has anyone tried this stuff, or uses it regularly?

do health food stores carry it, or is the best way to get it online?

i'd appreciate any general info, thanks.

12/19/2005 11:53:42 PM

GNC carries it.

12/20/2005 6:13:57 AM

Is there any brand without the horrible metallic aftertaste? Or is it inherent to stevia?

I have only tried PureVia, and foods with added stevia. They all have a nasty aftertaste which completely ruins the experience of eating said food.


Anybody tried monk fruit extract? Aftertaste?

I just bought the product below and am wondering if I should risk opening it or not. I checked online, some people say there is an aftertaste, others say there isn't. Some say it tastes better than stevia, other say worse.



[Edited on February 14, 2016 at 10:25 PM. Reason : ]

2/14/2016 10:14:43 PM

Basically, Stevia has a certain aftertaste which most people don't like.

HOWEVER, it's quite easy to acquire a taste for it just be repeated exposure and the aftertaste is no longer a problem. Took me a few weeks and I've been consuming a shitton of it for 6 years.

2/14/2016 10:30:11 PM

^^I use stevia in the raw and don't notice any aftertaste. My nose isn't super sensitive though so I may just not be detecting something that a super smeller would.

2/14/2016 10:48:48 PM

^^^ If you're worried about the "risk" of opening a $5 box of sweetener, I think it's the least of your worries.

[Edited on February 14, 2016 at 11:53 PM. Reason : 3]

2/14/2016 11:53:09 PM

LOL it is $2.88

I would just hate to waste it, is all. (in case I hate it).

But I guess I will force myself to finish it. I got it for sweetening hot chocolate. Cocoa has a strong enough taste to probably mask any bitter/metallic aftertaste.

2/15/2016 12:05:06 AM

I just hate the name.

2/15/2016 3:32:54 PM

Monk fruit to me tastes the most similar to sugar of all the zero calorie sweeteners to me.

2/15/2016 9:28:06 PM

Tastes yucky and too sweet. Although I don't sweeten anything usually anyway so I've never needed real or artificial sweeteners. Unsweet tea FTW!

2/17/2016 1:12:45 PM

Don't be a pussy just use turbinado

2/18/2016 12:33:33 PM

Aren't artificial sweeteners like nicotine patches? They help you wean off sugar then once you've dropped the addiction you can go cold turkey all together?

2/18/2016 12:38:06 PM

Wait, aren't nicotine patches terrible?

2/18/2016 12:43:43 PM

Yeah so are artificial sweeteners. There's plenty of evidence out there that certain ones have adverse impacts to your body.

--From the limited research I've done on artificial sweeteners many of them (including Stevia) tax your adrenal glands because our bodies aren't made to handle lots of calorie-free sweeteners (natural or artificial). Basically your body gets a sweet taste from a food that doesn't provide a glucose response that normally goes along with sugar handling.

When you ingest non-caloric sweeteners your body expects sugar so it clears glucose from the bloodstream and blood sugar drops but no actual glucose is ingested. After this happens adrenaline and cortisol start to take sugar from other sources such as your liver and muscle glycogen, protein or elsewhere to bring blood glucose back up.

Research suggests that this continuous release of stress hormones causes harm to our adrenal glands and overall health.

That paired with all the stores about Stevia and other sweeteners containing a bunch of other stuff (glycerine, xylitol, dextrose, etc.).

Plus the fact that your body does need glycogen in certain scenarios and glucose stores are important. Fruit, raw honey, and other natural sweeteners are much better substances for this glycogen formation.

That's the tip of the iceberg on why natural or artificial sweeteners are typically bad for you.

I think the main problem is you're tricking your body into ingesting something that it's not just because you have a sweet tooth. The sweet tooth is the problem in the first place. Start drinking unsweet tea, carbonated water, putting something like coconut cream in your coffee, etc. Humans aren't made to ingest sweet things all the time.

Also if you look at some of the longer term studies artificual sweeter use has actually been tied to weight gain:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2008.284/full

Quote :

"A significant positive dose-response relationship emerged between baseline ASB consumption and all outcome measures, adjusted for baseline BMI and demographic/behavioral characteristics. Consuming >21 ASBs/week (vs. none) was associated with almost-doubled risk of OW/OB (odds ratio (OR) = 1.93, P = 0.007) among 1,250 baseline normal-weight (NW) individuals, and doubled risk of obesity (OR = 2.03, P = 0.0005) among 2,571 individuals with baseline BMIs <30 kg/m2. Compared with nonusers (+1.01 kg/m2), ?BMIs were significantly higher for ASB quartiles 2–4: +1.46 (P = 0.003), +1.50 (P = 0.002), and +1.78 kg/m2 (P < 0.0001), respectively. Overall, adjusted ?BMIs were 47% greater among artificial sweetner (AS) users than nonusers (+1.48 kg/m2 vs. +1.01 kg/m2, respectively, P < 0.0001). In separate analyses—stratified by gender; ethnicity; baseline weight category, dieting, or diabetes status; or exercise-change category—?BMIs were consistently greater among AS users. These differences, though not significant among exercise increasers, or those with baseline diabetes or BMI >30 kg/m2 (P = 0.069), were significant in all 13 remaining strata. These findings raise the question whether AS use might be fueling—rather than fighting—our escalating obesity epidemic."

So people who use AS (according to this study) may be be at a higher risk to increase their BMI if they already have a high BMI.

I think the main point is there's a lot of unknowns out there so why risk it? Just don't use them in the first place.

[Edited on February 18, 2016 at 1:49 PM. Reason : s]

2/18/2016 1:23:27 PM

I'd like to say that until about an hour ago I thought it was "Sevia"

2/18/2016 2:34:33 PM

i tried the monk fruit in the raw... same thing, i hated it.

i am going to call them tomorrow and see if i can get a refund or a coupon.

Quote :

"Don't be a pussy just use turbinado"

that's what i will go buy tomorrow, or one of demerara, sucanat, or coconut sugar.

2/18/2016 7:10:32 PM