Quest Is Going All in on Keto

After years of misinformation that fat is the enemy, science is quickly laying waste to that claim. As any health-conscious person knows, it’s not necessarily what you put into your body but the amount of what you put in your body that matters most. So why is a company whose main focus is high-protein, low-sugar Quest Bars suddenly embracing the high-fat, moderate-protein and low-carb ketogenic diet? Let’s take a look.

The ketogenic diet (or “keto”) was originally developed as a nutritional protocol to help treat epilepsy, and keto was soon discovered to have a whole host of health benefits. It requires you to eat a high percentage of fat, a moderate amount of protein and little to no carbohydrates.

Among other benefits, people on the keto diet have reported anti-inflammatory benefits, increased energy and lowered blood sugar, opening a possible door to a future in which we approach treating metabolic diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s and possibly even cancer through nutritional protocols rather than pharmaceutical means.

When your body moves from burning glucose to fat for fuel, many interesting things happen. First and foremost, your body enters ketosis, meaning it uses ketones (from fat) as its main source of energy instead of glucose (from carbs). As a fitness buff, this “fat adaptation” can be especially helpful when you’re trying to shred fat and reveal those slabs of muscle hiding underneath.

When starting the ketogenic diet, your liver does a lot of the heavy lifting. Once the body is depleted of glycogen reserves, the liver converts ketone bodies from fatty acids in your food or fat in your body into its main source of energy. Once that process begins and you stick to your regular exercise routine, you’ve got a ticket to “cut city” (and you get to eat bacon along the way)!

There is one drawback to keto: There are basically secret carbs hiding in EVERYTHING. That’s where Quest is figuring it can help out die-hard ketogenic converts.

Yup, this is now okay to eat on keto.

Quest Keto Steps In

Your body prefers glycolysis, so just a few grams of stray carbs and you’ll flip right out of ketosis. Staying on keto means you can’t really cheat, and that’s why the diet has a reputation for being a bit complicated. You can’t have sweets, and there are very few keto-friendly foods that have any kind of crunch.

Seeing an opportunity to offer salty, sweet and savory snacks and foods for keto-heads, Quest developed Quest Keto. It’s basically a full line of meals, snacks and desserts (like peanut butter cups and cinnamon rolls) with the perfect macro ratios. Quest’s offering ketogenic eaters all the things a ketogenic diet normally denies while taking all the guesswork out of the traditionally math-intensive diet routine.

Besides the obvious fitness benefits of burning fat, the ketogenic diet has a few other tasty benefits. Keto increases satiety, so you don’t feel the urge to snack between meals — leading to higher energy levels and a healthier brain. Quest is leading the charge to “rethink fat” as an essential macronutrient to fight against diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

There are already several studies on the effects of the ketogenic diet’s on fighting cancer. Because tumors feed on glucose, a ketogenic diet may be a key element to curbing future tumor growth. The KetoPet Sanctuary in Austin, Texas, is already seeing positive results with many of its four-legged patients.

Regardless of your intentions with the keto diet, there’s no denying the diet’s popularity right now (see image above). If your interest is piqued or you’ve long been intrigued with keto but weren’t sure where to get started, the Quest Keto website is a good bet. You can get all the benefits without all the sacrifice and complications.