Are Quest Protein Chips 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 Protein Chips.
Quest Protein Chips are another Quest product on the fence of keto friendliness which seems to be a pattern with them. They want to appeal to the low-carb crowd but they're not willing to go quite low carb enough to be easily recommended keto friendly products. In this post I'll evaluate Quest Protein Chips, give them a keto friendly grade, and see how they stack up to similar snacks!
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 Nutrition Protein Chips Keto Friendly Grades:
Overall factors: No hidden carbs (not enough soluble corn fiber to be worth counting), low nutritional density, and easy to overeat.
BBQ: C+
2g Net carbs per 130 calorie 32g bag
1.5g Net carbs per 100 calories (Yellow)
0g SugarCheddar & Sour Cream: C-
3g Net carbs per 130 calorie 32g bag
2.3 Net carbs per 100 calories (Orange)
0g Sugar
Ranch Tortilla Style: D+
4g Net carbs per 140 calorie 32g bag
2.9 Net carbs per 100 calories (Orange)
1g SugarNacho Cheese Tortilla Style: D+
4g Net carbs per 140 calorie 32g bag
2.9 Net carbs per 100 calories (Orange)
1g Sugar
Sour Cream & Onion: C-
3g Net carbs per 130 calorie 32g bag
2.3g Net carbs per 100 calories (Orange)
1g Sugar
Quest Nutrition Protein Chips Keto Friendly Conclusion:
Quest Nutrition protein chips are far from the worst low carb products for keto friendliness, but with similar savory snacks with zero carbs like Utz pork rinds, pork clouds, Moon Cheese, parm crisps, and Keto Carne beef jerky it's hard to justify the extra carbs.
Let's forget about zero carb snacks for a minute and compare Quest Protein Chips to another low-carb keto favorite, nuts.
Low-Carb Nuts vs Quest Protein Chips Net Carbs per 100 Calories
So in conclusion like most of Quest Nutrition products, they are relatively low in carbs but still higher than I'd like. Quest still seems to be fine with low-carb but is afraid of going high fat. I'll be sticking with the many high fat and lower-carb options like Utz pork rinds (great for dipping), Pork Clouds, Moon Cheese, Parm Crisps, and Keto Carne beef jerky.
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!