how many bananas are too much?

[Hero]

i bought 8 lbs of bananas today for $3.00 at italian market in philly.

 

ive already eaten a couple lbs worth, and id like to eat all 8 lbs today. but i heard that you can overdose on bananas from having too much potassium.

so where do i draw the line?

[pelicanAndrew]

I was about to say there's no such thing as too many bananas. I think i've eaten about 6 big ones in a setting and i was fine. Not sure of the exact #s though.

 

8 lbs might be pushing it.

[Zack]

I'm sure I eat 3-5 pounds a day, I'm not dead yet. I'm on a 85 or so percent fruit diet, Bananas are a good source of calories so I eat a bunch of them. I've been maintaining my weight just fine.

[Odidnetne]

I think it also has to do with how active you are, because your body uses a lot of potassium for things like smooth muscle contractions, and from reading your posts, you normally are a fairly active person. If you're enjoying them and not forcing it, I think you'll be fine.

[seand]

potassium is water-soluable. any excess simply gets urinated out. >20 bananas a day every day for 6 months only did good things for me.

 

also we know bananas for potassium but truth is its not even in the top 10 list for fruits. so many things have more! and if you're taking a concentrated multivitamin you're likely getting more from that.

[xdarthveganx]

the whole idea of getting your nutrients from whole food based sources is so that your body can dispose of any nutrients it dosent use. youll be fine.

[Guest]

People that say you can overdose are crazy. Its like overdosing on celery. You'd have to eat an amount that cannot fit in the human body. When people are accidentally overdosed in hospitals the concentration is what maybe the best of us could eat in a month.

[nobbi]

I eat lots of bananas. 10 big ones are normal for me during one day. I never feel sick or constipated and I don't believe that you can eat too many bananas. My stool is always very smoth and I only spend some seconds in the toilet while most people I know need much more time.

[cubby2112]

I read once that the only way you can O.D. on potassium is by receiving a massive dose all at once in supplemental form. It can cause you to have a heart attack or something similar. The amount needed is impossible to fit in your belly from whole foods.

[Guest]

I've actually seen someone given an overdose of potassium and its not pretty. Your whole body basically becomes one big cramped muscle. I was in a hospital observing an emergency procedure on a man who's heart just stopped. He was misdiagnosed and they gave him potassium as a boost..that obviously wasn't what he needed and it nearly killed him.

[LizWorld]

My muay thai trainers kids mother died of a potassium OD last week at the hospital. Dunno how, all I know is that she had been really depressed for a long time, but it seems like the med chew screwed up. I dunno, I used to be in medschool so hearing about that was a tad...unbelievable.

 

Im pretty sure she didn't go bananas on bananas though hee hee

[princessbee]

if you're taking a concentrated multivitamin, you're probably just pissing it out. far far better to get it from the whole food source - no such thing as overdosing on bananas... listen to your body, stop when you want to, when you feel satiated! I know some people who will have up to 30 bananas in one go, blended with water, as a recovery drink after a big bike ride/run. if you're really active, your body will thank you for it. a couple of people I know have done mono banana weeks or ten days, where they only do bananas, eating several pounds a day. obviously you don't want to do that forever but they certainly never suffered any adverse effects, only positive ones.

[Zack]

Listening to your body is the best advice in this thread.

[Cthulhu]

if you're taking a concentrated multivitamin, you're probably just pissing it out. far far better to get it from the whole food source - no such thing as overdosing on bananas... listen to your body, stop when you want to, when you feel satiated! I know some people who will have up to 30 bananas in one go, blended with water, as a recovery drink after a big bike ride/run. if you're really active, your body will thank you for it. a couple of people I know have done mono banana weeks or ten days, where they only do bananas, eating several pounds a day. obviously you don't want to do that forever but they certainly never suffered any adverse effects, only positive ones.

 

That is so true. I really don't believe in using vitamin supplements unless they're whole food supplements because vitamins work together with other nutrients in the body. This is why isolated forms of certain vitamins aren't as effective as whole foods. The excess will usually be urinated out of the body. You can, however, overdose on artificial vitamin supplements because they aren't exactly like natural vitamins and they are also isolated forms of what you'd get in whole foods. That is where the term "mirror vitamins" come from.