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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.

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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
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