Stevia anyone?

[cepopeye]

I had a horrible sugar addiction that i got rid of mostly with diet soda shitz, and now, knowing all along about the negatives of splenda and most replacement sugars (essentially horrible taste, carcinogens, higher glycemic index than sugar etc. etc.) I looked online and found the hippy product that is Stevia. Its supposed to be 30 times sweeter than sugar in its natural form, have 0 calories, 0 glycemic index, and 0 of the bad things that Sugar or Sugar-replacements have. AAANNNDD its supposed to taste great.

SO. You can't actually BUY the stuff, because its not FDA approved, so i ordered some offline and i'm sitting here with a cup of tea sweetened with it, and i gotta say its incredibly tolerable. But thats a hot drink, so next i'm gonna try it in water with lemon (i.e., lemonade) and see if it stands up to that more exacting test.

Has anyone else had this stuff? It seems like the only drawback is price but its basically a miracle

[Cubbiehobbits]

I have a box of it in the cabinet with all my supplements in it. I, personally, hate the taste of stevia by itself. However, it does an excellent job at sweetening iced green tea that I get every time I go to a local shakes place. I haven't tried it in hot tea yet.

I've baked brownies with it, but I put in one too many eggs. My brownies were too eggy.

My chiropractic office recommends it as a sugar substitute, and it's actually quite easy to find in health food stores down here (like Whole Foods or Sprouts, if anyone recognizes those stores' names/lives in my area and reads this).

[TKD_Andy]

you know you could just try not having it :good:

[[RozoN]]

0 calories? I think you should recheck it...

[shengoikee]

it sounds pretty much great but i'd like to read some more studies to see if it kills people etc

i usually drink black tea with no sugar haha

[Lobo]

Stevia gave rats a brain disease or something.

[Jingy]

So..wait a..eh what?

You don't want to use aspartame based products which are FDA approved and to be honest all negative studies based on carcinogenic effects disowned by the wider scientific community...but are happy to trust a non-FDA approved new drug?

Only drawback? Whats wrong with calories when thinking about the amount at sweetener level?

Also, rats are not humans and I believe the concentrations used to treat the rats would mean the equivalent for a human would have been a ridiculous dose. Yet to see a credible study that takes into account the ratio in humans and the fact that animal models are just that...models.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with the stevioside extracts either - no extensive evidence of genotoxic or mutagenic effects - BUT was just wondering about the mentality of why one over another?

[alpha7158]

it sounds pretty much great but i'd like to read some more studies to see if it kills people etc

i usually drink black tea with no sugar haha
No sugar yes, but you have always had milk with it whenever I've seen you drink it.

[tuareg]

haha you english bastards putting milk in tea.

i never understood that.

[Ernest]

Black tea. Milk in any other tea is horrendous.

Sugar in tea is also horrendous.

[tuareg]

oh.

well back when we lived in england i once put milk in my green tea hahaha.

[Shoes Magoo]

So..wait a..eh what? You don't want to use aspartame based products which are FDA approved and to be honest all negative studies based on carcinogenic effects disowned by the wider scientific community...but are happy to trust a non-FDA approved new drug? Stevia isn't a drug and has apparently been in use for decades in Japan and centuries in South America as a natural sweetening agent with no reported negative side effects. Aspartame is an artificially produced substance that has garnered much controversy concerning negative health effects. Perhaps aspartame is completely harmless to humans, but since we don't know for sure, it is generally a better idea to choose a natural substance rather than an un-natural one, specifically when the natural substance either has no negative impact on human health or even when the consequences of ingesting that subsatnce are as ambiguous as that of the artificial substance. Considering the links that the food and drug industries have with the government in this country, personally, I am not happy to trust the approvals or disapprovals of the FDA, generally speaking.

[jo>.<el]

haha sounds preatty nifty

[Jingy]

Woops..slip of the tongue...*substance*

My point was why condemn one and approve of the other in the same breathe, for essentially the same reason - made no sense.

[Shoes Magoo]

Woops..slip of the tongue...*substance*

My point was why condemn one and approve of the other in the same breathe, for essentially the same reason - made no sense.

*shrugs*

Gotta nuke somethin'.

[Origional]

If it comes from hippies it's illegal

[Lobo]

I agree Jingy, stevia is probably fine, but whatever.

[Rahf]

Stevia isn't approved in Sweden :ogre: which is a shame since it has no reported side-effects. One should move to Japan really.

Economic factors is probably one of the main reasons why stevia isn't approved. WHO do not recognise it as a sweetener with side-effects, compared with aspartame that is potentially harmful.

[Yuri]

rahf aka johann I am sad that I missed you in LA. we should have coordinated our trips

stevia is an herb not a drug

my protein has stevia in it

sugar in tea is horrendous

milk in black tea can be tolerated

Now I usually drink green tea with a slice of lemon. For a while I drank various oolong teas.

If you want a tea that will put hair on your chest try lapsang souchong

[Kitosho]

trust me when I say that Yuri knows ALL ABOUT putting hair on one's chest

[Starter Kit]

I've tried it and the taste isn't that great by itself and if I had a problem with sugar I guess that's something I would use. The price is ridiculous around here too but you only use a tiny amount.

You could also try agave sweetener, I think it's made from a cactus but I don't feel like googling it.