DIABETIC? USE STEVIA AS YOUR SWEETNER!

Are you a diabetic? Then, welcome to the party as I am one too (since 2000)! 

In this Post,  I'd like to share my advice about an excellent, zero-calorie, natural sweetner to use which has NO KNOWN SIDE-EFFECTS TOO - STEVIA!

The first sugar substitute I used was Aspartame. It worked well. Later, I tried chocolates sweetened with Maltitol, but that didn't work as I had loose-motions every time I took a Maltitol-sweetened chocolate! So I dropped Maltitol and continued with Aspartame alone till around 2012. Then, one day, a neighbour asked me whether I was aware of  the carcinogenic (cancer causing) effects of Aspartame. I said "No!" but was shocked by the revelation! All the time till then, I was under the impression that Aspartame was safe to take because the WHO (World Health Organization) has approved it, but when I investigated more deeply, I found that what she told me was correct - though not carcinogenic, it is hazardous to those born with phenylketonuria (PKU). You can read more about this in Wikipedia. 

Wikipedia also discusses the pluses and minuses of other  sugar substitutes on the market like Saccharin, Sucralose, Lactitol, Maltitol, Maltodextrin etc. They all have side-effects if used continuously for long periods.

My neighbour then suggested Stevia to me. 

 

Stevia Plant

Stevia is a herb. All of us in India know that Ayurvedic medicines are harmless because they are made from selected herbs. I remember someone telling me as a boy, "They may not heal you ... but they won't harm you!". So it did seem to make sense and I started using Stevia instead of Aspartame from that time.

Simultaneously, I researched into Stevia and was happy when I discovered that worldwide it has been used and proven as a zero calorie, zero glycemic index, natural sweetner with no side-effects at all.

Although Stevia had been known as a safe natural sweetner since 1970,  till recently, only some small-scale industries in India were manufacturing Stevia commercially. Big names like Birla, Reliance, Tata etc. were reluctant to produce Stevia sweetners in India, maybe because they wanted to first collect sufficient evidence about its acceptance by society and by the medical community worldwide. Therefore, it was only around March, 2017 that Tata Chemicals finally came out with Tata Nx, their first Stevia sweetner.

Stevia is extracted from leaves of the stevia plant, Stevia rebaudiana. It is available on the market in the form of dry powder, pellets, tablets,  liquid and dry leaves. It is heat-stable, can withstand high temperatures and does not ferment. It has 150 times the sweetness of sugar and its effect on blood glucose is negligible. Though initially doubted as harmful, the US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) approved its use in 2008. In the EU (European Union), approval for Stevia was given in 2011 and in Japan, it has been used for decades as a sweetner.

In India, Stevia is used as a non-sugar sweetner for beverages, desserts, sweets, bakery products, chocolates etc.

Order Stevia online, now?