Your health

Better than a banana

Most of us get too much sodium and too little potassium in our diets. Reversing this imbalance could prevent or control high blood pressure and lead to fewer heart attacks and strokes, Harvard Heart Letter reports.

The recommended amount of potassium is 4,700 mg a day, and most Americans get barely half that. Bananas are probably best known for being potassium rich; you'll get about 425 mg in a medium-sized banana.

But other foods are better. A medium-sized baked potato with the skin on packs nearly 1,000 mg, and halibut, raisins, acorn squash, watermelon and milk are other good sources.

If you have heart failure or are taking a diuretic, be sure to talk with your doctor before adding potassium to your diet, the Harvard experts recommend.

Pet threats

Your kids want a puppy for the holidays, but you are leaning toward something more low-maintenance. The American Academy of Pediatrics warns parents about the health risks of some "alternative" pets, U.S. News & World Reports writes.

• Iguanas, lizards and snakes carry salmonella. So do hamsters, which also have sparked outbreaks of lymphocytic choriomeningitis, a virus that causes brain inflammation.

• Hedgehogs are really cute and increasingly popular, but they can spread salmonella; yersinia pseudotuberculosis, which causes appendicitis-like pain; and rabies.

• Baby chickens are, you guessed it, salmonella carriers. And a full-grown chicken might still be with you long after those kids of yours are away at college. (A chicken can live for 20 years).

Of course, traditional pets don't get off scot-free when it comes to health risks. Aquarium fish can spread mycobacterial infections, and dogs and cats can give you all sorts of things, including intestinal parasites, toxoplasmosis, tick-borne infections, cat-scratch fever and bites.

Keeping pets up to date on shots reduces the risk. And teach your kids to wash their hands after playing with that new puppy.

1 pbj on ww

Keeping a food diary is helpful when you're dieting. Indeed, studies show that dieters who record what they eat are more likely to lose weight and keep it off.

But will kids do it? There's a good chance they will - as long as they can text the information.

A study at the University of North Carolina found that kids age 5 to 13 are almost twice as likely to text daily records of their food intake, exercise and screen time as youngsters using "old-fashioned" diaries.

"What we're looking for is a fun way for people, particularly children," to keep these diaries, said study author Jennifer Shapiro. "If people enjoy doing it, they're more likely to do it and more likely to lose weight."

The research was published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.