Nuts, seeds and grains
Wholemeal bread on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 9 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), sliced loaf, for around 250 calories. Two slices, about 70 g (2.5 oz), give roughly 6 g of protein for 175 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from wholemeal bread alone you would need about 333 g (11.7 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 wholemeal bread sits on a GLP-1
Wholemeal bread is about 9 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), which makes two slices about 6 g, and on a GLP-1 bread is the food most likely to fill you up before you get to the protein. It swells, it sits, and a sandwich with two slices is often abandoned with the filling still inside it. Toast is easier than fresh bread for most of the people we coach, because it is drier and smaller, and one slice is usually enough.
When your appetite is small
Go open faced. One slice of wholemeal toast, about 35 g (1.2 oz), with double the filling you would normally use: two eggs, or a tin of tuna with mayonnaise, or a thick layer of cottage cheese under smoked salmon. The bread becomes the plate, at 3 g, and the filling does the work at 20 to 25 g.
Three ways to prepare it
One slice, toasted, with a double filling
Toast one slice, load it, eat it with a knife and fork. A whole tin of tuna on one slice is about 27 g and half the bread of a sandwich.
Cut into soldiers for a soft boiled egg
Two eggs and one slice cut into fingers. Small, warm and familiar, about 16 g, and the bread is there for the yolk rather than for its own sake.
As a thin toastie with cheese and ham
One slice folded around ham and cheese and pressed in a pan. Half the bread of a normal toastie, and about 15 g of protein.
What to eat it with
Eggs, tuna, cottage cheese, cheese, ham, peanut butter. Bread is a carrier, and the rule on a small appetite is one slice and twice the filling.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wholemeal bread | about 9 g | 250 kcal | this page |
| Sprouted grain bread | about 12 g | 240 kcal | See the page |
| Oats | about 13 g | 375 kcal | See the page |
| Eggs | about 13 g | 150 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, sliced loaf, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Wholemeal bread in Australia and the UK, whole wheat bread in the US. Wholegrain or multigrain loaves have seeds and whole kernels added and carry slightly more protein; high protein loaves and rolls, sold in all three countries, roughly double the protein per slice by adding soy, wheat protein or seeds.
Questions people ask
Is wholemeal bread a good source of protein?
No. A slice is about 3 g and mostly starch. Two slices of bread fill a small stomach faster than the filling does, so we suggest one slice, open, with twice the protein on top of it.
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.