We have discussed many ways to approach starting the high potassium diet and have included many tables of high potassium foods. However, there are many ways to get a high potassium intake while limiting sodium. The ratio of potassium to sodium is as important as the absolute numbers of these two minerals.
The amount of potassium, and the potassium sodium ratio, come down to what foods you choose to eat, and how you prepare them. We thought it might be helpful to start discussing some actual dishes and meals that make these goals possible.
Today's breakfast is a simple and quick meal that takes only a few minutes to make. It is one of my most frequent breakfasts, eaten in some version more than half the mornings. And it only takes about 3 to 4 minutes to make, from pulling out the bowl to downing the first bite.
The Ingredients
The breakfast consists of rolled oats as the main ingredient with whey, oat bran, cocoa, nuts, bananas and milk added. You may not eat as much as I do, so you should adjust the potassium and sodium according to how much you would eat.
The breakfast consists of 170 gm of rolled oats, 20 gm of whey, 40 gm of oat bran, 5 gm of Dutched cocoa, 5 gm of nuts (a few walnuts, a few macadamia nuts), and 1/2 banana. Add enough water to cover the mixture which winds up as 340 gm of water after microwaving, and as much milk as you want.
It provides about 1864 gm of potassium and 210 gm of sodium, and almost a 9 to 1 ratio of potassium to sodium. It tastes great, but you can add different spice, nuts, and fruit to suit your taste. Sometimes I use cinnamon instead of cocoa, or some berries instead of banana, for example. If you eat it without nuts and banana, it still provides over 1600 gm of potassium.
My main criterion for a meal is that it take little time to prepare and cleanup after. This fills the bill. My wife is willing to put in more time to get a wider variety of taste and flavor.
How To Prepare The Breakfast
Mix the dry ingredients. Add water to just cover the mix. Then the mixture is heated in the microwave for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Add fruit, nuts and milk after cooking, and that is all there is to it. In less than 4 minutes you get over 1800 mg of potassium and slightly more than 200 mg of sodium.
There are multiple other breakfasts high in potassium, some of which we will discuss in future posts. We'll also discuss recipes for other high potassium meals. What is your favorite high potassium breakfast?
The source of the potassium and sodium data given above is:
USDA National Nutrient Database Standard Reference – Release 22.
If you want to find the potassium and sodium values for these, or any other, food items, they can be found by clicking the “Links to Food Potassium Tables” tab at the top of the page. Then click on the link to a food group you are interested in.
