If you’re building muscle, potassium becomes quite important. The banana provides some potassium, and prunes provide quite a bit. A nice baked potato has a ton of potassium. Just a thought.

Leisureguy – interesting factoid about potassium! I actually had a hard time finding anything that explained what potassium actually does. The http://www.hkpp.org/general/potassium_health.html“ rel=”nofollow”>Periodic Paralysis News Desk (whatever that means) does a decent job in layman’s terms:

Along with sodium, it regulates the water balance and the acid-base balance in the blood and tissues. Potassium enters the cell more readily than does sodium and instigates the brief sodium-potassium exchange across the cell membranes. In the nerve cells, this sodium-potassium flux generates the electrical potential that aids the conduction of nerve impulses. When potassium leaves the cell, it changes the membrane potential and allows the nerve impulse to progress. This electrical potential gradient, created by the “sodium-potassium pump,” helps generate muscle contractions and regulates the heartbeat. Another of the pump’s most important functions is preventing the swelling of cells. If sodium is not pumped out, water accumulates within the cell causing it to swell and ultimately burst.

Potassium is very important in cellular biochemical reactions and energy metabolism; it participates in the synthesis of protein from amino acids in the cell. Potassium also functions in carbohydrate metabolism; it is active in glycogen and glucose metabolism, converting glucose to glycogen that can be stored in the liver for future energy. Potassium is important for normal growth and for building muscle.