Ok so I switched to using stevia instead of sugar it has 0 calories 0 fat 0 carbs 0 protein so it's healthier then sugar. Is thi a good choice?
To be blatant it is pointless. Sugar supplements are just as pointless as a salt supplement would be. These elements are natural and necessary to the human diet. If you are consuming so much sugar or salt that it makes a difference in your body, you need to change your diet. The only time sugar, milk/dairy, or any other "supplements" should be used is for specific medical reason.
They call everything a "naturally occurring". Dont believe everything you hear. The element is probably naturally occuring, however, I highly doubt it is sold exactly how it is created. Even in the case that it is legitimately healthier it wont make a difference. If there is actually a difference in your health for drinking a diet soda, than a regular soda, then you are probably drinking too much soda. Unless you are using a lot of sugar in the things you cook, it would help. Not to mention, if you are using sugar that often, then the items that you are puting sugar in most likely arent all that heathly either.
It's not at all pointless. Stevia is MUCH healthier than sugar. Unlike other sugar substitutes, Stevia is a naturally occurring plant-based material that doesn't go through much alteration other than refinement. Refined sugar is really bad for you because it metabolizes extremely quickly and causes basically a shock response to the insulin system responsible for mediating and metabolizing sugar. There appears to be a pretty strong correlation between the increased use of refined sugars (including high fructose corn syrup) and increases in obesity and diabetes. *Any* soda or high-sugar soft drinks (including undiluted fruit juices) will cause this effect, so using Stevia in drinks will have an immediate impact, no matter how much or little such drinks you consume. Stevia, on the other hand, is something like 10,000 times sweeter than sugar per equivalent quantity. As Alexander said, it has zero calories, carbs, or fat. Used in place of sugar in tea or other beverages, it takes something that might have 200 calories for a 20 oz serving down to 0 calories. It also has other attributes that appear to assist in stabilizing sugar metabolism and a handful of other health benefits. And, unlike every other sugar substitute out there, it is not a synthetic, and is not implicated in any side effects, cancer-causing properties, or anything else. Anything people can do to cut down on their refined sugar intake, such as using stevia in place of sugar, will have a positive impact on overall health. Personally, I use the pure stevia extract rather than stevia that is cut with cornstarch or something to make it the equivalent volume of sugar. It makes it a little tricky to put in just enough, because it does take such a tiny amount to sweeten anything, but with a little practice you can get a good idea of how much to use. I haven't tried using it as a sugar replacement in baking, and I'm not sure it would work very well because under those circumstances, the sugar is reacting chemically with other ingredients in the baking. But I know there are some recipes that have been adapted to use stevia instead of sugar.
Well, Stevia is about as natural as it gets artificial sweetener-wise: it's an extract from a plant, so about as natural as Aspirin! That being said, it's still a chemical: in a brief google search I didn't find too much to worry about the marketable Stevia stuffs. Regardless as Gen said, the best alternative is to cut the amount of sugar you have in your diet: some real sugar in moderation is probably healthier for you than Stevia. Though to address Chip's point, that isn't always an option. He knows what he's talking about more than I do!
It certainly is pointless in my opinion. I was never desputing whether or not Stevio was healthier. However, unless Alex is eating it by the spoonful. it isnt going to make a difference. Not to mention, that even in general I cannot think of any reason why someone should be commonly adding sugar to their diet. Maybe I should have been specific. As someone who doesnt use or eat a lot of sugar, it wouldnt make a difference to my health, nor the health of the majority of people. However, the same may not be said for someone who has a common high sugar intake. Though with the majority it isnt going to make a difference.
If you want to change your diet, you'll be much healthier swapping the sugary stuff out for something entirely different, rather than trying to keep the sugary stuff and just replacing the sugar ingredient with a substitute. And as Gen said, unless you are going to be replacing large amounts of sugar per day with a sugar substitute, you aren't going to see any difference. In a healthy diet you shouldn't really be consuming refined sugar in the first place, so you wouldn't have any to replace. And finally.. you should be consuming more energy, not less. Your other threads have shown that you don't eat enough.
Well I only use it for my coffee an tea but raw sugar has 20 cals in each cue and that's a lot so I switched to stevia
There are some interesting studies out now about artificial sweeteners and why- even though people are using every artificial sweetener possible- there's still epidemic levels of diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome. The problem seems to be that by triggering our sense of "sweet" with increasing amounts of sugar, high fructose corn syrups and artificial sweeteners, we are increasing our tolerance of the pleasure sensations that come with eating sweets. And this makes us crave more sweets. I used to suggest artificial sweeteners to people- particularly stevia and sucralose. These days, I'm suggesting that they drink more water and skip adding sugars and substitutes to their foods.
20 calories is like, 1% of your total daily caloric intake for the average person. While I'm under the impression that stevia is healthier than sugar, I agree with Gen in that if you're eating it so much that it's making a difference, you need to be looking at your diet/portion sizes rather than just making substitutions.
The reality is, the American diet, on average, has a phenomenal amount of refined sugar in it, because most people don't eat a majority of their calories from complex carbs, simple fruits and vegetables and unrefined grains, and using unsweetened teas. An published that said the average American consumes something like 156 pounds of refined sugars a year. So for the average person, doing everything possible to reduce refined sugar intake, including using stevia whenever possible in teas, coffee, and the like, will make a huge difference. It's nice to say "Don't eat any sugar" but obviously, based on the above statistic, that isn't so easy for the average American.
I don't eat anything with refined sugar I eat so healthy but I dont like eating sugar at all which is why I'm using stevia. I only add sugar to my coffee in the morning and at night but I don't like using real sugar in it again so I switched to stevia. I drink 2 1/2 liters if water a day I only drink water.( or coffe in morning) I don't drink juice or pops (ew)
