What is your opinions of Stevia natural sweetener? Thank you
Stevia opinion
kib1
(KM)
#6
Stevia is a plant you can grow yourself, the young leaves have no bitterness. It is usually listed as keto friendly and unlikely to cause bg spiking, as with all artificial sweeteners, ymmv. The commercial products may contain a blend of other sweeteners as well as stevia, so read the label.
never2late
#7
I don’t use any sweetener. I am finding I have no need for them. I enjoy how foods taste naturally, like pork, or grassfed butter or, my newest addition to my WOE, goats cheese. A tiny taste is quite enough. So rich and satisfying. My heavy whipping cream I find very sweet, however I’m not as keen on it as I used to be, and I will be replacing it with a small daily amount of raw milk. I am curious whether when people have certain cravings for sweet stuff it is certain bacteria in one’s gut requesting them. And that such cravings therefore will go away when those bacteria are cut off from feeding off said foods.
Shinita
#8
it’s a natural sweetener, one of the few I consider okay - except it has such a super awful taste I never go near it but many others are fine with the taste.
It doesn’t matter how many people consider sweetness unnecessary, it still give a huge joy for many of… us? I had too many carnivore(-ish) days to consider sweets vital anymore but I do like them. Not as much as some proper food but they have their role I suppose.
Probably many people would have problem with my total need of desserts too. I couldn’t care less. I am me, I try to do what is best for me. And I do sweeten some of them (with cream so sugar, not even a zero carb sweetener).
Of course, some people should avoid sweetness because it’s bad for them. We all should figure these things out for ourselves.
trucha
#9
I’d like to try stevia in my ice coffee if it’s keto friendly. Are all no carb sweeteners keto friendly?
Shinita
#11
I guess so as keto alone just limits carbs… Most ketoers here try to eat healthily so I suppose many of us avoid certain sweeteners. I don’t even need to care about the health part as I HATE almost all sweeteners, I rather don’t eat anything sweet than touching them. I only use erythritol, xylitol and sugars but very rarely. I do consider minimalizing sweeteners the best. They aren’t food. If I don’t need them, why to use them? But if they are needed or desired here and there? Fine by me. I don’t actually crave them, I just consider certain dishes better when sweetened. I try to avoid those but things happen… It’s rare so I am fine with it.
My SO on the other hand eats sweets all the time, he needs them and it’s fine, he is very health-conscious and healthy too. Each to their own.
kib1
(KM)
#12
I’m saying ymmv. Your Mileage May Vary. Which means some people have blood sugar spikes when using some artificial sweeteners. Stevia is not ordinarily an artificial sweetener that causes this reaction, but everyone’s different. You’d have to try it and see, but stevia is a good one to try. I’d suggest looking for a product that’s 100% stevia and not mixed with anything else.
robintemplin
(Robin)
#13
I use this one in my coffee with heavy cream. I have three cups a day. Have been doing it since day one. The sweetness does not cause me crave other sweets. My coffee is my daily treat.
PaulL
(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing)
#14
Any non-sugar sweetener that is commercially sold in the U.S. may not be legally sold until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is given proof that the sweetener will not raise people’s serum glucose.
The FDA cares not a whit for insulin, however, so the effects on insulin are never studied. This is completely anecdotal, but many forum members feel that one or another of the non-sugar sweeteners raises their insulin sufficiently to cause them problems on keto.
This is difficult to document and must (because of the lack of a home insulin test) be inferred from the pattern of glucose values observed during rigorous testing, but there are enough forum members who have tried it to make be believe they’re not all imagining things. The good news is that people generally react to only one of the non-sugar sweeteners, so switching to another one can work.
Anyone who finds that such a sweetener does raise their serum glucose should immediately get in touch with the U.S. FDA, so that the product can be removed from the market.