Stevia legalized!!!

[raweater]

FDA Approves Stevia, Ends the Era of Oppression of this Herbal Sweetener
http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000626_stevia_Truvia_FDA.html

[walnutty]

Yipee!!!!!!

[JEN]

I just read that coke is using it in their new juice product that is coming out this year so that must be why they passed it.

[rawviveyourself]

Stevia has been available, without interruption, at every hfs I've ever gone to, so I don't know what all the fuss was about. It never left the shelves that I saw!

And yes, coke and pepsi announced last spring they are going to offer stevia based sodas.:rolleyes:

[HolyGuacamole]

I think the difference is now it will be available as a sweetener, not as a dietary supplement.

[raweater]

Stevia has been available, without interruption, at every hfs I've ever gone to, so I don't know what all the fuss was about. It never left the shelves that I saw!

And yes, coke and pepsi announced last spring they are going to offer stevia based sodas.:rolleyes:

Until December 18th, it was illegal to even say that stevia tastes sweet or to put it in food. You may have noticed the stevia sold at the store doesn't say anywhere what it is, what it's for, or that it tastes sweet, the FDA destroyed any company that dared to say stevia tastes sweet. Only the few lucky ones to have learned the top secret about stevia tasting sweet could benefit from this miraculous plant, anyone else seeing stevia at stores would be clueless as to what that stuff is. The law stated "Any mention of stevia's possible use as a sweetener or tea is strictly prohibited". The FDA even had recipe books burned if they mentioned stevia in any recipes.

Companies were also strictly forbidden from using stevia as a sweetener in food in order to protect the sugar and aspartame companies selling their deadly poison.

This era of oppresion is finally over, people are now free to say "stevia tastes sweet" without risking prison time or being destroyed. Food manufacturers are also now finally allowed to replace deadly sugar and aspartame in their food with healthy stevia.

We can finally expect a wave of sugar and aspartame free stevia sweetened products to hit the shelves (of course they will be cooked, but at least those eating cooked food won't be poisoned quite as much).

[rawviveyourself]

i dunno....maybe eating dates and bananas are better options than things in bottles and packets anyway.

[raweater]

No, dates and bananas are very high in sugar which is unhealthy if eaten regularly. Unrefined stevia leaves are completely natural (I'm not talking about the liquid extract or white refined stevia powder). And stevia prevents cancer, high blood pressure, cavities and many other health problems.

[DawnW]

Bananas and dates are unhealthy if eaten regularly? I am thinking many on this board will disagree with you on that one!

Dawn


No, dates and bananas are very high in sugar which is unhealthy if eaten regularly. Unrefined stevia leaves are completely natural (I'm not talking about the liquid extract or white refined stevia powder). And stevia prevents cancer, high blood pressure, cavities and many other health problems.

[raweater]

Raw doesn't equal healthy, many raw foods are known to cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease etc. Peanuts are naturally carcinogenic, dates are very high in sugar and have similar effects to regular sugar and do spike sugar levels. Try living on just dates and you'll probably start feeling sick after less than 15 minutes. I know I get sick feelings after 3-5 dates.

[rawviveyourself]

who said anything about eating to excess??
i'd rather have a whole food any day over a packaged product (legal or not) ;)

[raweater]

Who said anything about a packaged product??
Stevia is not only sold packaged, do you even know what stevia is? It's the leaves of a plant, like mint leaves, spinach leaves, etc. It's just that they taste sweet. I use the dried stevia leaves ground into a powder (I'm not talking about the refiend white stevia powder which is 300 times sweeter than sugar), it is great to sweeten smoothies without rising the glycemic index.

[HolyGuacamole]

I use stevia leaves straight off the plant or dried, but I also have packets and some drops in my kitchen in case I should ever want to use them.
I don't use a lot of sweetener of any kind and eat very few bananas and dates for that matter ;) but it's nice to have some healthy choices available to you when sweet is what you want.

I was extremely happy to have converted my mother from her carcinogenic and brain-eroding artificial sweetener packets (and she puts like EIGHT in a glass of tea - scary!) to stevia.
Even if it is processed into oblivion, it is a helluva lot better than aspartame and saccharine. I am delighted that it will be more widely available now. A stevia-sweetened can of soda will still be horrid stuff, but it won't be quite as unhealthy as one otherwise sweetened, and every little bit helps.

This is good news. :)


*P.S.
I have no idea what my mom's malfunction is that leads her to put such an insane amount of sweetener in her drinks, and no, I'm not exaggerating for effect, LOL. On this subject there is no reasoning with her. When she used sugar, she used so insanely much that a good half inch of the stuff would settle on the bottom of her glass that just couldn't be stirred in.
And yet I don't at all care for sweet things, including, for the most part, sweet fruit. *shrug*

[JennaBoBenna]

yayy!!!! :D:D

[lsadeseyens]

I don't like the taste of stevia~~all I have tried is the dried or liquid form. Do the dried/fresh leaves have a different taste? If so, I might hunt them down.

[raweater]

When you say dried form, do you mean the refined white powder? The natural form tastes much better but you need to use a bit more than the refined white powder.

[lsadeseyens]

raweater, Yes it was a white powder and I didn't like the aftertaste it left in my mouth, and where do you buy the dried leaves or fresh?

[raweater]

I had gotten the dried leaves from http://herbaladvantage.com/

Did you taste it by itself or mixed with something? The aftertaste normally goes away when not taken by itself. Anyway I almost never use the white powder. I use the liquid form in caffeine free tea though, I should make my own extract from the leaves though.

[lsadeseyens]

I think it was mixed with tea. I have found the liquid does the same thing. Thanks for info for dried leaves. Think I will try those (on occasion) What would you do to make an extract from leaves? Soak them?