day of vitamin A. Although vitamin A is necessary for bone growth, too much of the retinol form of vitamin A interferes with vitamin D absorption, which, in turn, causes bone loss. The retinol form of vitamin A can be found in such animal-source foods as liver, egg yolks, and dairy products as well as dietary supplements. The beta carotene form of vitamin A, found in plant sources such as carrots and sweet potatoes, has not been linked with a negative impact on bone health. 

Diet and Osteoporosis: Other Factors That May Raise Your Risk
Other dietary factors that can impact bone density include:

• Sodium. Too much sodium in your diet can cause you to excrete calcium in your urine and perspiration. Sodium is found in table salt and many processed foods.
• Oxalates, another form of salt found in some foods, can prevent you from absorbing calcium if the oxalates and calcium are contained in the same food product. Spinach, rhubarb, and sweet potatoes contain oxalates. Although these foods can play a role in a healthy diet, they should not be considered sources of calcium. Fortunately, oxalates do not interfere with the absorption of calcium from other foods eaten at the same time as the oxalate-containing foods.
• Wheat bran. The only food known to reduce the absorption of calcium when eaten at the same time as calcium is 100 percent wheat bran. If you take calcium supplements, foods containing wheat bran should be eaten two or more hours before or after taking the supplement.
• Alcohol. Excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages is also associated with lower bone density because alcohol interferes with the absorption of calcium and vitamin D. To lower your risk for osteoporosis, limit your intake of alcohol to one drink a day.

Diet and Osteoporosis: Rebalance With Fruits and Vegetables

“A diet low in fruits and vegetables and high in animal protein and carbohydrates, will tend to result in mild acidosis which, over time, can contribute to significant bone loss,” says Cuthrell. “Neutralizing an acid-producing diet, which can be done by eating fruits and vegetables, may be an important key to reducing bone loss while aging.” 

Eating a well-balanced diet can be tricky when you are trying to keep your bones healthy. However, getting the recommended amount of calcium each day to offset any loss of calcium caused by any other foods you eat will go along way to preventing bone loss.