7 Unexpected and Amazing Benefits of Potassium

I think most people know of the main benefits of potassium supporting a healthy heart , supporting healthy blood sugars , help balancing out your fluids , things like that .

But there's some unexpected , very interesting benefits of potassium I think you should know about .

Well , out of all the minerals , potassium is needed in the largest quantity , you need 4 , 700 milligrams of potassium every single day , you don't even require a fraction of that quantity for other nutrients .

So with potassium , it's unique in that you need a lot of it , primarily because it supports 2 major areas , the muscles and the nerves .

You have these little tiny pumps , they're called sodium potassium pumps .

You have billions of them in the muscles and the nervous system and allows the muscles and nerves to work .

It also is necessary in producing energy .

So let me go through a couple really important points about potassium .

The first being why are we deficient , because an average person , especially in the US only consumes about a cup and a half of vegetables per day .

And vegetables are probably 1 of the better sources of potassium .

And so a cup and a half of vegetables is just not gonna be even close to what you need .

You're gonna need between 7 to 10 cups to get closer to that 47 100 milligrams and include other foods that have potassium as well .

Now , if you look up what foods are high in potassium , they will tell you it's fruits , vegetables , whole grains , beans , things like that .

Now , if you look at half of a cup of whole grains , okay , you're gonna get less than about 200 milligrams of potassium .

And on top of that , whole grains has phytic acid , which blocks minerals , especially potassium , especially phosphorus , zinc , copper , magnesium , manganese .

So whole grains are not a good source of potassium or minerals .

Now you say , what about refined grains ?

Well , when you're fine grains , you leach out and lose minerals , not to mention all that refined flour that turns into glucose , which then requires potassium to help in its storage of glucose .

In other words , the more refined grains or sugar that you consume , the less potassium you're gonna have , that's gonna be available because it's gonna be locked up in the storage of that stored sugar as glycogen , leaving you with the potassium deficiency .

Now , just as a side note , for those of you that are on the ketogenic diet , when you do keto , and you switch your fuel from burning sugar , okay , to burning fat , you're going to be using up this stored sugar , this stork glycogen , and that is going to release a lot of , fluid in your tissues .

And with that loss of fluid comes a loss of electrolytes , including potassium .

So when you start in the ketogenic diet , and you don't substitute that potassium , you may end up with keto fatigue .

Now what about getting your potassium from fruit ?

Well , fruit does have some potassium , like 1 apple would give you about just under 200 milligrams of potassium .

But again , we need 47100 .

So how many apples would you have to consume ?

And then also , what about all that sugar that comes with fruit ?

So fruit also is not the best source of potassium because it comes with a lot of sugar .

Now , what about fish or , or beef ?

Well , fish will actually give you potassium .

Like a half a filet will give you , up to 600 milligrams of potassium , 3 ounces of beef will give you 270 milligrams of potassium .

So all these other foods will contribute to adding up to the requirements you need for potassium .

Now a potato , okay , 1 medium sized potato will give you 800 milligrams of potassium , but it'll also give you a lot of starch .

And so we don't wanna consume potatoes .

The best source of potassium is leafy greens , avocados , and certain greens will give you more potassium than others like Swiss chard , beet tops .

And the other cool thing about eating enough greens is that it will also give you magnesium .

And 1 interesting thing about potassium is you can be deficient in potassium if you're low in magnesium .

So both of those minerals are needed Together , we can become deficient with potassium through diet , which is a very common reason .

But also , the more stress you have , the more potassium you will lose , the more sugar you eat , the more caffeine you consume , the more alcohol , the less potassium you're going to have in your body .

Diuretics , for example , are a common reason why people are deficient in potassium .

If you consume too much salt , you can become deficient in potassium because sodium potassium work together .

So the more salt you consume , the more potassium you need .

And that also goes with more potassium you consume , the more salt you need , because they both function in their normal ratios .

But typically we need at least twice as much potassium as we do sodium and salt that when you injure yourself or you go through a surgery , your body dumps potassium .

Alright , so now let's dive into some of the benefits that are unexpected from potassium .

Number 1 , cognitive benefits .

Remember I talked about the nerves and the muscles needing potassium .

Well , guess what ?

You have nerves in your brain , so your brain needs potassium .

And when you have sufficient potassium , you support cognitive function , memory , focus , concentration .

And when you're deficient in potassium , you become a bit disoriented .

Number 2 , cerebellum support , what is the cerebellum , it's the back part of your brain that's involved with coordinated and controlled movements .

And so if you're deficient in potassium , you could be a little uncoordinated .

I wonder how many , children that are not coordinated are just deficient in potassium , since an average child's diet probably doesn't get any potassium at all .

They consume a lot of ultra processed junk food .

Alright .

Number 3 , mood support .

Potassium supports your mood .

Potassium can help take you out of a flight or fight mode , like a sympathetic , nervous system dominant situation .

So potassium is really good for people that are in stress .

Potassium is very important in calming a person down .

Potassium will help uplift someone and bring them up .

Potassium will help make a person less irritable , less worried , less fearful .

So potassium is really , really important in stress and also stress depletes potassium .

Alright , number 4 potassium will make your muscles stronger .

This means when you exercise , you'll be less fatigue .

Now to be totally transparent , I do sell a high potassium electrolyte powder , which I challenge you to do an experiment on yourself with exercise , because you may notice an improvement in endurance .

The times you take that electrolyte powder versus the times that you don't .

But as a side note , anytime you take a high potassium electrolyte powder , and you're exercising , also make sure that you're adding more sea salt with that , because as you sweat , you're gonna lose potassium as well as sodium .

And you can also experience fatigue from a loss of sodium , just as you could from a loss of potassium .

Alright , number 5 , potassium can protect you against leg cramps .

A lot of people think that leg cramps are always a magnesium deficiency , but you can also experience leg cramps from a potassium deficiency too .

All right .

Number 6 , potassium counters the effect from high sodium .

Like I said before , potassium and sodium work together .

And so an average person on a regular diet is going to be much heavier on the sodium balance than the potassium .

And so all these things you hear about the negative aspects of too much salt in reality is just in a deficiency of potassium because potassium protects you against the side effects of too much salt and excessive salt is 1 of the causes of low potassium .

And number 7 potassium can help you have regular bowel movements .

So it helps to protect you against constipation .

Why ?

Because like I said before , potassium is involved with muscle and nerve , and your colon is smooth muscle .

And so if you're deficient in potassium , that smooth muscle is not going to work as well as it should .

And I think the next most important video for you to watch would be this 1 on electrolytes .

Check it out .