Archive for May 9th, 2007

Natural Sugar Substitutes

I have written before that I like to use natural sugar substitutes in my coffee, drinks, and other things that I might typically use sugar as a sweetener. In actuality, sugar is not necessarily a high calorie food, with a teaspoon not amounting to much, it’s just the effects of that little teaspoon on my blood sugar glucose levels and its subsequent effects on my appetite later in the day that I’m trying to avoid.

I had previously used Splenda, and before that, I used the “pink stuff”, Sweet ‘n Low, and although I did think they were a great tasting alternative to sugar, I read bad things about their side effects, and was concerned that by trying to save a few calories and my blood sugar level, I was actually doing more harm than good.

In fact, some studies on phony sugar substitutes clearly come to the conclusion that the phony sugar substitutes actually are more detrimental to your blood sugar and actually make you crave more sweets in the end, more so than even regular sugar, so that was the end of that for me!

So, I found Stevia, a truly all natural sweetener with absolutely no side effects that is only made from the natural stevia plant. I use the little green packets you find at the natural foods store.

Because I wanted to branch out and try others, I tried another brand also recently that I was not impressed with at all. it’s in a yellow packet and it’s called Zero Sugar, and is made also from an all natural ingredient, but it seemed like I had to put five packets in to get any sweetness out of it at all. So, for now I’m sticking with the stevia.

You may want to look into it. You just have to be careful, because using too much stevia can make your drink bitter, but as soon as you get the trick of it down, you will be pleasantly surprised at how your taste adapts to this all natural sugar alternative.