I heard about these protein bars by Quest Nutrition from Blogilates.com and finally decided to try them out. I bought a box of the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavor for $24.99 from Vitacost.com.
My primary goal was to find a protein bar that will also serve as a meal replacement bar. Basically, I think I don’t get enough protein but I’m also trying to lose weight, so I’d like to eat a protein bar for breakfast or lunch. In the past I had been eating CLIF Builder’s bars, so I’ll compare the Quest Bars to those.
These bars claim to be all natural (i.e., clean) and low carb. The Cooke Dough bars contain 190 calories each and 70 of those from fat, with 8g total, 3g saturated. There are 21g carbs, with 17g listed as dietary fiber. Note that there’s some controversy over the fiber source because its made in a factory rather than being plant-derived, and because the body treats it like sugar. Check out this article from Me and My Diabetes for more information about that issue. Quest Nutrition is very up front about the ingredients in their bars – here’s the ingredient list from their website. The ingredient list is short, but the proteins are from whey/milk proteins so these bars may not work for people who are lactose intolerant.
The best part is the taste – the bars I have tried are really yummy! Honestly, the Cookie Dough flavor could be your dessert, they’re so good! I ate one for lunch yesterday, and I didn’t get hungry again for about 3-4 hours. These could definitely serve as a meal replacement bar for breakfast or lunch, as long as the sweetness isn’t overwhelming for you.
Depending on where you buy them, they’re about $2 per bar. You can find them on Vitacost.com, or at GNC stores or site.
I also LOVED the box! How motivational is this?
So how do these compare to my old standby, Builder’s Bars? In comparing them to the Cookies ‘N Cream flavor from CLIF, they are smaller in size (only 60g vs. 68 g in CLIF) and lower in calories (190 in the Quest vs. 270 in CLIF) but have the same number of calories in fat. Total fat content is the same in both bars, but the Quest bars only have 3g saturated fat whereas the CLIF bars have 5g. Quest bars claim 21g of protein vs. 20g in the Builder’s bar. Finally, the total carbs are significantly less in the Quest bars, at only 21g, versus 30g in the CLIF bar.
My final verdict is that I’ll definitely buy them again. They taste great and I am OK with the ingredients. If you are comfortable with the ingredients, I’d recommend these to you, too. To meet my current health goals, I would choose these over the Builder’s bars because they have less calories, fat, etc., but they also kept me satisfied for the amount of time I needed.
Have you tried Quest Nutrition Protein bars? What do you think of them?
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