STEVIA - THE SWEET TRUTH

 STEVIA  2015

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

What is really exciting about being on the Whole Health Warrior journey and the quest to raise consciousness is that we are always learning, growing and discovering. One lesson I have learned is never to be afraid to jump in at anytime for fear of the development of the proverbial better mousetrap. What a horrible non-vegan image, but you get the idea. I hold this standard with my food choices, using the best information at the time to make my decisions. Study what is available, be discerning, decide, and move on. Never being afraid to come back and revisit this when “new” information is made available.

So is the case with stevia. When I first started using stevia, the object was to replace sugar and any of the common artificial sweeteners. In my mind the evidence regarding each of those was no longer debatable. Stevia is a plant that has been used for centuries as a medicine and sweetener which has zero affect on insulin levels in the blood so I started using it...

In those days you basically got stevia in a shaker, sort of ground up greenish stuff, we didn’t use much because it was very sweet but it worked fine. Then something happened to our stevia. It started to look like sugar, came in little packages of white powder in coffee shops, and in liquid bottle droppers with fancy flavors, plus it was given fancy names like Truvia, Stevia in the raw and so on. Intuitively I knew something was amiss here, but by then I wasn’t using much because I had moved onto different non glycemic sweeteners. When people asked me about stevia I would tell them it had no impact on insulin, that I wasn’t crazy about the taste, etc.

FAST FORWARD TO TODAY

Recently my friend asked me to read an article by a person names “Food Babe” (Vani Hari) dated 6/28/15 entitled INVESTIGATING SNEAKY INGREDIENTS IN STEVIA.

In summary here is what she writes:

She starts by telling us how bad sugar is for us, which most of us already knew, and that Americans eat way too much (130 pounds per year), and that it is addictive. Got it!

She then shares with us a brief history of stevia and how it is a plant from South America, That the extract is 200 time sweeter than sugar, and zero impact on blood insulin levels.  Got it!

Here's where it got interesting for me, thank you Food Babe for making my life easier.

ENTER BIG CORPS

The sweetener market is huge generating megabucks, so of course BigCorp wants their share. By now sugar and artificial sweeteners like aspartame are getting bad raps (rightfully so) so it’s time to find a new cash crop, enter stevia. BUT we need to reformulate it because natural is no good, rebrand it, who wants to call a food by its real name, repackage it remarket it, and all the rest.

So today we have a something new (not sure what it really is) that people are using as stevia. Some issues to consider:

1. Many of the brands are highly processed with as many as 40 steps.
2. In some cases the processing itself is patented.
3. Many of the processes are using chemicals, even possible carcinogens.
4. Some of the processes include acetone, methanol, ethanol, acetonitrale, isoproponol and other hard to pronounce non food items.
5. Then you might find additives to the final product such as dextrose, erythrotol, agave inulin, even silica.
6. Much of all of this includes non organic and GMO products or by-products
7. Stevia leaf has a long history of human usage while this other stuff doesn’t. Is it safe?

So as you can see the poor friendly little stevia plant is under assault and the finished product is now called a food. Any questions?

MY PERSONAL TAKE ON THIS

BigCorp is going to do their thing but I WILL NOT be participating.

I will not buy brands such as Truvia (by Coca Cola), Pure Via (Pepsico product), Stevia in the Raw or any other product that appears to processed in these ways. Don’t need the product that bad, value my health too much, and do not want to feed the BigCorps until they wake up and become conscious.

I WILL DO THE FOLLOWING

Continue to research this issue and report back to you when I have something worthy of reporting, such as new suppliers or new news on this topic. New tips such as looking for the words “whole leaf stevia” on labels (good).

I will endorse and buy from companies that treat our food with respect and consciousness. The following are 3 companies I have vetted and will buy from them (already have) and will use their stevia products. (More to come- this is a work in progress).

We will start to carry the best Stevia we can find in our online store at whwstore.com

Will have it online July 15^th. Always at a 20% discount.

1. Sweet Leaf Stevia (Wisdom Natural Brands)

Gilbert AZ. 800-899-9908 – sweetleaf.com

I have vetted them, only organic stevia leaf, no chemicals, water based extraction, and flavorings are botanical herbs, fruits, and veggies. No GMO, MSG, or other bad stuff.

Product is heat stable, can be used in cooking and baking. (Liquid drop form).

Call Melissa if you have any questions, she is very helpful.

2. Green Stevia Leaves

Greengreenstevia.com

All organic – simply dried leaves- you may grind it up yourself.

Available on Amazon for $16.88

3. Frontier Natural Products Coop

Green leaf stevia powder – (organic)

800-669-3275

Frontiercoop.com

16 Oz. - $22  

So hope this helps and many thanks to FoodBabe for bringing us up to speed.

Google her for her website and blog or follow her on Facebook.

Baruch Hashem