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People are recommending Luna/Clif bars here, so I will comment from what I've read about them. I haven't actually tried them, so I will only comment on what I know:
2) calories:
Under 200 calories isn't enough to comprise a meal. You said you use protein bars for breakfast, do you eat anything else with the bar? Do you eat more than one bar for one breakfast? Consider your daily caloric intake. If it is 1,200 (which is considerably low, even for women), your breakfast is only around 16% of your daily intake if you only eat the bar. That sounds pretty low. (Read below.)
4) effect on metabolism
A 200 calorie "meal" will get your metabolism going, but it will be a false start unless you can eat more within a couple of hours or so. Your body is overcoming a night-long fast and will hungrily take in the breakfast calories and will burn them fairly quickly. If, however, you don't give your body more to process, it may hinder your metabolism.
5) how "healthy" they are for you
Although Luna bars are around just 4g of fat per bar, being that they are only 180 or so calories, this puts the calories from fat to over 40%. This is above the generally recommended 30% or less.
Also, the oil in the bars is typically sunflower oil. Although tasty, and not necessarily bad for you (like, say, coconut oil), it is a primarily omega-6 fat. If you don't know what this means, generally speaking, omega-6 is an abundant polyunsaturated fat found in many products containing oils such as soybean oil, sunflower oil, and certain margarines. The North American diet has an out-of-whack ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 already, and the countless products containing these oils keeps the ratio this way. What you need more of is canola and olive oil, amongst other things, and a reduction of omega-6.
Also what I've seen is that nearly half the carbohydrates come from brown rice syrup. Although this is a healthier kind of sweetener (nearly half of it is complex vs. simple), it is a sweetener nonetheless. This means that it will burn much faster than the (mostly) rice and/or soy that will make up the rest of the carbohydrates.
So, given the 40%+ calories from omega-6-rich fat and the nearly 50% sugar from carbohydrates, I give this bar a mediocre rating. And, a single bar on its own does not make a good breakfast. They're a fine supplement for hiking and other sports, but I wouldn't use them as meal replacements.
Unfortunately, from what I've seen otherwise, the Luna bar really is one of the better commercial bars out there. This is the main reason why I make my own bars. Sure they don't taste as good but the vast majority of the ingredients is a mixture of rolled oats (i.e. non-instant), whole-wheat flour, oat bran, and protein powder. The rest of the ingredients include non-fat plain yogurt, demerara sugar (or honey or molasses), and canola oil (or natural peanut butter). You can spice them up with cinnamon or what have you. They are palatable and you get real used to them because they're filling and you can taste the wholesomeness. It is a true cereal bar.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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