Americans are eating way too much sugar, way too much salt and way too much saturated fat. All in all we eat too much period! Even with all this over eating Americans still fall short when it comes to the recommended intakes of a handful of nutrients. Several key players – potassium, magnesium, and vitamin D – may make or break your risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and brittle bones. For some nutrients, only foods – not pills – can make up the shortfall. For others only a pill will do.

Potassium has been proven to lower blood pressure, protects blood vessels from oxidative damage, limits thickening of the blood vessel walls and may help prevent kidney stones. Potassium citrate, found in fruits and vegetables, helps lower blood pressure more than the potassium chloride that is in some salt substitutes, supplements and potassium-fortified foods. It is best to get your potassium from food and not from high-dose potassium supplements. These supplements usually contain far more than what you need and can be hazardous. If you have kidney disease and don’t know it, you could end up with too much potassium in your blood, and that’s life threatening. The recommended daily intake for potassium is 4,700 mg a day. If you’re like 90 percent of men and 99 percent of women you’re not getting what you need to reap the benefits. Try incorporating these good sources of potassium in your diet daily: bananas, orange juice, spinach, cantaloupe, potatoes and sweet potatoes with the skin, yogurt, lima beans, cauliflower and strawberries.

Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium. It can lower your risk of colon, breast, ovarian and prostate cancer, heart attacks, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some autoimmune diseases. Shoot for 800-1000 IU/day if you’re 60 or older and 400-8—IU /day if you are younger. Vitamin D is also known as the sunshine vitamin. UV rays in sunlight trigger Vitamin D synthesis in our skin. As little as 10-15 minutes two to three days a week is all it takes. Vitamin D is not found naturally in many foods. We rely mostly on foods that are fortified such as milk, but a cup of milk only offers 90 IU of Vitamin D per cup. With this said it is hard getting all you need from food alone, so taking a Vitamin D supplement is something to consider. Choose a supplement that is Vitamin D3, and never take more than what is recommended unless otherwise instructed by your medical doctor.

Magnesium is beneficial for preventing type 2 diabetes. The Nurse’s Health Study tracked 85,000 women for 18 years and those who consumed a magnesium rich diet had a 27 percent lower risk of diabetes than those who didn’t. Magnesium needs can be meet through a varied diet. It is found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and beans. Current recommendations: women 320 mg; men 420mg.

If you have a nutrition question you’d like answered in this column send it to oconeenutrition@yahoo.com with “Question for the Breeze” as the subject title.

Lisa Eisele, RD, CSO, LD, can be reached at (706) 473-5801.