Dairy and eggs
Cream cheese on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 6 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), full fat, block or tub, for around 340 calories. Two tablespoons, about 30 g (1.1 oz), give roughly 2 g of protein for 102 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from cream cheese alone you would need about 500 g (17.6 oz). On a small appetite that is often more than one sitting allows, which is why we pair it rather than chase the whole target from one food.
How cream cheese sits on a GLP-1
Cream cheese is a fat that tastes like a cheese: about 6 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz) and 340 calories, so two tablespoons is 2 g of protein and 100 calories. It is smooth, cool and faintly tangy, and on a GLP-1 its job is to make something else go down. A thin layer under smoked salmon, or a spoon melted into scrambled eggs, adds the richness that a small serve of protein needs. A thick layer on a bagel is the version that fills you up on almost nothing.
When your appetite is small
Spread it thin and put protein on it, or trade it for something stronger. Light cream cheese carries about 8 g per 100 g with half the fat, and cream cheese blended half and half with cottage cheese makes a smooth spread at about 9 g per 100 g that nobody can tell from the original. Under three slices of smoked salmon on one slice of toast, that spread is a 16 g plate.
Three ways to prepare it
Blended half and half with cottage cheese
A stick blender, equal parts, a pinch of salt. Smooth, spreadable, and about 9 g per 100 g (3.5 oz) instead of 6.
A spoon melted into scrambled eggs
A tablespoon stirred into two eggs as they set. The eggs stay soft and glossy and the plate is about 15 g.
Thin, under smoked salmon on one slice of toast
A thin layer, three slices of salmon, capers and lemon. About 14 g, cold, and one of the plates people can still face on a bad day.
What to eat it with
Smoked salmon, eggs, chives, capers, cucumber, a little jam on a cracker. Cream cheese is a spread that carries protein; the salmon or the eggs are the protein.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cream cheese | about 6 g | 340 kcal | this page |
| Cottage cheese | about 11 g | 100 kcal | See the page |
| Ricotta | about 10 g | 160 kcal | See the page |
| Smoked salmon | about 22 g | 180 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, full fat, block or tub, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Cream cheese in all three countries, Philadelphia being the brand everywhere. The UK also calls it soft cheese, the US sells Neufchatel as a lower fat version, and light and extra light tubs in Australia and the UK carry more protein and less fat than the full fat block.
Questions people ask
Is cream cheese high in protein?
No: about 6 g per 100 g (3.5 oz), so two tablespoons give 2 g. It is a rich spread that makes smoked salmon or eggs easier to eat. Light cream cheese, or cream cheese blended with cottage cheese, gives more protein for the same spoonful.
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.