Quest Hero Protein Bars Keto Friendly?
At the time of writing this post I’ve been on the ketogenic diet for over five years and logged over 250 blood ketone tests in an effort to estimate the effects of food and ingredients on my ketosis, including those in Quest Hero bars.
I think keto dieters naturally gravitate towards protein bars like Quest Hero bars looking for a convenient sweet treat that won’t kick them out of ketosis, but are protein bars the right place to look? In this post, I’ll evaluate Quest Hero protein bars, give them keto friendly grades, and see how they stack up to other low carb treats!
Savage Fuel Keto Friendly Grades:
A: Completely compatible, positive or no impact on ketosis.
B: Highly compatible, but don't go too crazy.
C: Moderately compatible, be mindful and limit intelligently.
D: Barely compatible, detrimental to ketosis and not recommended.
F: Not compatible, overdo it just a little and kiss your ketosis goodbye.
Keto Friendly Grading Factors:
Net Carbs per Serving: How many carbs are in this thing?
Net Carbs per 100 calories: Since serving sizes often vary significantly, a net carb per 100 calorie ratio is a more consistent measure of keto-friendliness than net carbs per serving. Lower ratios are also an indicator of higher fat content because fat has more calories per gram than protein and carbohydrates.
Sugar: Sugars have a higher glycemic index and larger negative impact on ketosis than other carbohydrates.
Hidden Carbs: Hidden carbohydrates are based on the caloric values and glycemic indexes of ingredients sometimes classified as fibers or sugar alcohols.
Easy to Overeat: Some foods are easy to over-eat and require extra willpower to limit overeating which is an important factor to consider.
Nutritional Density: Foods that are relatively high in net carbs per 100 calories but are high in nutrition per calorie can still be worth eating like broccoli and cauliflower.
RULE of thumb for net carbs per 100 calorie ratio:
0-1 great, 1-2 ok, 2-3 caution, 3+ red alert
Quest Hero Bars Keto Friendly Grades:
Overall factors: Each of these bars has 10-11g of fiber primarily from soluble corn fiber. I'm going to go with Keto Connects estimate and count 10% of soluble corn fiber grams as net carbs, adding 1g of hidden net carbs per bar (included below in net carb counts and factored into grades). Also Quest Hero bars are low nutritional density and easy to overeat.
Chocolate Caramel Pecan: D
5g Net carbs per 200 calorie 60g bar
2.5g Net carbs per 100 calories (Orange)
1g Sugar
Blueberry Cobbler: D-
5g Net carbs per 170 calorie 60g bar
2.9g Net carbs per 100 calories (Orange)
1g Sugar
Vanilla Caramel: D-
5g Net carbs per 180 calorie 60g bar
2.8g Net carbs per 100 calories (Orange)
1g Sugar
Quest Hero Bars Keto Friendly Conclusion:
In terms of keto friendliness, Quest Hero bars are very similar to their Quest bar brothers. Unfortunately this means that neither of them are very keto friendly, but thankfully there are much tastier and significantly more keto-friendly sweet treats out there. If you're like me you don't want protein bars for the protein, you want them for a quick treat that won't kick you out of ketosis. So let's compare Quest Hero bars to some real keto-friendly sweet treats:
Quest Hero Bars vs ChocoPerfection and Keto Bars
As you can see, when comparing Quest Hero protein bars to the best keto-friendly treats out there by net carbs per 100 calories, which is the most consistent indicator of keto friendliness, there is no contest. If you’re looking for a meal-replacement or snack bar, I’d recommend Keto Bars. If you’re looking for an ultra-low carb sweet treat, I recommend ChocoPerfection chocolate.
Also check out our Keto Shop for more expert selected keto friendly products or my first YouTube video “5 Tips to Get Back Into Ketosis Fast” below!