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My Favorite Sweetener For Your Tea: 0 Calories
Posted by Phuong on Jan 8th, 2009

I rarely sweeten my tea but I know many people who do. From my previous blog we found out that milk counteracts against the antioxidants in tea, but how about sugar or a sugar substitute? I recently tried adding Stevia - a sweet leaf - and it is amazing. I was just looking for a sugar alternative to help one of my friends live a healthier and longer life so, I'm not necessarily a Stevia advocate but it is certainly a better alternative. She was a huge fan of Equal/Splenda and it always bothered me when she added it to her tea. I was determined to find a natural sweetener for her and came up with a few options: Honey, Agave, and Stevia. Being a health nut and calorie counter, she liked stevia the best.

Stevia Leaf
Stevia Leaf


My Mom and Grandma have been using Stevia for years and love the natural sweetness. Stevia has been used by millions of users in modern countries such as Japan for thirty years, with no reported or known harmful effects on humans. It has practically zero calories and has abundant vitamins (A,B,C) and minerals (Iron, Zinc, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium).

Some studies have shown that Stevia can help control hyperglycemia, improve glucose tolerance, decrease blood glucose levels, and reduce glucose production in the kidneys. And as far as safety is concerned, studies have shown that Stevia is neither mutagenic or genotoxic - not an agent of genetic damage. Studies also show that Stevia neither affects growth nor fertility and reproduction in both male and female animals.

Sugar
Sugar


On the other hand, what sugar does to you isn't so sweet. Sugar contains nothing that the body can build from at all - it can only be burned off or stored as fat. The evidence linking high sugar intake to diabetes is irrefutable. Sugar also has been linked with atherosclerosis, a condition long blamed on eggs and other high cholesterol foods. Researchers now suspect sugar and other highly refined foods in the Western diet as a leading cause of cancer.


What's even worse - artificial sugars such as Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure) and Splenda are equally dangerous and detrimental to your health as they are synthesized alternatives!
Research has found that the components of Aspartame may lead to a wide variety of ailments including:


  • Epilepsy/seizures
  • Migraines and headaches
  • Depression
  • Brain tumors
  • Autoimmune diseases

Research in animals has shown that consuming sucralose (Splenda) comes hand in hand with a plethora of health problems including:

  • Shrunken thymus glands (up to 40 percent shrinkage)
  • Enlarged liver and kidneys
  • Atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus
  • Reduced growth rate
  • Decreased red blood cell count
  • Extension of the pregnancy period
  • Aborted pregnancy
  • Diarrhea

For these many reasons it is wise to avoid artificial sweeteners.

Sugar
Comments
  • Kelly Brown Says: June 12th, 2009, 2:12pm The best information i have found exactly here. Keep going Thank you
  • Ann Says: April 14th, 2009, 1:09pm Wow. O_o I've been using Splenda as a sweetner. I don't use it often but when I need sweetness that's what I choose. I'm going to have to try the Stevia!
  • Phuong Says: February 18th, 2009, 10:02pm My sister loves Truvia...the solid form of Stevia. Truvia is made of rebiana, a sweetener derived from the leaves of the stevia plant.
  • Viet Says: January 8th, 2009, 12:35pm Artificial sweeteners are horrible AND they counteract against weight loss. Check out Phuong's other blog at http://theteachick.com/2008/11/17/why-youre-not-losing-those-last-5-lbs/. The negative effects of artificial sugars impact the body's ability to produce the proper amount of insulin (which can cause weight gain), to sustain normal energy levels, they adversely affect seratonin and dopamine production, they contribute to eating disorders and the way people think about food. Don't forget that diet sweeteners are all chemicals...unnatural in their creation and difficult for the body to process.
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