hey guys dr. Berg here in this video we're going to talk about potassium in relationship to your
cardiovascular system this little video is based on a really cool article that
I put down there to download if you have any cardiovascular problems you need to read this
article this is called the new guideline for potassium replacement in clinical practice
so it's a group of cardiologists who formed the National Council on potassium and they show the
importance of potassium for the cardiovascular system so I want to just kind of cover some of
the summaries in what potassium can do first of all if you have a potassium deficiency the
name of that disorder is called hypokalemia and you can remember by kale kale right hypokalemia
that's low potassium now if you have a potassium deficiency you might feel tired leg cramps muscle
weakness constipated tremor because potassium is intimately involved with muscle physiology
neurophysiology and cardiovascular physiology so you can also have atrial fibrillation which is a
rhythm problem of the heart high blood pressure in fact in most cases of high blood pressure there is
a potassium deficiency and what do they give you a diuretic what is diuretics do most of them deplete
potassium so it's like a never-ending cycle and then also if you're low on potassium you will
have a higher pulse rate potassium lowers your pulse rate okay so now the question is how could
you possibly get a potassium deficiency right well here are some of the causes one is maybe
too much sodium because when you increase sodium you naturally decrease potassium because they work
together but maybe it's not potassium maybe it's low manganese or magnesium sir magnesium so when
you magnesium is necessary to keep potassium in the right balance and that comes from the
vegetables all right insulin high insulin so let's say you have insulin resistance or you're diabetic
you know that you're not going to be able to absorb potassium that well and that's why you
there's always a diamond fluid choose in fact it takes potassium to heal the insulin dysfunction
you can almost correct insulin resistance and improve your blood Sugar's by taking potassium
fascinating and then of course too much sugar from the spike insulin will actually deplete potassium
too many refined carbs will do it that's why if you consume a lot of sugar all of a sudden your
pulse rate starts going higher also high cortisol that's the stress also in a camera a medication
called prednisone that can also deplete your potassium of course you have the diarrhea and
vomiting to some degree and then also a condition called alkalosis alkalosis is when your body is
just too alkaline and I know you've been taught that people need to just alkalize the body and
all this stuff well actually when you go through a lot of stress and you have high levels of cortisol
your adrenal body type your pH becomes more on the alkaline side your blood pH becomes excessively
alkaline and that's called PAL Colossus and one of the symptoms is a potassium deficiency interesting
right surgery in trauma when they do a major abdominal surgery you you're always watching
for potassium because that potassium goes down when you're under the SIRT under surgery and
you're already deficient potassium you can create some serious problems with the heart so that's why
they used to give you a potassium IV when you go through surgery and then trauma I remember
I had a bike accident went over the handlebars and I let in the cement and my potassium just
went down to zero and I think because when you when you go through stress it spikes adrenaline
adrenaline will decrease potassium too and then we have low hydrochloric acid when you don't
have enough acid your stomach you can't absorb potassium and then you have potassium problems
so it takes potassium to keep the stomach acids correct and also taking potassium will help you
digest and create stomach acids so so in other words low potassium can create low hydrochloric
acid but then adding acid back in can help you absorb potassium drinking too much water
or can deplete your potassium because water is not necessarily filled with electrolytes so you
take too much water you drink a gallon and you deplete the last bit of potassium you have and
then you end up why with all sorts of dehydration problems right diuretic that's another cause of
potassium deficiencies and that comes from when you're on high blood pressure they give you the
relic and then you become the task and deficient and then you state you continue to have high blood
pressure crazy so in this article that I want you to download these doctors are recommending
potassium to prevent and even correct a lot of the cardiovascular problems and potassium has the
potential to creep your arteries elastic decrease the risk of the stroke and potassium can protect
the kidney and even the heart so this whole idea that if you have a kidney problem you absolutely
must stay away from potassium is not necessarily true unless it's a severe case now how do you get
potassium beet tops okay but if you don't like the DB tops you just need to start to increase your
salad to seven to ten cups of salad why because it takes that much potassium and we need a lot like
close to forty seven hundred milligrams potassium is also good for rheumatoid arthritis inflammatory
conditions so you can see this mineral is vital so for more information about nutrition
and health and how to create a healthy body check out my website at dr. Berg com I'll see you there