That one micronutrient....

you just can't seem to get your daily value of....

For me it's Potassium. MFP wants me to eat 3,500 MGs a day. On my best days I've barely gotten over 3,000. I would say my average is somewhere around 1,500. I love bananas but I can only eat so many. I'm not a big fan of beans or leafy greens so I get most of my Potassium from the milk I drink every morning with my cereal. Guess I should start adding in more potatoes.

So what's that one micro nutritional shortcoming you just can't seem to get enough of?

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The issue with potassium is that not all foods list it on their labels. For instance, Stonyfield Farms yogurt includes potassium. All yogurt has potassium, but many yogurt brands don't list it. If it's not on the nutrition data, even though it's actually in the food, MFP can't register it. Chances are you are getting enough potassium.

Nearly every naturally occurring food has potassium in it. However, when you but something that has a nutritional label on it, potassium is usually not included. Therefore, you're eating more potassium than you are recording, unless you cook everything from scratch.

ETA: I have problems getting enough calcium and Vitamin D. However, a simple vitamin supplement fixes that.

Well that's good to hear. I've read alot about the benefits of Potassium and I perceived I was in quite a daily shortage based off MFP. Guess I won't stress it to much.

Iron! Chronic anemia runs in my family so I try to be conscious of intake, but never quite hit that target. Potassium is difficult, too, but I'm encouraged by the other posters pointing out the sneaky ninja potassium (thank you)

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Coconut water is a decent source of potassium and does list on the label; it's a nice refreshing treat for not too many liquid calories.

I'm having issues with iron and zinc. Ferrous gluconate is easy to take, but zinc.... oh boy the nausea, even with a full meal. I ordered some zinc picolinate with copper to try. I'm actually experiencing problems (hair loss and skin issues) due to not enough zinc so I have to find a way to make this work.

To put it into perspective, 100g of chicken breast, less than half a breast, has 220mg of potassium.

If you buy pre-seasoned and stuffed chicken breast, the nutritional label wouldn't even mention the potassium in it.

1 cup (8 oz) of coffee has 116mg of potassium.

As long as you eat a decent amount of food that didn't come from a chemical factory, you'll be fine.

Or you can drink 30 cups of coffee. That works too.

I have an issue of getting in too much iron...I have to watch it...

wizzybeth wrote: »

The issue with potassium is that not all foods list it on their labels. For instance, Stonyfield Farms yogurt includes potassium. All yogurt has potassium, but many yogurt brands don't list it. If it's not on the nutrition data, even though it's actually in the food, MFP can't register it. Chances are you are getting enough potassium.

This.

I don't even track micronutrients for this reason, honestly... and I take a multivitamin most days.

Too many to name.

Iron and calcium are the ones I watch out for.

I don't think I ever get much more than 60% of my iron. So far, it doesn't seem to be causing me any problems, so I try not to stress about it too much.

I can't think of a single time where I checked my micros to see if I was getting enough.

As for Potassium it's the same for most micronutrients. They are either not listed on labels or people don't enter them when adding foods to the database. I would not bother tracking them via MFP at all as it will in no way be accurate. According to MFP I never get enough Iron but my iron was tested recently and it's perfect. If you have any real concerns about a deficiency go see your Dr

Potatoes

Iron. I can't seem to even approach my iron target without either going way over on calories or seriously neglecting other nutrients. I'm considering supplementing (I'm moderately to occasionally severely anemic), but iron supplement side-effects are so grim that I'm resisting as long as I can.

JoRocka wrote: »

I can't think of a single time where I checked my micros to see if I was getting enough.

I'm not scrupulous about my micros or anything but it's like literally one extra tap on the app to see them. I just like to take a daily mental note of my intake when I complete my diary for the day just to make sure I'm getting a fairly balanced intake. I loathe most veggies and leafy greens so I have to be a little more attentive to mine.

I have a problems with B12 since I don't like meat much, same with iron. My tested iron is usually at the very bottom of normal, so I test regularly to make sure I don't go under. On the other hand, on a low day I find myself at 400% vitamin C with the average being at 800%. I have same "problem" with fiber, usually consuming 40 or so grams a day.

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