Potassium is a mineral that is essential for good health. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that, "Potassium is crucial to heart function and plays a key role in skeletal and smooth muscle contraction, making it important for normal digestive and muscular function, too." Potassium is found in a variety of foods, so even picky eaters should find ways to get potassium into their diets.
Bananas
Bananas are often the first food we think of when looking for dietary sources of potassium. They make a great snack or can be part of a salad. Because potassium is necessary for healthy muscle contraction, athletes often eat bananas before competition to make sure their muscles don't cramp or become strained during activity. A banana has nearly 500 mg of potassium.
Potatoes
Potatoes are an easy source of potassium, but because they tend to be high in calories, if you're concerned about weight loss along with making sure you're getting enough potassium and other nutrients, consider some other potassium sources such as grapefruits. But if weight loss isn't an issue, eating baking potatoes and sweet potatoes are good ways to get your potassium. A baked sweet potato with skin has about 500 mg of potassium, while half a baked white potato has about 400 mg of potassium.
Papayas
A papaya can have more than 700 mg of potassium as well as healthy amounts of vitamin C and beta-carotene. Papayas are delicious on their own or as part of a salad, and one papaya only has around 100 calories, about the same as one banana.
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