Is all Stevia gross?
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Anonymous
New poster. Both Stevia and Xylitol are natural laxatives. They affect some people very strongly. Personally, I can't eat anything with "sugar alcohols" on the label (this includes xylitol). Might as well eat it in the bathroom. |
Anonymous
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Not all stevia products are alike in quality and taste, and I venture to say if you have had reactions to a stevia product, it's probably not the stevia itself, but an additive in the product. Stevia has been used for 1500 years in South America and in Japan since the 70s now with a 40% market share without documented adverse effects.
If you don't like the taste of one, try another, you might like it. Generally, the less quality a stevia product has, the worse it tastes. (Truvia is actually 99.1% erythritol) I use SweetLeaf brand, which I undertand is the only one that retains all three 0 calorie, 0 carb, and 0 GI properties, and wherein only pure water ever touch the leaves druring extraction, as opposed to chemicals, like ethanol and methanol in other brands. To answer you question more directly, NO. Not all stevia is gross, in fact, it may be quite good. To a commenter who asked why stay a way from sugar, but not stevia: stevia is not sugar. It is an extract of sweet glycosides from the leaves of the stevia plant. The only resemblance to sugar is that both are sweet. The similarity ends there. (employed by Wisdom Natural Brands, the makers of SweetLeaf Stevia) |
Anonymous
OP here, thanks for the info PP (and thanks for being open about your place of employment. Curious if you're truly from the DC area or if you google stevia looking for ways make sure the "facts" are straight around the internet?) For the others--splenda is also not supposed to be good for candida, but I'm generally not a fan of artificial sweeteners (which is why I'm having so much trouble with this stevia thing). For the person who called my naturopath a quack...I did originally see a conventional doctor and the medicine he prescribed has a high chance of damaging my liver. With family history of liver issues (not alcohol related), I thought cutting sugar out of my diet was a better first step, don't you think? I really am not planning to use a ton of it, not even a whole packet every day, so praying for no anal leakage. |
Anonymous
| Xylitol tastes just like sugar to me! A word of warning though: if you do try it, start with only a little bit and work your way up. Too much will send you runnin' for the bathroom! |
Anonymous
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Hey I heard about Stevia maybe a year or 2 ago and I was happy to find out about it. I did have the same problem with Stevia packets in my oatmeal or any other foods not tasting good though.
The good news. Try those packets in drinks. Stevia packets taste great in drinks to me. I use it whenever I drink tea, smoothies, homemade hot chocolate with cocoa, and the odd time I have coffee. The bad news. I've stuck to honey so far in my oatmeal or any foods I add something to. I'm thinking like you, that I should try a liquid stevia sometime but still haven't yet. If it doesn't taste good either I'll just use the rest of it up in my drinks. |
Anonymous
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I've been using ZSweet lately and like it better than stevia. http://www.zsweet.com/
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Anonymous
| Xylitol is poisonous to dogs. Afaik, it isn't dose dependent. |
Anonymous
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You can't say that all Stevia is gross. Not all people have the same tastes. Personally I LOATHE stevia. It tastes like what I imagine the sweaty butt crack of the toxic avenger would taste like. I have had all kinds and forms of it, and there is no sweetness to it on my pallet. It has a harsh chemical taste with a strong alcohol burn. I find a lot of products I like and get excited about until I get to the part where they are trying to sweeten it up with stevia. I have to put the stuff back because it simply is inedible to me. I don't need everything in my lie to be sugary or sweet or be given the appearance of sweetness. Just leave the sweeteners out of whatever you are making and if I feel like I want it to be more sweet then I can add the sugar or sweetener of my choice. I don't like being stuck in this health food nightmare where my only choice for an alternative to refined sugar seems to be Stevia. I hope it's a fad that soon finds it's way out of favor. I hate the stuff.
Try beech tree xylitol. |
Anonymous
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First of all a few facts ...
Stevia is not a sugar alcohol, it's an herb. Truvia and Purevia, and the products made from them, are not Stevia. They are mostly sugar alcohols with a tiny bit of stevia in it. That's what gives people the runs. Splenda is an artificial product that has been drastically and chemically altered from sugar. It's a patented product. Sugar cannot be patented. Stevia cannot be patented either. If a stevia product is patented, it's because something drastic has been done to it, or it's been combined with another product. Hence why Truvia and Purevia are patented. Many things affect the quality of Stevia. The specific plant, location of growth (tons of crappy cheap stevia is grown in China), amount of sun, refining process and handling, and what cheap fillers are used. Alot of Stevia products have maltodextrin and other ingredients as cheap fillers. I started out with the NOW brand of Stevia and it was terrible. I moved on to SweetLeaf and I love it! I've bought the packets, the powder, the Clear liquid, and 5 of the flavors. After 4 months of usage I have to say that I love the Clear Liquid Stevia. The flavors. I don't really care for, they just sit in my fridge. I sometimes use the powder in my baking but it does have a very slight aftertaste. Cooling baked goods in the fridge overnight makes a big difference. I use the packets when I go out, but ultimately the Clear Liquid Stevia is the BEST! My daughter and I use it everyday in our beverages (try a lemon and lime and 18 drops in a tall glass of Perrier - YUM!). Even my husband and son, who are not sugar-free at all, enjoy the taste of the beverages I make. That says alot. They can't stand the flavors though. One product I use a bit in my baking is dates. I'm not sure if you can have naturally occurring sugars from whole food, but pulverized dates are amazing in baking. I hope this helps. www.lesssugarnaturally.com |
Anonymous
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I was putting stevia in my coffee twice a day for maybe a year, plus making lemonade and limeade with it; the brand I used was packets of Stevia in the Raw, and I did like the taste, although I didn't kid myself into thinking it tasted "just like sugar." I hadn't read anything about anal leakage with it, and was surprised when the other day I did have a disturbing episode.
A couple of years ago, I had been using xylitol—again unaware that it caused anal leakage—and after it gave me a bout of explosive diarrhea, I gave up on it. I wasn't aware stevia could cause anal leakage, since I knew it was an herb. The first brand I used was SweetLeaf, which I used for a much shorter time and with no side effects; I'm hesitant to go back to it in any form, because explosive diarrhea is a total deal-breaker in my book. |
Anonymous
| Splenda is better |
Anonymous
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If you are trying to "research" stevia, I would recommend asking a more objective question.
I would also recommend looking up the definition of "gross." It doesn't mean what you think it means. |
Anonymous
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Op, if you're getting rid of candida and Stevia isn't palatable, then just avoid eating things like oatmeal and tea that you feel need sweetening for now. Stick to breakfasts like eggs and vegetables.
Stevia tastes bad to me, it's genetic. Like the whole cilantro thing. |
Anonymous
| Stevia always makes my stomach hurt. |
Anonymous
| Try Whey Low. Whole Foods sells it. It is all natural and bakes well. |