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 I look a bit wired, as if a plate of donuts is coming my way.

One reader said he liked the nutrition articles, so I decided to post them every so often. Americans have more bad habits than most countries have food.

I get the A1C blood tests every so often, which show I no longer tolerate the level of sugar I used to brag about. The other news was that I was low in potassium, which means lower energy. The doctor put me on potassium pills, and I immediately had more energy.

I looked up causes for low potassium and learned that too much coffee and caffeinated drinks could cause that. At the time I was drinking more and more Diet Pepsi, in part for energy. I seldom drink coffee more than once a day, but Diet Pepsi was different. 

There are plenty of high potassium foods, says the Cleveland Clinic, such as - 

1. Potatoes and sweet potatoes
2. Beans, with white beans at the top
3. Prune, carrot, and orange juice
4. Seafood - like salmon, which has other benefits
5. Spinach and chard
6. Milk and yogurt
7. Tomatoes
8. Bananas
9. Fruits
10. Avocadoes

I noticed that Fritos, donuts, chocolates, ice cream, and apple pie were not on that list. I gave up on donuts a long time ago. We all know that Americans would rather eat fast foods than good foods.

When I was a young lad, a Pepsi was a rare treat saved for parties. Apart from donuts, danish, fudge, peanut brittle, and cookies - so were desserts. My mother was very fond of desserts, so they were fairly available, and we found her stash of candy at times, too.

Filling up on useless food is not a good idea, and water is much cheaper than any other drink. Sweets make us drink more fluid because the body is trying to dilute the sugar content. That can obviously lead to more colas for more sweets or more salty treats.

 At age 4 I was already promoting glazed donuts, because regular donuts do not have enough sugar!