Stevia

So Stevia has been a huge hit for people.

Why? -Because it's the only natural sweetener with zero calories. 

So when I first heard about this I though awesome. I can use this in my oatmeal and smoothies and maybe even my hot chocolate that I make from scratch sometimes. (sometimes being the key word)

I wanted to do a little research though. I was hesitant to see that a lot of the popular brands have added ingredients and stevia isn't the first ingredient. That's right people the stevia that you most buy isn't pure stevia. Some of those companies added ingredients aren't good for you. Truvia is one of them. Stevia in the raw's first ingredient is dextrose. It says it's 100% organic but it's not pure stevia. They put those additives in it to make it cheaper to make. A lot of those brands say a cup of that equals a cup of sugar. But if you are using pure stevia a sprinkling is all you need. 

If you are going to use stevia you want to make sure it's the pure stevia. The other stuff really isn't good for you. Even if it says 100% organic don't be fooled. Organic can be good in certain circumstances. But 100% organic doesn't mean it doesn't have fillers you probably shouldn't be putting into your body. 

This is the brand that I found listed as number one on several websites. I found it in the health food section at Fred Meyer. This little spice bottle is probably only half full and cost $11 dollars on sale but like I said you only need a sprinkling of it. The serving size is 1/64 of a teaspoon! The whole container has 700 servings! 

(You can also buy Stevia liquid drops. Normally when this is done they add alcohol to it like they do to most essential oils. You would only need 1 drop for anything you are doing with it. NuNaturals does have a non-alcohol liquid as well, it's just more expensive)

Now if you don't want to spend the money on pure stevia you can buy your own stevia plant. I found mine at Fred Meyer with the other herbs in the garden section. (We only had Fred Meyer)

The plant is a perennial and gets about 30 inches tall and is a small shrub like plant. You take the leaves and dry them and then powder them like you do any dried herb and you get the same stuff. It might be a little more bitter than the stuff in the store from what I have been told but I bought the plant anyway. 

Now if you are going to make chocolate chip cookies or brownies just use the sugar. There's so many other fats and oils that you are putting into them that leaving out the sugar isn't going to make a huge difference. And stevia is just way to expensive for those types of baking projects. A cookie is a cookie and it's not healthy no matter what you do.  Now there are ways to make them healthier but that's for a different post on a different day.