Stevia

Waking up in the mornings long ago I couldnt start my day without a big cup of strong coffee full of sweet and low and milk. Once it was holiday time then I was all about the International Delight flavors. I used to get so excited about the chocolate mint, pecan pie and pumpkin spice coffee flavors. Ooooh yummy. Then I researched and realized I was adding tons of calories, fake ingredients and unnecessary crap unbeknownst to my simple cup of joe. So one morning I decided to to man up and drink it straight. At first, didnt go over so well. Gross, so bitter! But now I LOVE it. I cant stand anything in my coffee and my taste for anything overly sweet has lessened quite a bit, although has not completely gone away. But in its place Ive found stevia. oooh I love this stuff. I have literally probably every single product out there and have tried them all. Here are some thoughts about them.

The Now products...

The French Vanilla powder is by far my favorite. I carry it in my purse everywhere I go. This is my go to oatmeal staple, and on occasion, iced coffee addition. So delicious. It dissolves well in cold or hot liquids and has a faint vanilla taste to anything you add it to. Great product. Pricey but we are so worth it! Only catch, Ive tried baking with it and while I like it, my hubs can always tell. I try to sneak it in there so I can cut back on the sugar in cookies or cakes and he always will take a bite, stare at me and give me that "you put stevia in this didnt you?" look. Sigh. I still have to master baking with it. So if anyone has any tips, please feel free to share!

Next up..the liquids..
Now I love these but in a different way. (We've all heard that before...) I love these in carbonated water. I can make all different flavors with it! I usually hate soda. Never liked it, even growing up but I really like this for some reason. I use the toffee flavor and to me it tastes like cream soda. Its tasty. The chocolate raspberry is great, the vanilla, actually to be honest all are good. I havent gotten a flavor that I didnt like. Again I have no idea if and or how to bake with these pups, but adding it to water, shakes, oatmeal, anything that needs a little boost it works great. Again, little pricey but completely worth it. Plus a little goes a long way. I find that one bottle lasts me a few months. So if you can I highly recommend these picking these up and giving them a shot.

If you were like me and used artifical sweetners for everything it might have a completely different taste. But I find I like the stevia alot more. Plus in my opinion and everything that i have researched on stevia its alot heathier. Artifical sweetners are incredibly scary and I would run far far away if you can.

Theres alot of debate on the safety of artifical sweetners. I think part of the biggest problem is that alot of people seem to be substituting artifical for more nutritious food and drink options. How many people drink cans upon cans of diet soda but not one glass of water? Yet another example, I was at the gym chatting it up with someone and we got on the topic of healthy food alternatives etc etc...(we were at the gym, seemed appropriate.) Anyways she began to tell me how hard it is to lose weight. That she even eats sugar free cookies and still cant lose weight! Ok people...sugar free does NOT mean calorie free and why just rely on that? I asked her maybe to switch to fruit instead if she needed a quick sugar fix and she promptly told me that fruit is too high calorie for her. I have no idea what to say to that either....

So despite the hot debate on whether or not its safe I think it all comes down to the 90/10 lifestyle. In moderation its ok, but if you completely rely on it I think it could possibly have some unfavorable side efects. Im a firm believer in keep it as natural as possible.