Yes, and I understand the concern. But 800mg of potassium really isn't that much all at once. Many foods, like bananas and most fish, have a lot of potassium, some with a lot more than 800mg. Just my 2 cents.

Nope not for everone. I do wonder if a banana and not coated pill take as long to get digested.

I am so glad to see this thread develop, I have been wondering about potassium. I developed some sort of chest pains. Went to see the doc, had a EKG, everything checked out okay there. She decided it may be acid reflux, and prescribed Maalox or Mylanta. The pains went away and haven't returned, but I got a terrible bout of diarrhea for two days. Stopped taking the antacid and it cleared up, but then I went through a bout of severe weakness (what I consider severe, I don't like the feeling of weakness). I wondered if it had something to do with potassium. I craved peanut butter something fierce to the point of I had to cheat. Then I read on this board somewhere a craving of peanut butter can be a sign of low potassium. I'm all better now and back on track. I have a follow up appt. with the doc and was planning on talking to her.

It's crazy that almost everyone on this diet crave peanut butter this way. I've never been a PB eater, but now I want it ALL THE TIME. so weird..

I'm glad to hear others say they crave pb. I too have never been a peanut butter eater but I so want it now. I did get the wf peanut butter and have been adding to my puddings with extra water for a "shake". I never thought about the potassium thing.

When I got my original IP starter pack, they had included vitamins from Our Health Coop. The dealer was using those instead of IP's brand, but they were charging IP prices. The only IP supplement in the pack was the calcium/potassium. Anyway, I continued to buy the Our Health Coop brand, but I got them directly from their online site at a significant savings. Go to www.ourhealthcoop.com. Buy the fish oil, 1000 mg, $7.95 for 180; multi-vites, iron-free formula, $3.99 for 60; and liquid calcium (with magnesium, bitamin D3, and boron), $6.47 for 100. I paid under $10 for shipping and handling on 7 bottles of vitamins. I bought a couple of bottles of the IP calcium/potassium and used them until I reached goal. Now I just buy potassium tablets from my local grocery. I don't worry about getting ones with calcium in them as I take thyroid medication in the a.m. and I'm getting plenty of calcium in my diet in maintenance anyway.

Also check out this thread-Alternative Vitamins.

seems to be interest again in alternative sources of vitamins so I am bumping this one!

I found potassium at costco in a 600mg dosage. It was just under $12 for 100 of them. Had to ask the pharmacist for them. I just said I am on a low-carb/high-protein diet and they have me on 800mg a day so he looked and said that was the highest they had. Next time I will ask if they have it in 400mg and then I could just take two a day. I still have 3 months worth from IP which I figure will last me until I'm done, but I was looking for my Mom who is doing IP with alternative products. They also had calcium there, 600mg, $10 for 200! Less than IP but the recommended intake of calcium is only 1000mg a day so I think she will be ok. She got her one a day multivitamins there as well, $16 for 365! I love costco. With their supplements, RTD premier nutrition shakes, and they also have a 2 kg protein powder in vanilla and chocolate for $30, each one is roughly 64 servings, and has 25 grams protein! And I think 2 carbs.

Wow. I didn't know we could take other vitamins other than the IP ones. I was told by my coach she strongly suggest I take the IP ones since they are formulated to work with the diet. I had been taking a vitamin pack from a company called Melaleuca that is awesome. I guess I'll finish my IP vitamins and start using my own then.

What is this about us getting enough potassium? Is our diet very deficient of that?

Thank you all. This is interesting and educational

So just checking... the conclusion on the potassium supplement is that it isn't harmful at that level but not quite necessary?? I was told once a day was necessary.

I've been doing some research on supplements and thought this would be the best place to share it.

The IP supplements I have indicate the amount of elemental calcium, elemental magnesium and elemental zinc. The information is on at least one of the bottles that contain the mineral.

Here's what I found out about potassium:
The RDA (or RD Intake) is 4700 mg.
Different forms of potassium have different amounts of potassium (K) in them:[LIST][*]potassium bicarbonate is about 39% potassium, 10 milliEquivalents (10 mEq)[*]potassium citrate is 38% potassium, 9.8 milliEquivalents (10 mEq)[*]potassium gluconate is 17% potassium, 4.3 milliEquivalents (10 mEq)[LIST]
That helped me compare different forms of potassium to see how much I would get for the money.

Potassium supplements are available in Canada & the U.S. in amounts greater than 99 mg (elemental K) only with a prescription, due to the risk of kidney failure in those who are susceptible. That's probably one of the reasons that IP requires the regulatory (FDA, Health Canada) approvals.

Most of the best food sources of potassium -- fruits, legumes, nuts, potatoes -- are "off the list" during Phases 1 and 2.

Supplement labelling in the US seems to be different from Canadian labelling. US packages seem to list the elemental minerals (or like IP, sometimes both elemental and the # mg of the mineral salt, e.g. potassium citrate). Canadian packaging lists only the # mg of the mineral salt, so you have to be into the research and algebra to figure it out.

I think I've come up with some combinations that come close to IPs formulations. I'll be double checking the calculations and posting early in the week.

Ok, I've spent the last ??? hours researching and comparing supplements and combinations to come up with something that's comparable to IP's Multi-Vita + Cal Mag + Pot Cal (K Cal).

Apologies in advance for the iherb links. I love this company. I've been buying from them for 5 months-- they have great prices, lots of stock, high turnover so the products are fresh, they publish the expiry dates on product, and they ship to Canada! If you do order, use the code in my signature to get $5.00 off your first order!

The links below take you to iherb.com pages (an online vitamin/supplement/herb retailer I'm using) except for the Google spreadsheet link which takes you to ... ... a spreadsheet in Google Docs.

One combination is
- Solgar Vitamins Only (SOL-02812, $18.56 for 90 caps, 1/day)
- Bluebonnet Nutrition Minerals + Boron, Iron Free (BLB-00218, $19.86 for 180 caps, 4/day)
- Natural Factors Potassium Citrate 99 mg. (NFS-01660, $4.49 for 90 tablets, 3/day)

I'd take them as follows:
- Breakfast: Solgar + 2 Bluebonnet mineral capsules
- Lunch: 2 Natural factors potassium
- Dinner: 2 bluebonnet mineral capsules
- Snack: 1 Natural factors potassium

A 90-day supply of this combo costs $71.75 (1 Solgar + 2 Bluebonnet + 3 Natural Factors). The minerals are all in very absorbably forms, citrates and chelates, the same as IP. This gets you everything IP supps offer except the Vanadium, and is short by about 85 mg on Vitamin B5 & B12. If you wanted to address the Vanadium and B5 & B12, spend $17.84 more and add

• Source Naturals Vanadium (1 mg) + Chromium (200 mcg) (SNS-01835, 1 tablet per week or 1/2 tablet twice per week, $5.46 bottle would be 2 year supply)
• Source Naturals Pantothenic Acid (SNS-00510, 1 capsule per day, $6.86 bottle is 8 month supply)
• Solgar B12 (SOL-03180, 1 tablets per day, $5.52 for 100 day supply)

I'd add these to the breakfast or dinner supplements.
Here's a spreadsheet I pulled together to summarize and compare:
IP and other supplements comparisons

I will cross post this to the Alternatives thread and my 3FC Diet Blog.

Holly thank you very much for doing all of that research on the vitamins.



I have started a google doc for all of the info I find on this site - so I don't have to go back and look for it later.