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“Avocados?” I was incredulous.

“Oh, yes. And, of course, bananas.”

I knew about the bananas. When I just to jog [before my knees interfered], I would come back after 10 or more miles and devour banana nectar. Loved the stuff. That potassium hit was supreme restoration. The sugar was not bad, too.

Now, I was being told to avoid one of my favorite fruits. And avocoados to boot. [I know, avocados are fruit, just like bananas, but I find it hard to consider them a fruit. More like nirvana.]

I was having a conversation with an assistant to a urologist. I was paying a painful visit because I was in the midst of an attack of kidney stones. The assistant was giving me a list of foods to avoid. The key: keep your potassium consumption low.

Thing is, the night before, when I was having bad muscle spasms from the stones, I was eating comfort food — guacamole — and plying my pain with a banana daiquiri. Now I was learning why I just might have been aggravating my situation.

I was given two lists: foods with high potassium to avoid and foods that are low in potassium and safe. Having learned a painful lesson, I thought I would pass the information along. Yes, I think I won’t have any issue avoiding prune juice. And chocolate, well, I certainly can cut down from my daily one pound. 15, maybe even 14 ounces.

Life is not fair.

 

Foods High in Potassium To Avoid

Fruit Avocados, bananas, coconut, dates, dried fruits, figs, kiwi, mango, nectarines, oranges and orange juice, prunes and prune juice, raisins
Vegetables Artichokes, baked beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage [raw], carrots ]raw], chard, olives, potatoes [white and sweet], pickles, pumpkin, rutabaga, squash, tomatoes and tomato juice
Proteins Black beans, clams, ground beef, kidney beans, pinto beans, salmon, sardines, scallops, steak, whitefish
Other Chocolate, dairy products, granola, milk, peanut butter, soups that are salt-free or low-sodium, soy milk, sports drinks, tomato sauce, wheat bran and bran products, whole-grain bread, yogurt

 

Foods Low in Potassium

Fruit Apple juice, apples and applesauce, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, grapefruit, grapes and  grape juice, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon
Vegetables Alfalfa sprouts, asparagus, cabbage [cooked], carrots [cooked], cauliflower, celery, corn, cucumber, eggplant, green beans, green peas, green peppers, kale, lettuce, okra, onions, radish, rhubarb, spinach, water chestnuts, wax beans, yellow squash, zucchini
Proteins Almonds, cashew, chicken, eggs, flax seeds, shrimp, sunflower seeds, tuna, turkey, walnuts

 

Source: Wolters Kluwer Health and www.uptodate.com