Anyone use Stevia as a sugar substitute?

[RottenWillow]

I've never been a Plat member so it's been years since I was able to use the search feature, therefore this topic could've been covered a few times without me seeing it. However, if it has not already been discussed let me recommend this stuff.

Stevia, for those who dont already know, is a natural herb that is quite sweet. Is it apparently one of only two truly natural alternatives to sugar, Xylitol being the other. Stevia though is definitely sweeter, and has the most "sugarlike" taste, provided you buy it in it's fully refined form.

Unlike the two or three really common artificial sweeteners out there I havent read any downsides to Stevia. It doesnt effect one's blood sugar level at all, so there's no energy crash after consuming it, and it cant encourage fat storage. Doesnt suppress the thymus gland like Splenda and doesnt break down into formaldehyde in the body like aspartame (Do a search on any of the synthetic sweeteners and you'll find a lot of bad news)

Tends to be pretty expensive though. Although I've found it in my local supermarket and chain healthfood stores the prices tend to run about $2.00 per ounce. OUCH. I did find it at Vitacost though for .90 a pound though. Turns out the price isnt as bad as I thought since I've found I dont need to use as much as it as sugar to get the same amount of sweetness. Also it adds zero calories to your food.

It took a little getting used to in my coffee, but by the end of the first week I was so accustomed to it that drinking coffee at Starbucks with sugar tasted funny. Seems to work really well in baking. I baked a pumpkin pie with it and no one even noticed.

 

[Tatyana]

I have used stevia, and I am going to be ordering some more (both the white and trying the more 'whole' one which is green)

It is not sold in Europe as they have some concerns about its safety, I will see if I can find the paper.................it may be political/economic pressure which has not allowed Stevia to be used as a sweetner in Europe.

I have started to do some research into glyconutrients, of which, I have heard, Stevia is a rich source of these.

People seem to think that carbs have no important function in the body, which is completely untrue, most of the cell surface receptors are carbohydrate moieties, or coupled with protein and called glycoproteins.

Cell surface receptors make EVERYTHING happen in the cell, for example, they are responsible for the ABO blood groupings, how your immune system recognises 'me' from 'not me' (HLA - human leucocyte antigen or MHC - major histocompatability complex), receptors for all the growth factors and hormones, and I am sure people have heard of CD 4, CD 8 on B and T cells............

Personally, I think it is a good option as a non-calorific sweetner.

 

[musclemom]

Very good post.

I've used a lot of different sweeteners, natural and artificial, over the years. About the only thing I consume regularly is my morning coffee. I've given it up in the past and it didn't really change anything in my life, and frankly my morning felt so, I dunno, incomplete? I did use stevia for a while but I just never grew to love it. I can't use artificial sweeteners, I get weird health problems. For a while I figured "fuck the calories" was using raw sugar but I think it spiked the hell out of my blood sugar, since I was drinking it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Seemed to make me crave carbs.

My current sweetener of choice for morning coffee is agave syrup, it's not low cal but has a low glycemic index so no messing with the blood surgar. I still keep stevia in the house because I'll toss some into a protein shake (I use unsweetened/unflavored whey isolate).

Stevia pisses a LOT of industries off, offends the artificial sweetener people, offends the sugar people, and since it's an herb I'm not surprised it's falling into a gray area in Europe.

 

[Bikini Mod]

I used to have a mad crazy sweet tooth when I was a kid but when I began dieting for competition, I got away from all the sickly sweet sugar and fat. At first it was quite hard but once you clean your diet up going back makes you feel sick. And with my GI tract this *sick* is multiplied to the Nth degree. Having said that even the smallest bit of too sweet makes me ill, raw sugar or artificial sweetner, doesn't matter.

I've tried stevia but honestly I used such a small amount of any additional sweet that it doesn't matter much to me either way. I have no issue drinking my coffee without any additional sweetners, just cream/milk.

Splenda/stevia really makes no difference to me, as I said, I used such a small amount of additional sweetening agents on anything it is really inconsequential.

If I bake then I use sugar. I have "a thing" about giving my kids artificial sweeteners. I guess that Stevia would be something to consider though.... when I got kids to bake for again I will let ya'll know what the herd thinks.

 

[Bikini Mod]

I can't use Stevia - it actually makes me gag which is unfortunate because I had 100 packets of it. I was trying to use it in coffee so I just stopped using any sweeteners for a while, then I went back to splenda, quit coffee and then went back to coffee with the splenda.

Eventually I figured out that no matter what sweetener I used (equal or splenda) I had a very similar blood glucose/insulin responses as regular white cane sugar but coffee tends to reduce your insulin sensitivity regardless of sweetener but that's an another topic.

All in all it was just easier to not drink the coffee.

I know the thread was about stevia (sorry to take the thread on a detour Ms Willow) but I think that the caffeine issue is worth discussing as well.

Back in the day I LIVED on coffee and an OTC ECA stack by the name of Dymetidrine Xtreme - it was THE SHIT and honestly I don't know how my heart didn't leap out of my chest. But I abused the crap out of that product, was never jittery or wired... either that or I was like that so often I didn't know how else to be. LOL

Since I hit 40 (or about) I noticed that not only can I not tolerate the Dymetidrine (when I heard they were taking it off the market a few years back I stocked up and still have like 1/3 of a bottle) but if I have more than ONE LG cup of coffee I get absoutely sick.

So now... only ONE CUP of coffee (that takes HOURS) to consume and I don't use the sweetners for any other food. I have "given up" coffee before but I enjoy the taste too much. It is my understanding that decaffienated is REALLY bad for you so why bother?

God, it sucks getting old.

 

[Bikini Mod]

Miss Velvett I know you are about my age, but I think a few years younger.... I swear to God, like freaking clockwork BAM! I hit 39 and my skin just decided to say, "FUCK YOU!" I notice that all over my body it is just not nearly as supple as it was. Like overnight!!!

It's scary. One day you are "OK pretty good" then the next day you are pulling on your skin thinking, "OK whose skin IS THIS? NO WAY it could belong to me."

 

[Bikini Mod]

Making a thread in Girl Talk about this....

Good idea... I don't want Miss Willow opening up a can of whoop-ass on my sorry scrawny behind.

 

[RottenWillow]

I can't use artificial sweeteners, I get weird health problems.

Same here. Splenda, et al. definitely aggravates some of the sxs of my lime disease, namely migraines, tinnitus, and dizzyness.

 

[RottenWillow]

I've never been a Plat member so it's been years since I was able to use the search feature, therefore this topic could've been covered a few times without me seeing it. However, if it has not already been discussed let me recommend this stuff.

Stevia, for those who dont already know, is a natural herb that is quite sweet. Is it apparently one of only two truly natural alternatives to sugar, Xylitol being the other. Stevia though is definitely sweeter, and has the most "sugarlike" taste, provided you buy it in it's fully refined form.

Unlike the two or three really common artificial sweeteners out there I havent read any downsides to Stevia. It doesnt effect one's blood sugar level at all, so there's no energy crash after consuming it, and it cant encourage fat storage. Doesnt suppress the thymus gland like Splenda and doesnt break down into formaldehyde in the body like aspartame (Do a search on any of the synthetic sweeteners and you'll find a lot of bad news)

Tends to be pretty expensive though. Although I've found it in my local supermarket and chain healthfood stores the prices tend to run about $2.00 per ounce. OUCH. I did find it at Vitacost though for .90 a pound though. Turns out the price isnt as bad as I thought since I've found I dont need to use as much as it as sugar to get the same amount of sweetness. Also it adds zero calories to your food.

It took a little getting used to in my coffee, but by the end of the first week I was so accustomed to it that drinking coffee at Starbucks with sugar tasted funny. Seems to work really well in baking. I baked a pumpkin pie with it and no one even noticed.

bumping this old post b/c it has some good info on Stevia. See posts 1 and 2.

One thing to add. The best price on stevia I believe you'll find is on spoonable Stevita brand stevia. It comes in a 16oz container and is by far a more economical way to purchase stevia than in the tiny individual serving packets.

Here's a link to the site I use:

Stevita Stevita Spoonable -- 16 oz (454g) - Vitacost

 

[Miss Vinia]

I just bought stevia (aka sugar plants) plants 2 weeks ago. They are very easy to grow and look a lot like spearmint. At the same place I bought the green, dried leaves in a grinder and the powder. All have a great taste and zero after-taste. I don't have anything against regular aspartame, but the stevia tastes better to me. The cost of the powder isn't so bad when you consider that you use a fraction of the amount you might have used in regular sugar.