Vegetables and everything else
Avocado on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 2 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), flesh, raw, for around 160 calories. Half an avocado, about 70 g (2.5 oz), gives roughly 1 g of protein for 112 calories.
How avocado sits on a GLP-1
Avocado is a fat, not a protein: about 2 g per 100 g (3.5 oz) and 160 calories, so half an avocado is 1 g of protein and about 110 calories. It is on this list because it is the thing that makes dry protein go down. A slice of avocado with chicken breast, tuna, eggs or prawns adds the moisture and richness that a small, dry serve of protein lacks, and on a GLP-1 that is often what turns a plate from abandoned to finished. Too much of it and the fat sits; a quarter to a half is the range.
When your appetite is small
Use a quarter of an avocado, about 35 g (1.2 oz), as the sauce on a protein rather than half of one on toast. Mashed with lemon and salt under a tin of tuna, or sliced beside two eggs, it makes the protein easy and the plate small. Avocado on toast with nothing else is a filling breakfast of about 5 g of protein, which is the wrong way round.
Three ways to prepare it
Mashed with lemon as the base for tinned tuna
A quarter of an avocado mashed with lemon and salt, a tin of tuna on top. About 26 g in a small bowl, cold and soft.
Sliced beside eggs instead of toast
Two eggs and a quarter of an avocado. About 14 g, less bulk than bread, and the avocado does what the butter used to.
Blended into a prawn and avocado bowl
Chopped cooked prawns with avocado, lime and coriander. About 24 g and it eats like a dip.
What to eat it with
Tuna, eggs, prawns, chicken, smoked salmon, cottage cheese, lime, chilli. Avocado is the fat that carries the protein; give it a real protein every time.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avocado | about 2 g | 160 kcal | this page |
| Eggs | about 13 g | 150 kcal | See the page |
| Smoked salmon | about 22 g | 180 kcal | See the page |
| Prawns | about 24 g | 99 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, flesh, raw, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Avocado in all three countries, Hass being the main variety everywhere. Avo and smashed avo in Australia, guacamole in the US, and in the UK avocados are sold ripe and ready or rock hard with no middle ground. Weight varies from about 150 to 250 g (5.3 to 8.8 oz) whole.
Questions people ask
Is avocado a good source of protein?
No. Half an avocado is about 1 g of protein and 110 calories of mostly fat. Its value on a small appetite is that a quarter of one makes tuna, eggs or chicken moist enough to finish, which is worth more than its own grams.
Your number comes first
Knowing what is in a food only helps once you know how much you are aiming for. The target is 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your goal weight, not your current weight, which for most people is 90 to 140 g a day.
Work out your protein targetMore on eating well when your appetite is small: high protein foods for a small appetite, how much protein on a GLP-1, and every food we have written up. The whole system in five documents is the Keep Muscle Kit, A$47 / US$29 / £23.
EverStrong provides nutrition and strength coaching and education. It is not medical advice and does not replace your prescribing doctor.