RDA

So the RDA for potassium is 4700 mg. There is concern in the medical profession over damage to the intestines from high-dose supplements so they advise strongly to go with dietary potassium. "Just eat more leafy greens and fruits."

I checked out the USDA's own list. The first raw fruit to show up on their list is kiwifruit. When sliced, each cup contains 542 mg. The first leafy green is bok-choi, cooked and drained, at 631 mg per cup (spinach shows up at 538 mg/cup).

That's a lot of greens.

So let's go up to the top of the list. The first whole natural food is a baked russet potato in the skin. Large, three to four inches in diameter. 1644 mg. So that's almost three large baked potatoes. For one day's potassium.

You can get there with orange juice if it is made from concentrate; three cups. So the cheapest carton of OJ at the super will get you maybe two days of potassium. Dried apricots also concentrate it down to a similar measure, but here, we are talking a good ten bucks a pound. Trail mix is on the list but you'd have to eat two bags.

And remember, these are the top of the list. You were thinking maybe a little spinach with your balanced meal of bread, black beans, pork round, whatever? Move over Popeye, that RDA requires you slug down five cans of the stuff.

Forget the piece of chicken, piece of broccoli, corn tortilla. The USDA loves this medical advice because they'd like you to eat well and keep American agribusiness solvent. But we're not talking one hot here. We're talking Christmas Dinner every day.

And over in the other corner the AMA is confused as why, according to their measure, some 90% of Americans fail to reach their daily potassium target.

(My doctor is a little smarter. She's authorized me for potassium chloride tablets, 10 mEq, which translates to 600 mg. So that's one can of spinach down).

(And, yes, I'm in the yellow zone on both. Getting a blood draw once a month while we work on that.)