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Flavoured tuna cups on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 20 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), flavoured pot, as sold, for around 150 calories. One pot, about 95 g (3.4 oz), gives roughly 19 g of protein for 142 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from flavoured tuna cups alone you would need about 150 g (5.3 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 flavoured tuna cups sits on a GLP-1
The small flavoured tuna pots, lemon and pepper, chilli, tomato and onion, are tinned tuna in a sauce or oil with a peel back lid and no draining. A 95 g (3.4 oz) pot is about 19 g of protein, a little less than plain tuna in spring water because some of the weight is sauce. On a GLP-1 they answer two problems at once: they need no kitchen, and the flavour hides the fishiness that puts people off plain tuna in the first weeks on the medication.
When your appetite is small
Keep two in the work bag and two in the car; they need no fridge until they are opened. One pot with a fork is a 19 g stop in five minutes at a desk. Tipped onto a small tub of cottage cheese, or into a lettuce cup, it becomes a 30 g lunch with no cooking and no washing up beyond the fork.
Three ways to prepare it
Straight from the pot with a fork
The whole method. About 19 g, wherever you are, in five minutes.
Tipped over a cottage cheese cup
Tuna and cottage cheese together in the tub. About 35 g, cold, and eaten with a spoon.
In a lettuce leaf or on two crackers
A pot spooned into a large lettuce leaf with a little mayonnaise, or onto two crackers. A small, wet, easy 19 g.
What to eat it with
Cottage cheese, crackers, lettuce, cucumber, avocado, a squeeze of lemon. The pot brings the flavour, so the pairing is about texture and about lifting the protein with dairy.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flavoured tuna cups | about 20 g | 150 kcal | this page |
| Tinned tuna | about 25 g | 116 kcal | See the page |
| Tinned chicken | about 22 g | 140 kcal | See the page |
| Cottage cheese cups | about 11 g | 95 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, flavoured pot, as sold, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Tuna pots, tuna cups or flavoured tuna in Australia, where John West Tuna Tempters, Sirena and Safcol dominate; John West and supermarket brands in the UK; StarKist Tuna Creations and Bumble Bee pouches in the US. Protein per pot ranges from about 15 to 22 g depending on size and sauce; the figures here are representative.
Questions people ask
How much protein is in a small flavoured tuna pot?
About 15 to 22 g depending on the brand and the sauce, with our representative 95 g (3.4 oz) pot at 19 g. Plain tuna in spring water is a little higher for the same weight; the flavoured pots win on the days when plain tuna is unappealing.
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.