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I used to have it in my coffee, I drank several diet sodas per day, I had my 'fridge and cupboards full of products that were sweetened with the stuff... I was oozing artificial sweeteners! I have used these products since they first came out. I used saccharine for years before aspartame and sucralose were even invented in some mad scientist's laboratory... I depended on artificial sweeteners to such a great degree because I've had diabetes for over 45 years. The only other option was real sugar. Not cool for a person with diabetes to have too much of that! Then I heard about the stevia sweetener and that it is an herb from South America that has been known and used for hundreds of years. I decided to find some and try it. Well, I found some stevia at a local health food store. I excitedly ripped a packet open and put some in my coffee, just a little because I'd read that it has incredible sweetening power. Wahooooooo!!!!! It was perfect! I did a happy dance and have been using stevia sweetener ever since with no side effects. Diabetes and steviaAs mentioned above, I've had diabetes almost since birth and I love stevia! I have no adverse blood sugar reactions and in my research, I've read information that stevia possibly helps regulate blood sugar levels. Can't say that about the chemical stuff! Dangers of steviaSaying that there are dangers of stevia is like saying there's danger in parsley... (I can just hear this shocking 6:00 news headline: "Millions world-wide hospitalized from parsley overdose!!!") If you've been unfortunate enough to be exposed to the "controversy" about stevia, let me assure you that it is a load of contrived BS by those who would "lose their shorts" (lose a ton of money) if stevia sweetener was allowed to be used freely without FDA suppression... I don't care to say much more on this because it's so ridiculous and sickening to me and not worthy of our attention. I will say that since I've quit using artificial sweeteners and found the herb stevia, I've occasionally had a diet soda. Ewwwww! Talk about a chemical taste in your mouth!!! Stevia sweetener comes in different forms, such as tablets, packets and containers of loose stevia powder that have a tiny scoop. Also, the sweet extract from the stevia plant leaves, called "stevioside" is usually mixed with something else natural and one company's stevia sweetener may not taste quite the same as another. A friend of mine from New Zealand had some stevia tablets that she sent to me, and frankly, they sucked! They didn't dissolve easily, and it's kind of hard to sprinkle a tablet on your cereal... Remember that the stevia sweetener is intensely sweet, so you only need a wee bit! It is heat tolerant and can be used in baking and cooking too. There are even recipes and cookbooks for stevia. So go try some! And you can throw out all your "fake stuff" too. It's quite liberating. Cheers! There are a number of excellent references on the Web that will satisfy your hunger for more information about stevia, as well as information that sheds the light on the dangers of aspartame and sucralose. 6 minute briefing by Dr. Russell Blaylock, a neurosurgeon on aspartame Return
to Food, Nutrition and Health from Stevia sweetener
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