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RE: Stevia - 7/17/2008 5:50:56 AM

HeavansKeeper

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quote:

ORIGINAL: spankmedarlin

Try Agave - comes from the cactus plant...

Plus if it rots, you have tequila.

*feels squeamish after typing the T word*

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RE: Stevia - 7/17/2008 7:34:42 AM

MzMinx

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stevia has been used in india for thousands of years ..... its a plant which triggers the feeling of sweetness on the tongue without any real carbs in it .. and is often used in ayervedic medicine as one of many thinsg to help balance diabeties

Agave syrup is a fructose based sugar and is significantly better for you than cane sugar (sucrose) It has little real taste to it so it substitutes well .... it can be used raw or heated/cooked ... it is nothing like High Fructose Corn syrup... which is bad mojo .... but is a more complex sugar so takes longer to break down in your digestion, and has a small amount of minerals, so one can claim some good things in it. *laughs* .. although I would be buying organic to insure purity of the product ... as any product can start natural but have its chemical basis changed by how its processed

stevia and argave, used as substitutes are significantly better than switching to artificial sugars... even for diabetics ... more and more research is showing that artifical sugars cause not only extra health issues but do not help diabetics control blood sugars as the brain sensing sweetness triggers off some of the insuline processses even though the 'artifical' sweetner is not a product the body can break down

most research showing stevia to have issues for human consumption was sponsered by companies with significant interests in one or more artificial sugars, their market share was under attack .... the japanese who have just as high if not higher standards of health than the USA have allowed stevia as a sweetner for decades in mass market products, and as I mentioned the indians have been useing it for centuries

the plant itself is easy to grow .. and as another poster said, the leaves work great added into drinks as a sweetner ... but it can be purchased as a powder or a liquid .... it doesn't take long to work out substitutions for sugar in cooking for most things ... although something like creaming butter would be difficult ....

depending on why you use sugar ...there are lots of other substitutes that are not sweet but are flavourfull .. such as mint .. lemon ... cinnamin..... raw caccoa ..... mixing these in tea or coffee can make a substantial difference to how much sweetness your taste buds need

hope that helps

Mz Minx

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RE: Stevia - 7/17/2008 7:42:46 AM

MzMinx

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hmmmm if any one is looking for a low carb/ zero sucrose version of chocolate I can reccomend

http://www.raw-chocolate.net/raw-chocolate.php?chocolate-butter=coconut

as a diabetic myself .... that urge to eat chocolate is the hardest thing for me to 'work around' as not much seems to help

but this stuff feeds all my craveings .. whilst actually being good for me rather than bad .....

I am sure other companies have similar products and I do know lots of raw foodies who make it or similar things themselves ...

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RE: Stevia - 7/17/2008 3:13:03 PM

CallaFirestormBW

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I get the flavored liquid stevia from Sweet Leaf. It's actually really good in coffee (at least, the English Toffee flavor is).

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RE: Stevia - 7/17/2008 7:36:40 PM

FatDomDaddy

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I'm wondering if it is just part of getting used to or the usual general inconsistencies you get with herbal/new age/hippie foods. I actually bought the Trader Joe's packets. Sometimes, it sweetens normally and sometimes it doesn't seem to sweeten at all.

I think I will try it with Kool Aid tonight OH YEAH.

< Message edited by FatDomDaddy -- 7/17/2008 7:37:41 PM >

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RE: Stevia - 7/17/2008 8:16:36 PM

nejisty

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I bought the powdered Stevia in a health food store. I used less than a 1/4 tsp in my tea. I only drink tea in the am. On the third day of using it for some reason I had another cup in the evening. That night as I lay in bed. My chest started to hurt and my breathing quickened. I was afraid I was having a heart attack. I lay trying to breath as my heart was pounding. I felt like it lasted a long time but probably only 15 minutes. I never used the Stevia again and never had that occur again. This was 3 years ago. Like any other herb or natural food it can affect some people adversely. My sister uses it with no problem and she is diabetic. nejisty
http://stevia.com/
http://www.stevia.net/

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RE: Stevia - 7/18/2008 2:38:48 AM

seababy

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quote:

ORIGINAL: nejisty

I bought the powdered Stevia in a health food store. I used less than a 1/4 tsp in my tea. I only drink tea in the am. On the third day of using it for some reason I had another cup in the evening. That night as I lay in bed. My chest started to hurt and my breathing quickened. I was afraid I was having a heart attack. I lay trying to breath as my heart was pounding. I felt like it lasted a long time but probably only 15 minutes. I never used the Stevia again and never had that occur again. This was 3 years ago. Like any other herb or natural food it can affect some people adversely. My sister uses it with no problem and she is diabetic. nejisty
http://stevia.com/
http://www.stevia.net/

Is the powdered stuff the same strength as the liquid? because I only use a drop of that.

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RE: Stevia - 7/18/2008 3:03:14 AM

soul2share

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I use splenda in tea and baking/cooking. I've never had any problems with it, and I'm a diabetic too. But I don't use alot of it at once, the same with all the other sweeteners. It was my understanding that Splenda is simply the sugar alcohols from cane sugar itself. My parents have been using it since it came out on the market also, but again, as a whole, we don't consume alot of sugar, just mainly in iced tea. I haven't tried the stevia yet.

I've noticed that the studies indicating health problems such as cancer always used amounts in doses that the normal person wouldn't consume in a single year. Too much of anything can cause significant health problems...duh! When saccharine first came out, they said it would kill you.....turns out it figured out to a human consuming something like 5 lbs of it a day, or some other god-awful amount. I'm lucky if I go through 5 lbs of sugar, splenda, any sweetener in as many years. I do bake with it.....I've never had a problem with the after taste, and it doesn't change the batter at all. And no one's ever noticed anything different about the taste of my cookies...in fact, they are surprised when I tell them I made it with Splenda.

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RE: Stevia - 8/9/2008 10:39:44 AM

nejisty

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seababy...I can't answer that as I only used the powdered Stevia a few times...I would say I used approx. an 1/8 of a teaspoon in a mug of tea. nejisty

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RE: Stevia - 8/9/2008 11:02:36 AM

DominaYork

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Stevia! My husband owns an herb/spice/tea shop and he sells the pure dried stevia leaf. It's a natural plant, if you get the leaf not the powder/liquid it's unprocessed but it IS still an herb and effects people differently. Japan has been using it in their diet drinks, even diet Coke, since the 1970's but it's technically banned in the US as a food additive by the FDA but okay as a nutritional supplement. The artificial sweetener lobby (and doesn't that sound like a bad conspiracy!) pushed hard for it to be banned.

Most everything bought today in the US has corn syrup in it, not sugar. Corn syrup is cheaper and horrible for you. Though there is a rise in cane sugar sodas and foods and the like but you have to read the labels carefully. Sugar isn't horrible for a healthy person. Too much sugar is!

And for anyone now able to have sweet things but craving something sweet.... look into honey white tea or honeybush tea. Drop me a line, I know a fellow that can hook you up. Both are sweet with out having sugars in them. Oh and now we have a honey green tea! You can get a 'sweet' taste without sweeteners.

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RE: Stevia - 8/9/2008 11:18:26 AM

seababy

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I'm using Maple Spread instead of honey theses days. Oh yum!
For cooking I use apple, pear , and pomegranate concentrates as well as stevia.
Think I'll make some cupcakes today.

mmm cupcakes

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RE: Stevia - 8/9/2008 12:29:01 PM

thishereboi

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Thanks, but I will stick to the cane.

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RE: Stevia - 8/9/2008 9:48:35 PM

FangsNfeet

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Stevia is to strong for me. Xylotol is what I use as a sweetener.

As for Stevia being the "Wave of the future" let's not forget what the FDA thinks about it.

http://www.stevia.net/fda.htm

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