How Potassium Can Help You Shift Those Extra Pounds
If you are anything like me then the simple mention of the word “diet” sends a cold shiver down your spine.
Thoughts of bland meals that barely fill you up may spring to mind… drinking only lemon infused cups of boiled water… chewing on celery sticks and staring forlornly at the biscuit jar.
It’s no wonder that after a few weeks of deprivation most people slip right back into their old eating habits ? or go on a binge-eating spree ? abandoning all thoughts and motivation to have a fairly decent beach body.
Change just ONE thing
If this sounds like you, then I have some good news for you and every other person out there that struggles every year to shift those few extra pounds before hitting the beach.
According to the results of a recent study, published in the British Medical Journal, making this one dietary change can have a profound effect on your life. The researchers also found that it could slash your risk of a deadly stroke by a whopping 24 per cent.
For the study, researchers analysed 33 clinical trials with more than 128,000 people, and they found that people who increased their potassium intake were able to reduce their blood pressure and slash their risks of debilitating strokes by 24 per cent!
But how do low blood pressure and a reduced risk of stroke help you lose weight?
Well, it doesn’t exactly, but these are just two of the amazing health benefits you’ll get when you include potassium-rich foods like mushrooms, salmon, spinach, avocados, white beans, lean beef, bananas, raisins and squash in your diet.
As for weight loss, potassium (an essential dietary mineral) has been shown to help build muscle, prevent excess fluid retention and aid in the release of energy from protein, fat, and carbohydrates during metabolism.
And because potassium helps to convert the food we eat into energy, it is essential for building muscle and increasing muscle function and strength, which is particularly important for those of us who have weight loss goals.
Bigger muscles burn more calories, so by helping us to build slightly bigger and stronger muscles, potassium has a direct impact in helping us to turn our bodies into calorie burning machines.
One word of caution though: If a daily exercise regime is part of your weight loss goal, you must be conscious of the fact that you need to top up on your potassium levels. That’s because potassium is excreted from your body through sweating.
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Sources:
Effect of increased potassium intake on cardiovascular risk factors and disease: systematic review and meta-analyses, BMJ 2013; 346 doi: dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f1378
Potassium and weight loss, weightlos
