Tuesday, November 3, 2009

stevia

If you have discovered the massive benefits from kicking the sugar habit, then you're probably grateful to be living with less headaches, less joint aches, greater energy, better sleep, clarity of thought, and fewer illnesses.  But the taste of sweetness is still one of my favorites.  I just taste it in more things than just sugar now.  I taste the natural sweetness of wheat, fruit, rice, and vegetables like I've never tasted it before... now that I'm off the refined-white-sugar addiction.   But I still want a sweetener sometimes, so I try as many natural sweeteners as I can.  Stevia is an amazing green leaf herb which is about 30 times sweeter than sugar.  My kids and I really like "SweetLeaf" liquid stevia (vanilla creme flavor) to sweeten our unsweetened raw whole milk yogurt.  It is highly concentrated in it's sweet flavor, but contains no sugar.  So you only have to use a few drops to sweeten a whole bottle of water, cup of tea, or bowl of yogurt, etc.  Most stevia extract (powder or liquid) has a bitter after-taste, but this particular liquid stevia is really sweet and the bitterness is barely noticeable.  I also use it in homemade icecream.  There are a bunch of other flavors (like lemon drop, peppermint, raspberry, etc.) or there's plain liquid stevia with no flavor added.  This little 2 oz. dropper bottle of vanilla creme liquid stevia cost me $13.53 from Miller's Natural Foods, and it was well worth it.  I think it will last me about a year.  

SweetLeaf Liquid Stevia, Vanilla Crème, 2-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2)