Potassium is a very important mineral for the human body. Your body needs potassium to build muscle, maintain normal body growth, heart and kidney disorders, water balance, electrolytic functions, nervous system and other general health benefits. Deficiency of any nutrient in the body is not desirable and potassium is not an exception in this case. A diet deficient in potassium may lead to symptoms like fatigue and weakness in muscles. Other indications for deficiency of potassium include inactive reflexes, abnormal heartbeat, heart palpitations, anemia and severe headaches. Potassium may also be responsible for regulating muscle function and nerve activity. The mineral also promotes an overall sense of well-being.
A balanced diet must contain fair quantity of potassium. Foods rich in potassium include: citrus fruits, apples, bananas, apricots, legumes, potatoes, lima beans, peas, nuts, spinach, lettuce, kale, green leafy vegetables, meats, cod, flounder, and sardines. The health benefits of potassium rich foods are:
Good for the heart: Potassium rich foods help keeps the body healthy by lowering blood pressure. People suffering from hypertension and congestive heart disease can obtain significant relief from their symptoms by eating potassium rich foods. Potassium, when incorporated as an integral element in daily nutrition also helps normalize heartbeat.
Low blood sugar: Decrease in potassium levels cause a drop in blood sugar level. Decrease in blood sugar levels causes sweating, headache, weakness, trembling and nervousness. Intake of potassium chloride and sodium provides immediate relief from such situation. Including potassium rich foods in your diet can maintain your blood sugar levels.
Water level regulator: Potassium keeps the skin healthy and sends oxygen to the brain. It decreases the risks of kidney stones and stroke. It also stimulates the kidneys to eliminate waste, thereby maintaining balanced water levels in the body. Besides these benefits, eating potassium rich foods restores alkaline salts to the bloodstream by neutralizing acids.
Anxiety and Stress: Potassium is of great importance for people suffering from undesirable mental states like anxiety and stress. Eating potassium rich foods is perfect stress buster and thus it ensures efficient mental performance of human body. Other benefits of potassium rich foods include their role in waste elimination and as pain desensitizers in controlling convulsions, headaches, and migraines.
Muscular Strength: This is in fact, one of the most appreciable benefits of potassium, as it ensures proper growth of muscle tissues and proper utilization of energy released during metabolism to add significant worth to muscular strength. The muscles, together with cardiac muscle, are prone to paralysis due to deficiency of potassium in diet. Eating a potassium rich food will help you to give muscular strength.
Boost Brain function & Metabolism: Potassium rich foods play a key role in maintaining the electrical conductivity of brain and affect the brain function. It is also involved in higher brain function like memory and learning.It assists in metabolic process of various nutrients like fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Thus, potassium is of great value in extracting the energy out of nutrients consumed by man.
Potassium, the third most abundant mineral in human body, is the synonym for health insurer. It contains the qualities for maintaining a high level of human well-being and a cheerful lifestyle. So, eat the potassium rich foods in your daily lifestyle and stay healthy.