Good Folks of Traineo,

Recently, two different sweetening products have been suggested to me, (as I'm of the mind to eliminate all artificial sweeteners from my life), and I've been trying to find them in my little French town, to no avail.

One is called, "Stevia", a powerful sweetener made from a plant of the same name, and the other is "Xylitol", a sweetener derived from birch trees, (it's also produced by the human body which I thought was neat), and is said to be about 40% less caloric than regular sugar and affects not blood sugar levels, which is a major plus--not even touching on the anti-bacterial properties it possesses.

What I'd like to know is if any of you have ever ordered quality versions of either online before--and if so, the links to those sites, SVP.

They're easy to find on the Net--but I'm kind of paranoid when it comes to ordering from a site I never at least been referred to.

TIA,

Minu

interesting, but they aren't artificial but are lower in calories? hm

can you use it the same way as regular sugar (for cooking and all?)

tastes almost the same?

Here's a link to some interesting info on Xylitol.

Here's the Wiki entry on Stevia.

Sorry Minu, wish I could help. Fortunately in Milwaukee we a have number of health food stores that have just about everything. I did order a neti pot from Health and Yoga, and was very pleased with their timely shipment and follow up email, but I checked and they don’t sell Stevia or Xylitol. Good Luck!

Jessipoo, check out Stevia Info, you'll be amazed! Stevia is an all natural sweetener, 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar, with zero calories and zero carbs. It doesn't increase blood insulin levels and doesn't feed nasty intestinal yeast. Comes in both powder and liquid forms, and can replace sugar in just about any recipe. It's great for people who can't kick the sugar habit, and those who love a little something sweet now-and-again.

Cheers anywho, Jeff. I shall use the force. Nice link, btw.

And YES, I'm rather keen to get my taste buds on either product--as I am equally keen to weed out sugar from my life.

I got a phone number in Finland from a local pharmacy for Xylitol, so if all else fails online, I'll be ringin' their bell.

I don't know a whole lot about artificial sweeteners, but I know that I used to use a protein powder that used Stevia (Jay Robb's Whey Protein).

The shakes I made tasted great, and I didn't have any funny side affects from using it. I don't think I know any more about ordering this sort of thing online, but I figure I'd contribute my 2 cents.

Well, I found a seemingly sincere healthfood store online in the UK and ordered some Stevia today. I'll be recieving a catalogue from that Finland Xylitol maker soon.

Last night I ordered a few packs of Xylitol chewing gum from another site to test out.

For anyone interested, I'll share my takes on the tastes here.

Cheers for the responses, now I'm off to Sweats-ville.

I have heard such varying and conflicting information, I just don't know what to believe. I have heard stevia being claimed to ultimately boost the immune system, I guess as opposed to sugar harming the immune system. Yes, it's nearly calorie-free. It cannot replace sugar in many recipes, as it does not have sugar's ability to add texture, etc. This would require some cooking experimentation. It does work well in sweetening drinks. I have a lemonade recipe. It is in my yerba mate tea. The liquid drop form can be added to yogurt, oatmeal, more, use your imagination.

It was banned for a while in the US, and now is ok labeled as a supplement. Sounds like harmful claims have not been proven or disproven.

The brand I am familiar with is: URL

I've also seen xylitol in gum, (don't know much about that).

Good question, Minu. I am curious to hear of others' experiences with this and I'll be watching to see what you discover!

There's that cute little tummy again!

Interesting note regarding Stevia being banned in the U.S., as I read a few articles sighting how it was the Aspartame and other chemical $weetener companies that had a LOT to do with that ban; and it still is not totally "in", as exhibited by the fact that it's only approved as a supplement--which in and of itself is kinda insane, as the only way to ingest a supplement is through the mouth--JUST LIKE A FOOD.



As for it being a bummer in the baking dept., that's OK with me, as I really don't do a lot of that anyway, I just want to eliminate my daily dose of honey/sugar in the ole cwoffeee, and these two options seem perfect for that, (as well as for yogurt nes c'est PAS).

Plus, I like how they both have been in use for a very long time in other parts of the world, with the discovery of Xylitol dating back to the 1800's and Stevia reaching even further through the centuries.

I have tried Stevia and it's good but fairly expensive and weakens (in strenghth) if not used promptly (I am in a cool climate). Lately, I have been using Splenda which hasn't really had enough time to prove itself (I haven't seen any evidence anywhere that it is harmful, although the sugar industry has mounted a campaign against it); it's everywhere, and I think it's good.

Splenda is not natural, it is a chlorocarbon, detrimental to human metabolism. I'll have to recheck on where I read that...

That said, it tastes better than other artificial sweeteners. I do not entirely avoid it. Don't overdo it. Worth a little google research.

And I just found out it (sucralose/splenda) was in my sugar free spaghetti sauce! I thought they were just removing the sugar, not adding artifical stuff. The company(Hunt's) should have been more up-front about that. If it were called "diet pasta sauce" like "diet coke" or whatever, I would have realized this.

This might be because there are many companies offer Stevia, usually in a refined form, and sometimes companies will add a little something different to it. The liquid brand I use is Stevita which has Stevia, distilled water and grapefruit seed extract. Unrefined Stevia does have negligible calories, but most of the refined forms are calorie-free.

Baking with Stevia can be tricky as additional additives, such as yogurt, egg whites or water, must also be added to maintain the recipes body. There is no shortage of Stevia recipes and equivalency charts on the net, and there are even a small handful of cookbooks devoted entirely to Stevia recipes.

The FDA currently contradicts itself because is considers Stevia both safe and unsafe. It's safe when 'labeled' as a supplement and unsafe when 'labeled' as an additive. The FDA initially banned Stevia in 1991 - get this - at the request of an anonymous complaint. To this day, after many requests, the FDA has not released the source of this complaint, even when the requests were filed under the Freedom of Information Act. Don't get me started on the FDA; they're a mucked up organization. Stevia has been used in Paraguay and Brazil for centuries and in China for decades, so I consider the small amount I use more than safe.

The relationship between Stevia and the immune system is fascinating, something I haven't heard before. I'll be sure to check into that.

If you can find that piece of research, I would appreciate hearing about it as I am consuming a lot of Splenda. Before getting to this point I looked at it fairly carefully but I could not find anything conclusive. That was about a year ago...

Why would you want fake sugar?

Insofar as Splenda is concerned, that's a valid point and a question that I have also asked myself. Personally, I can only offer the obvious "lame" answer: to avoid the increased calorie count at the end of the day. I drink a lot of coffee (again not particularly healthy). I doubt that it prevents insulin surge and probably has a high probability of being detrimental.

Now that I am close to my ideal weight, it may be time to rethink the Splenda.

I use equal or other aspartame sweeteners with my coffee (I used to use honey) and I it saves me about 60-100 calories each time (depending how much I put).

Considering today I had 2 coffees and splenda jello, I "saved" like 200-300 calories, which I was able to cut off or consume a nutritious food.

I don't have coffee everyday either so I would say it's okay. I have aspartame sweeteners on average one teaspoon per day. Which I think is okay. I don't think it's enough to make me unhealthy.

where would I be able to look for stevia around here?
grocery stores (which section?)
health food stores?

jessipoo-
do you have wholefoods or wildoats or fairway near you? i think they might have it. i would call first and doublecheck. im not sure that a regular grocery store would have it. also, maybe a private health food store might have it.

jennifer


http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/

if you plug stevia into their search category, you can get more info about it too.

jennifer

Nice discussion, cheers for the input.

I too was using Splenda for the bulk of my weightloss campaign, but the more I hear about its toxic effects, the more I look for alternatives, like Xylitol and Stevia for eg.

Aspartame is just plain scary to me and I only use it rarely. I have no doubt that it was that particular company responsible for the Stevia ban way back.

As I too am now focusing more on general fitness as opposed to mere weightloss, (still am, but there's less of it to chip off the ole block ; ), I was returning to honey and fructose sugar in my daily coffee, that said, I'd rather keep those calories for other fun things, like more nuts, or muslix or dinner delights, etc.

Plus, I'm downright facsinated by the anti-bacterial properites of Xylitol, as well as how it doesn't effect blood sugar levels.

EDIT: Adding another article singing the praises of Stevia.

info ~,

Just type, "Splenda, toxicity" into Google, and check it out the numerous hits. Entering, "Spenda" alone yeilds some pretty negative press.

Ok, so maybe I'm still in the dark ages, but I thought that aspertame and other artificial sweeteners were proven to be ok and better for you than regualr sugar. I really want to look into stevia and the other, however, I'm on a pretty tight budget, don't want the extra "real" sugar calories, but am now very scared to eat anymore of my splenda. So, what to do?

WOW, he like covered ALL the bases there. Nice article. You have nice legs by the way, nice to see them back. (yes, I can use the word nice three times in a mere two sentances). Cheers!

Thorough indeed, that article was---young---warrior... (I really do talk like Yoda sometimes, so why not type it? ; )

And, my gams thank you from the bottoms of their soles.

Also, I often find myself performing "nice-ectomies" when posting, so the indulgences in your last post, Jeff likely just continue to maintain the balance in universal-nice-ratio.



NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE.

Nancy, I think you'll find Stevia reasonably priced. It's SOOO sweet you use very little of it, just a few drops, so a small bottle goes a long way.

For those with a Wal-Mart available, I was able to find a 100 pack of Stevia packets (not positive on the amount per packet) for about $9.

I'm excited to try it out

Well, that gets me interested in Xylitol which I have not looked into. I remember now that the liquid Stevia I was using lost it's potency after a relatively short time (anyone else seen this?). Though it happened to me twice, as I recall, I cannot discount the possiblity that I may have left the bottles open, or not tightly closed. They were fairly large bottles, quite expensive, and the experience, along with something else that bothered me in the powdered form of Stevia (I believe it hardened, possibly) turned me away in search of a more streamlined solution.

Thank you for the helpful posts Minu.

Doi, I see that I wrote "effect", instead of, "affect", up there--oooops.

You're most welcome, info.

Don't know if it's any help but I'm using cinnamon instead of sugar / sweetener in a lot of food. (On cereals and in recipes).

Also I read a study recently which was saying that apparently your gut recognises sweetener as sugar (can't find the link I'm sorry!) and converts it in a similar way. Apparently it's something to do with why diet drinks don't help people who are trying to lose weight. (Have just done a Google search: http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2007/07/25/could-diet -drinks-actually-promote-weight-gain/)