Vegetables and everything else
Sweet potato on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 2 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), baked, with skin, for around 90 calories. Half a large sweet potato, about 150 g (5.3 oz), gives roughly 3 g of protein for 135 calories.
How sweet potato sits on a GLP-1
Sweet potato is about 2 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), the same as ordinary potato, with more vitamin A and a sweetness that matters on a GLP-1: when savoury food has gone flat or faintly metallic, something sweet and soft is often what gets eaten. Baked until it collapses it takes no chewing at all. It is still a starch, and a whole large one is a plate of carbohydrate that leaves no room, so it stays at half.
When your appetite is small
Bake two or three at the start of the week and keep them in the fridge. Half of one, about 150 g (5.3 oz), reheated and split, with a tub of cottage cheese or a spoon of Greek yoghurt and some chilli on top is about 18 g and eats like comfort food. Mashed with cottage cheese blended through, it is a soft, sweet 15 g bowl for a bad evening.
Three ways to prepare it
Baked whole, split, with cottage cheese and chilli
An hour at 200C, about 390F, until it collapses, then split and topped. The cottage cheese is the protein; the sweet potato is the reason you want it.
Mashed with cottage cheese or ricotta blended through
Sweet potato flesh blended with cottage cheese, salt and a little butter. Smooth, sweet, soft and about 15 g a bowl.
Cubed and roasted under a chicken thigh
Small cubes roasted on the same tray as chicken thighs. The chicken juices season the sweet potato and the plate is mostly chicken.
What to eat it with
Cottage cheese, Greek yoghurt, feta, chicken, black beans, chilli, lime. It is sweet, so it wants salt and a sharp dairy, and the dairy is where the protein comes from.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet potato | about 2 g | 90 kcal | this page |
| Potato | about 2 g | 90 kcal | See the page |
| Brown rice | about 2.6 g | 120 kcal | See the page |
| Cottage cheese | about 11 g | 100 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, baked, with skin, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Sweet potato in Australia and the UK, sweet potato or yam in the US, where the orange kind is often labelled yam even though true yams are a different vegetable. Kumara in New Zealand. Australia sells gold, red and purple varieties with similar protein.
Questions people ask
Is sweet potato healthier than potato?
They are close: about 2 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz) and around 90 calories in both, with sweet potato bringing more vitamin A. On a small appetite the choice is about which one you will eat, and half of either under a real protein is the plan.
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.