Auntie Audrey....Thank you. I think I'm ok re protein. The APP I'm using indicates I'm fine. I eat protein (meat, fish daily...usually two meals) and there is protein in veggies and I eat a LOT of them...more than I ever have in my life. I've also started to lift weights....not consistent yet. But I think protein is fine.

I do take mini breaks from the diet. At Easter I ate whatever I wanted, including a nice, normal sized slice of cheesecake.

My only consistent problem indicator is potassium. I saw your post about the zero calorie water...Revive??? I couldn't find it at my local store. Will look for that post again and look at different stores.

I did buy the low salt V8 and had half a glass yesterday and today. My counts look better. I'm going to be more aware of the potassium intake overall. I do like potato and avocado. And my health food store sells sulfite free dried apricot. So far, potassium has been the only issue. I often eat very large amounts of vitamins C and A. I think being more aware and striving to eat only very healthy foods has made me likely to have more nutrients in many areas than I did previously with more calories.

Possible exception: potassium I seem to need to be aware here and purposely eat foods high in potassium to be ok.

Hi again Vowel Lady, yes it is often difficult to get all the potassium you need while on a diet.

The product I use is called Revive fruit punch from Vitamin Water Zero. Most vitamin waters contain very little potassium, but this one has 880 mg of potassium per 20 ounce bottle. The best part is there is no sodium or sugar in it, and it contains the natural sweetener Stevia instead of an artificial sweetener.

I also drink low salt V8, which has 1180 mg of potassium per 11.5 ounce can. So, if you were to drink one fruit punch and one V8 per day, you would be getting 2060 mg of potassium just from those two sources alone.

What counts look better?
how did you know that you were low in potassium?
Many salt substitutes have potassium in them but was always told to advise my patients to beware of these products.
bizi

I keep all my annual labs, and IF the range comes in lower end, I'm aware. My potassium comes in lower end, so with the help of a friend who deals with CFS, we are up on getting more potassium going in. As long as we're in ranges, docs don't address anything. We have to be aware. She put me onto low sod V8, mix it with my MSM drink in the morning, use 1/2 distilled water, 1/2 V8 and the MSM which I use for joint pain.

Hi Bizi! Re: Potassium counts
I use an Application (APP) on my cell phone mostly to count my daily calories. It's called "MyFitnessPal." I like it a lot, but I understand there are other good ones too. Not only does it count calories (you input your foods eaten each day ), but it records and counts some nutrients like Vit. C, Vit. A, Protein, Fiber, Salt, Sugar, etc. I'm doing fine with everything, with the exception of Potassium! I would say the great majority of time, the APP indicates to me that I have not eaten enough potassium. Some days, it is pathetic. At least when I think about foods with high potassium in them and make a purposeful effort to eat them, my counts get super close to a good number.

Today I had the v8, half a baked potato, a few apricots and a lot of veggies.

At some point, I might ask one of my doctors to test my blood count of potassium since it seems I've been eating so little of this.

But I do hope making an effort to eat foods high in potassium will correct any potential problems.

I just automatically take 2-4 99mg caps potassium complex thru the day. I know I'm lower.