How sweet is it!
Stevia sweetener: My experience
I discovered stevia, a sweetener, a couple
of years ago after I had thrown everything with artificial
sweeteners (the "fake" stuff) such as aspartame (Nutrasweet®)
and sucralose (Splenda®) in the trash can.
I had stopped using artificial sweeteners
after I learned about the toxic effects on the body and
that there were documented and verified side effects, some
pretty severe.
Stevia
comes from this herbal plant. |
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 stevia
As 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 stevia
Saying 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.
Information
on stevia
Information
on sucralose
6 minute briefing by Dr. Russell Blaylock,
a neurosurgeon on aspartame
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