Skip to main content

If you can sell potato chips...

If you can sell a bag of potato chips, why can't you sell 1000mg potassium pills?

I've finally found an answer to my cravings and heart palpitations, and unfortunately, it's potato chips. It's not that I've jumped on the safe starch bandwagon, it's just that it suits my current needs:


  • I tend to get low on salt and potassium. The chips have a lot of both, making my heart and energy level feel normal.
  • I'm too wound up about moving to be very hungry. Therefore, I can eat half a bag at a time because I'm not eating much else. I've turned into one of those people who's lost weight eating potatoes.
  • My stomach hasn't been normal since those three courses of antibiotics from my root canal. The chips feel good on my stomach if I don't eat too many.


Downsides:

  • Acne, gas, a bit of reflux, and probably a lack of certain nutrients. 


Potassium isn't one of those nutrients, though. An eight-ounce bag of potato chips has 3727 mg of potassium; a potassium tablet has 99. No wonder I had to pop the potassium pills like candy pre-chips. If I could just get a pill with 4000mg of potassium and chase it with something salt-encrusted, I could get all the relevant nutrients without the acne and other problems.

Potato chips are generally considered junk food, but they do have quite a lot of nutrients, and I usually get the kind cooked in coconut or avocado oil. If a person was carb-agnostic and ate potatoes, what would be wrong with eating the potatoes in the form of chips cooked in natural oils?

Be that as it may, I need to do something other than eat chips. I got a bottle of potassium pills and some probiotics, which helped immediately after my root canal; maybe I need to continue taking them to help absorb nutrients. I'd like to get back to eating normally because I feel better physically and mentally--it's just that  my normal food now sounds like something that would give me a stomach ache. I haven't even been able to look at a fish in months. That, and I have to keep the kitchen clean for potential house buyers to look at. I've been eating lots of take-out.

My plan is to have some eggs or sausage in the morning, a low-carb lunch, dinner if I feel like it, and potassium pills with all of it. Probiotics as directed, and avoid skipping the vitamins.
Labels:

Comments

Galina L. said…
If potatoes give you pimples and reflux, you may try something else with potassium. There are other foods high in potassium besides potatoes like pumpkins, fish, avocados. One avocado, for example, contains more than 1000 mg of potassium. Sometimes I like to blend together avocado with tomatoes, onion and red pepper, it is like a vegetable smoothy, you can add a lot of salt there and all spices and garlic you fancy, vinegar if you like, and liquid things are easy to consume when not hungry. Well, you may consume it with your chips - it is even more potassium, and you would need less potato chips.Vegetables like a squash are rich in magnesium, mushrooms too. I just thought about making a gallon of soup with a mix of dried(dried mushrooms are easy to re-hydrate in a microwave in a container with water) and fresh mushrooms, with added shredded squash and even some potatoes, and freezing it in portion-size containers. I like containers, it is easy to de-frost in a bowl of water - faster, than in a microwave.
October 20, 2015
valerie said…
Have you tried salt substitute? It is pure potassium chloride. Seems like it would be easier (and probably cheaper) than those 99mg pills.

Here in Canada, I can find it in any grocery store, right next to spices and regular salt. They call it "NoSalt." There is also "HalfSalt" which is a mix of sodium chloride and potassium chloride.
October 20, 2015
Galina L. said…
If potatoes give you pimples and reflux, you may try something else with potassium. There are other foods high in potassium besides potatoes like pumpkins, fish, avocados. One avocado, for example, contains more than 1000 mg of potassium. Sometimes I like to blend together avocado with tomatoes, onion and red pepper, it is like a vegetable smoothy, you can add a lot of salt there and all spices and garlic you fancy, vinegar if you like, and liquid things are easy to consume when not hungry. Well, you may consume it with your chips - it is even more potassium, and you would need less potato chips.Vegetables like a squash are rich in magnesium, mushrooms too. I just thought about making a gallon of soup with a mix of dried(dried mushrooms are easy to re-hydrate in a microwave in a container with water) and fresh mushrooms, with added shredded squash and even some potatoes, and freezing it in portion-size containers. I like containers, it is easy to de-frost in a bowl of water - faster, than in a microwave.
October 22, 2015
Larcana said…
That's tough! I couldn't eat them because of the reflux I get from too much salt.
Best of luck with it.
October 24, 2015
Val said…
Very late catching up on blog-reading, but sorry to hear of your troubles post root canal, Lori!
Hope things have gotten back on an even keel.
I myself have been teetering on my plateau for MONTHS, so it's certainly time to shit or get off the pot. It may be that this is my New Normal since I seem disinclined to buckle down & do the work necessary to "Get On Down" - in which case I need to make the best of it (insert platitudes here). All the best, Val
December 02, 2015
Lori Miller said…
Sorry, everyone, for the delay in posting comments. They never showed up in my email and I didn't check blogger.
December 04, 2015
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My New Favorite Sweetener

If you're looking for a low-carb sweetener with no aftertaste, no franken-ingredients, and that doesn't upset your stomach, try monk fruit (also known as luo han guo). This is what Quest bars were sweetened with when they first came out. Monk fruit is Dr. Davis approved. You can buy monk fruit in powdered or liquid form; both are super-concentrated. They might seem expensive, but you use the powder by the spoonful (even in baking recipes) and the liquid by the drop. The baking recipes I've made with the powder have turned out well. Available from Amazon . Beware monk fruit sweeteners with erythritol.  The package of powdered monk fruit sweetener I bought says, "Use 1/8 teaspoon to create the same sweet taste as 1 teaspoon of sugar." But it's so sweet that I use 1/10 the amount. To replace a cup of sugar, I would use 5 teaspoons of monk fruit sweetener. Tip: hand-stir this in before using the beaters. It's such a fine powder that it flies up and out of the ...
2 comments
Read more

Mince Meat Pie Recipe, low carb

The star of Christmas dinner this year was made of unlikely ingredients. Fruit and beef tongue sound high carb or unpalatable, but mince meat pie was so popular 250 years ago that it was in many cookbooks from the time--and it wasn't just for Christmas. My version cuts the carbs by using tart cooking apples, cranberries, monk fruit sweetener and a nut flour crust. The main flavors are orange and slightly tart fruit; the meat and fat make it filling. Have it for dessert or with coffee or tea for breakfast. Make some soup with the collagen-filled broth and discover how tender and tasty the rest of the beef tongue is. Worth the time and effort. IMPORTANT--start this recipe the day before. Links in the recipe go to hard-to-find ingredients and directly to the cookbook with the recipe for the pie crust. (I made the almond flour variation of the crust.) Recipe 1 beef tongue (I get mine here ; look for farms or ranches in your area that sell directly to consumers) 2 Granny Smith apples 1 ...
2 comments
Read more

Is the NIH Privately Helping Patients with COVID Vax Injuries?

In a recent letter from several attorneys general (AGs) demanding an explanation as to why so few vaccine-injured people have received so little compensation, the AGs asked a curious question: We have been told by constituents that NIH [National Institutes of Health] is privately helping patients across the country with COVID-19 vaccine–related injuries and is even bringing patients to NIH for study and treatment. Is that correct? Why have these activities not been better publicized? What sorts of studies of these patients is NIH currently conducting? What treatments is NIH administering? Photo from Pixabay . Most of the letter focused on compensation for COVID-19 vaccine injuries. As you know, vaccine manufacturers in the US have immunity from lawsuits, but people suffering from vaccine injuries can be compensated by the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). But among the 10,000 COVID vaccine related claims, only 20 claimants have received compensation. "And but for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Magnesium Tea: Peachy, Minty, Refreshing

Most readers know that magnesium supplementation is important, especially on low-carb diets. Magnesium deficiency is common, and low-carb diets require more magnesium--a mineral that's important for heart, muscle and digestive function and helps regulate blood sugar.  Photo from Unsplash . The magnesium powder in this recipe is the best form I've found--I had a lot of trouble with magnesium supplements during the pandemic not working, or giving me diarrhea, or (in the case of all the milk of magnesia) being contaminated with bleach. This magnesium powder doesn't require a carbonation machine, unlike some other powders. The peach flavor is only mildly sweet.  Note--limit servings to two per day, preferably spaced out several hours apart. Too much magnesium at once can have a laxative effect.  4-5 mint tea bags filtered water (enough for 1 medium pitcher) Doctor's Best magnesium powder, peach flavor Boil a cup of the water and add tea bags. Let steep for five minutes. Add...
5 comments
Read more

How would Dr. Oz Treat the DTs?

"You let me in your house with a hammer." -"Candy Shop" by Andrew Bird Low-carb proponent Gary Taubes appeared on the Dr. Oz Show March 7. In one entertaining segment, Dr. Oz spent a day eating a low-carb diet and complained of the greasiness of the sausage, feeling tired, constipation and bad breath. That's a drag, but when I stopped drinking Coke in 2007, I felt even worse: stomach ache, headache, tiredness, and mental fog. Should I have gone back to drinking Coke? If you quit a bad alcohol habit and start seeing snakes, do you need a drink? If my legs hurt from working out Monday night for the first time in two months (which they do), maybe I should resume my exercise hiatus indefinitely. I respect Dr. Oz for having Gary Taubes on his show and letting him share his ideas. I'd respect Oz even more if he looked into low-carb diets more carefully. What he didn't seem to consider regarding his one-day low-carb diet was that he spent a day...
2 comments
Read more