If you have issues processing potassium, and you are trying to eat healthy and address this issue through diet, you are probably GOING CRAZY RIGHT NOW. > : 0
Because hardly ANYONE publishes potassium info. I should start counting the hours I spend surfing the internet trying to find potassium information on various foods. The dangers of trusting the internet become frighteningly clear while engaging in this treasure hunt. For example:
Since hubby recently was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, I now try to cook both low potassium and low carb (if you’re looking for a 24/7 endlessly frustrating hobby, give this a try). An ingredient that comes up frequently in low carb (and gluten free) baking is coconut flour. Lots of cooks sing the praises of coconut flour as a complement to or substitute for almond flour/meal, as almond flour can taste grainy in baked goods. So I began the quest to determine the amount of potassium in coconut flour. One thing I already knew – fresh coconut and coconut milk is loaded with potassium.
But I had no luck finding any sites that would list coconut flour potassium content. Then I looked at Jillian Michael’s site, fit.jillianmichaels.com. Lo and behold, there was a page called “Nutrition Information for Coconut Flour,” and it stated that there is “no potassium in coconut flour.” I was, like, “Awesome!” I immediately found a coffee cake recipe that used coconut flour; made some recipe adjustments; and baked away. And it was GOOOOD. In fact, I will post my adapted recipe to this site shortly.
But then I began to have second thoughts … how could coconut flour have NO potassium? So I did some further research and found some product websites selling coconut flour. And they said … guess what … COCONUT FLOUR IS LOADED WITH POTASSIUM. I mean, a total potassium bomb (as in 1160 mg in 1/2 cup of flour). What the heck, Jillian Michaels? Are you trying to kill us out here?
I immediately wrote to Jillian Michaels and company, asking where they got the information that there is NO potassium in coconut flour. And they said: “Huh! Let us get back to you on that!” (well, I’m paraphrasing, but that’s pretty much what they said.) And I NEVER HEARD FROM JILLIAN MICHAELS AGAIN.
When you or your loved ones have a health issue, you need solid nutrition information! You don’t need supposed health experts blithely dispensing ERRONEOUS AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS INFORMATION! Even most doctors have no idea what foods are good for a low potassium diet and what foods are bad (except everyone knows bananas, thanks a lot, that is not even close to being the highest potassium food). I am thankful for the USDA site http://ndb.nal.usda.gov , which is where I get almost all my potassium info. But when they don’t have a particular food, I’m stuck! 😦
So now I have a delicious coffee cake with crap loads of potassium in it. And also … coconut flour is loaded with calories! And it’s not all that low carb! And it ain’t cheap, either! Honestly, unless you are rich, skinny, and need to eat gluten free, there just is not a compelling reason to use coconut flour.
But I already have a good recipe that in fact does use coconut flour (and it’s a lot of work developing these recipes and documenting all the nutrition info, gosh darn it). So for those out there who are looking for a healthier coffee cake, I’m going to post my delicious low carb, gluten-free coffee cake (although I personally don’t care about gluten), and then back to the drawing board trying to find a yummy low carb, low potassium one.
So now I got that out of my system 🙂
Healthy, EZ, Yummy! 