Q: How can I help my husband keep his potassium levels down?

My husband needs to keep his potassium level down. Along with that issue is a need to eat low cholesterol and sodium. He just got to come off Coumadin this week which helps open up choices, but now with an elevated potassium level it's thrown another monkey wrench into eating. I didn't see any diets on your site which address potassium ... any recommendations?

A: Dr. Gourmet Says...

While there are no specific diets on the Dr. Gourmet web site at this time every recipe does have the amount of potassium listed in the Nutrition Facts section.

All of the recipes are based on a healthy Mediterranean style Heart Healthy diet. For now, you can simply check to see if a particular recipe is lower in potassium or not.

In addition, here are two files from the USDA that might be useful to you. They contain information about the potassium content of ingredients sorted alphabetically as well as by total potassium.

Thanks for writing,

Dr. Gourmet