> ... QUEST bars, which are low carb (some of them).
They are all pretty low carb compared to darn near everything else on the market. What they aren't is high fat, so they are not a meal replacement.
> I found after eating one, I wanted more.
I think Dr. Attia had the same experience. His favorite is the cookie dough. I eat pretty much all of the flavors except peanut.
> I fought the craving clear into the next day, and gave in to eating four.
Once you are adapted to them, I'm not sure that's a problem, other than the expense.
> For the rest of that day and the next I had gas, headaches, and nausea...
When Dr. Davis first discussed these on his blog, he and his staff reported the gas problem. Quest bars contain isomalto-oligossacharides (might be inulin) which is a prebiotic. If your gut biome is messed up, you can get an adverse reaction to foods high in prebiotics. I take this reaction as a likely sign that the sufferer might need a course of probiotics. Personally, I've never had an adverse reaction to Quest bars.
> Sweeteners were erythritol and some stevia, I believe.
Some of the bars also have sucralose. The quantity may be small, but the buyer needs to decide. They do omit all gluten-bearing grains, soy, simple saccharides (sugars), GMOs and non-organics. The total package makes them unique in the market, which is awash in high-gly junk, and some low-carb junk contaminated with adverse fats and adverse proteins.
> Couldn't think of anything else except eating those bars.
For better or worse, Quest Nutrition certainly did their homework on palatability.
The unfortunate thing is that they are most benign snack bar on the market, although they do not have the claimed "perfect nutritional profile" from my perspective. The market needs a high-fat low-carb bar, if not an actual keto bar. Quest has been told. They need some competition to kick their butts a bit.
