Quest Nutrition - Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

It might be surprising to hear, but there was a time in my life I actually ate quite healthily. After struggling with my weight as a teenager, I lost about 70 lbs (30 kg) in my early 20s. I did this in the traditional way: diet & exercise. I ate the same kind of food everyday, mostly chicken breasts, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, protein bars - snacks were always healthier, and I rarely ate out. It gave me a lot of confidence that I didn't have as a young girl, and it's something I'm very proud of.

 I've dropped off the majority of those good habits throughout the years, but I've kept up a few things that I think have helped me maintain a healthy weight regardless - calorie counting & protein bars.

I know protein bars aren't the best way to get protein, and some of them are nothing more than glorified candy bars, but I find them so filling & convenient for breakfast. I figure I don't have time to cook breakfast, and cereal doesn't keep me feeling full until lunch, so it works for me - and it's better than a pastry. If you struggle with low calorie & convenient breakfast options that keep you feeling satiated they're a good option.

 Quest Nutrition is definitely a top player these days, and for good reason. 20g of protein in their bars is nothing to sneeze at, and packing it into a bar that is under 200 calories is impressive. There is a wide range of flavors too, but my favorite is definitely the cookie dough. I warm it up in the microwave, but you can also bake it in the oven a bit. Warmed in the microwave it is like actual cookie dough - very soft, the only difference is it's slightly chewier. As you can see, it gets pretty shiny looking.

The texture when not microwaved has more chew to it - it's not as taffy like as some other protein bars, it's still pretty soft, but I'd always recommend microwaving them. Here is a cut-away after being microwaved for about 10 seconds.

It tastes like straight up cookie dough, with dark chocolate chunks. Now, as I mentioned, I've been eating protein bars for years - so that 'protein taste' other people complain about? I don't really notice it. So I can't objectively say whether or not it has that taste, but I can tell you that my husband who never really ate protein bars before doesn't pick up anything nasty at all. He really likes these too, for the same reasons I do - convenient & filling at breakfast. It's got a wheaty flavor like a home made chocolate chip cookie, and the dark chocolate is plentiful and blends really nicely.

They're pretty expensive for protein bars, but the quality is so much nicer than a Slimfast or a similar bar in UK grocery stores. It's a shame that this market hasn't taken off here as much as it has in the USA - back home I can get dozens of varieties of different brands at the grocery store, most of them clocking in around half the price as they are here. That being said, I think the market is increasing and certainly one business is bringing a bunch of my USA favorites to the UK, and brands I've never heard of, as well.

The very best place to get protein stuff is Protein Pick & Mix in the UK. Great selection of Quest bars and all sorts of other protein-y things. Customer service is super nice too, I've purchased from them tons because like I said, I eat these for breakfast at least 5 days a week. They're very genuine, and you can tell they care about their customers and the products that they stock. I trust everything on there to be well-curated and worth a try because of their honesty.

If you guys liked this review, and maybe you'd like to see more protein bar reviews just let me know in the comments. I eat tons, so there would be plenty of content haha, just don't know how interested the snacking community at large is with these, and I'm not really a...fitness blogger at all, just kind of a lazy former fitness fan. I don't want to clog up snack feeds with protein bars!