Vegetables and everything else
Dark chocolate on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 8 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), 70 to 85% cocoa, for around 600 calories. A couple of squares, about 20 g (0.7 oz), gives roughly 2 g of protein for 120 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from dark chocolate alone you would need about 375 g (13.2 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 dark chocolate sits on a GLP-1
Dark chocolate is about 8 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz) and 600 calories, so two squares is 2 g of protein and 120 calories, and nobody should be eating chocolate for the protein. It is on this page because people ask, and because on a GLP-1 a square of dark chocolate does a real job: it melts in the mouth with no chewing, it ends a meal, and it satisfies the wish for something sweet with a very small amount. The fat and the caffeine can sit if the serve turns into half a block.
When your appetite is small
Two squares, about 20 g (0.7 oz), after a protein stop rather than instead of one. A square melted over a bowl of Greek yoghurt or a protein pudding is a dessert that is about 18 g of protein and feels indulgent. Buy 70 percent or higher, because the bitterness stops the second and third square in a way that milk chocolate never does.
Three ways to prepare it
Two squares after a protein stop
The full stop at the end of the meal. It signals that eating is finished, which helps some people who otherwise graze.
Melted over Greek yoghurt or a protein pot
A square chopped and melted in the microwave for twenty seconds, poured over a protein pot. About 18 g and it reads as dessert.
Grated into a warm milk or whey drink
A square grated into hot milk with a scoop of chocolate whey. A 35 g hot chocolate for a cold evening.
What to eat it with
Greek yoghurt, a protein pudding, milk, whey, almonds, strawberries. Chocolate is the reward; put it with the protein and the protein gets eaten.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark chocolate | about 8 g | 600 kcal | this page |
| Protein pudding | about 10 g | 75 kcal | See the page |
| Almonds | about 21 g | 580 kcal | See the page |
| Greek yoghurt | about 9 g | 95 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, 70 to 85% cocoa, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Dark chocolate in all three countries, with the cocoa percentage on the front. In the US it is also sold as bittersweet or semisweet, the latter usually lower in cocoa. Lindt is common in all three, Green and Black's in the UK, Whittaker's in Australia and New Zealand, Ghirardelli in the US.
Questions people ask
Does dark chocolate have protein?
A little: about 8 g per 100 g (3.5 oz), so two squares give 2 g. It is not a protein food. Its value on a small appetite is as a small sweet finish that ends a meal without much volume, ideally on top of a bowl of Greek yoghurt or a protein pudding.
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.