European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), have established that steviol glycosides are safe to consume by all populations

The final big hurdle to the universal use of stevia in commercial food products has been cleared.

We consumers can celebrate the final approval of Stevia for use as a sweetener in the European Union.

“The regulation has been formally adopted on 11 November and will enter into force twenty days after publication in the EU Official Journal, which occurred on 12 November.”

Europeans  will be able to enjoy products sweetened by steviol glycosides as early as 2 December 2011, so keep your eyes peeled for many new products that will be sweetened with the most natural of all zero calorie sweeteners – Stevia.

But STOP! With all the excitement, we should bear in mind though that a manufactured product, even if it is sweetened with natural healthy sweetener such as stevia, will never  be as healthy as a food prepared at home with all natural ingredients that suit you individual bodies needs. We should keep paying careful attention to the full list of ingredients of all packaged products, the longer the list and the stranger the words, the bigger the chance that a product that is marketed as healthy is not actually going to do your body any good at all. If in doubt, make it yourself; be in control of what you put in your engine.

Stevia sweetened products definitely are not a green card to overindulging on the wrong foods for ones body, you’ll find eating to your personal metabolic type will make you feel a lot better, physically and mentally. Replacing refined sugar with stevia is however a great way to get out of control blood sugar levels back into a normal range, which will have a positive affect on the overall metabolic function of your body and can result in finding it easier to shift unwanted weight that the body can hold on to for dear life if it has developed insulin resistance. In point 4) of the article  ” The definitive guide to insulin, blood sugar & type 2 diabetes (and you’ll understand it)”, you’ll find an explanation as to how the body can actually turn muscle into sugar, resulting in loosing valuable muscle mass and gaining even more body fat.

Without balanced insulin levels, any effort of loosing weight and living a life without cravings is impossible. If you want to know more about how to fix insulin resistance and constant sweet cravings and make you body system work better check out this article and the podcast on underground wellness.com. Another great article that explaines exactly why you should sort out your insulin levels before you get fully blown Type 2 diabetes is:  ” The definitive guide to insulin, blood sugar & type 2 diabetes (and you’ll understand it)” – it’s a brilliant explanation on how and why insulin problems are affecting our body shapes, hunger and cravings and why we get fatter and fatter the more resistant to insulin we become.

The good thing about stevia is that it does not increase your cravings for sweets because it does not have a negative effect on  the insulin levels, stevia has no GI (glycemic index). There is a great article that explains how and why stevia is beneficial to health and wellbeing- all backed up with some interesting studies, check out the article on Marks Daily apple. You can see there is a lot of information out there that makes a good case to change your sweet tooth treats to stevia sweetened versions.

 

You want to try Stevia now?

If you haven’t tried Stevia yet and have become curious as to what the taste is like and how you could use it in your cooking and baking, Stevia-shop.co.uk has a great option for you, the mini Starter kit.

The stevia-sweet starter kit allows you to sample the main products without investing all your cash, not knowing if a stevia product is right for you. You have the opportunity to experience the Stevia-sweet white and Stevia-sweet natural unbleached Stevia Glycoside. Find out which one you like better through direct comparison.

The kit also includes a small sample of the convenient Stevia-sweet sweetener tabs; they are great for adding natural sweetness without adding calories to your hot drinks, saving you the empty calories and un-necessary insulin spikes of sugar.

Once you’ve enjoyed trying our products and decide to get your favourite product in real size, you can use an enclosed discount Voucher Code when placing your order and save on you first stevia batch.

 

You should know that there are many suppliers of stevia where the quality of the products varies greatly. Stevia-sweet products do not have any fillers at all, many brands add fillers to make dosage of the product easier. If you are keen to keep the additives and  unnatural substances that you take in through your diet to a minimum, pay special attention to the list of ingredients of the stevia products on the market you are interested in.

Then, as make your own favourite recipes and share them with your friends, you become an expert in dosing stevia to your taste in not time. There are so many recipes available to try, you won’t be short on options.

Should you have a favourite recipe where you can not find a stevia sweetened version for, you can always get in touch. I am always happy to help convert the recipe into a stevia sweetened delight that will not fall short in texture und taste.

If you are new to stevia you might also want to check out the “some basic rules of thumb…” post I did earlier this year it explains a little more about how stevia behaves in baking and cooking and

how to adapt recipes and deal with the stevia after taste sensitivity, which recipes to start skeptical family member on, they won’t even know it’s not sugar.

 

Over the next weeks, you will find new posts for seasonal christmas biscuit and  pudding recipes sweetened with stevia-sweet.

If you are doing any baking with stevia maybe you would like to share your creations in a guest post?

Let’s celebrate the official release of Stevia in to the EU market place buy baking lots of treats.

MK xx