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Stevia

LincolnLizzie

Well-Known Member
Messages
144
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Has anyone had issues with Stevia raising their BG levels? I'm pretty tightly controlled on 20-30g carbs daily but with friends coming for dinner tonight, I tried making a trial crumble using ground almonds, butter and stevia, and also used stevia to sweeten the rhubarb. I didn't find the taste successful, bit too artificial. But this morning my BG was 7.1 and I am usually between 5 and 6. It has taken all day to get down to 5.4.

I think I had a similar experience with Oppo ice cream which uses Stevia too. Thank you.

My understanding was that Stevia was one of the few sweeteners which didn't raise BG levels, so wonder if any one else has experienced this.
 
Good morning @LincolnLizzie my friend I am relatively new (3 months ) personally I refrain from all sweeteners ,but that is only my personal choice,but if you put in Stevia in the search box at the top right of your screen it will take you to other Stevia posts that may be of some help to you

 
No issues.... but there are different stevia products out there. Some are rubbish, like Truvia is for example.
 

Hi @LincolnLizzie,

I agree with @Tophat1900. It seems that some Stevia products have fillers to bulk it up. Some of these fillers might be carb-based.

When baking, I use xylitol (a sugar alcohol). The taste and texture is very close to sugar (with a slight cooling sensation) and therefore easy to work with. It doesn't raise my blood glucose, but it does have some calories (about 60% of sugar) and is dangerous to dogs.

I have also heard that some people like erythritol (which has no calories and is not detrimental to pets). Personally, I have not tried it yet and don't know if it is suitable for baking. Hopefully, some other more knowledgeable members will join the discussion.
 
I use Stevia without issues but as been said not all Stevia products are the same. I would use xylitol but we have a dog.
 
Hi
I have started using erythritol. Got it from amazon. Like xylitol but you wee it out and no laxative effect. Plus safe for dogs. It is my nicotine patch for the 2 cups of tea I have a day. Plus can cook with it. Tom Kerridge has used it in most of his recipes instead of sugar.
 
I've used pure stevia without any problems, but generally use an erythritol/stevia mix which is also fine, and which I prefer. (And @ziggy_w I use it both as an all purpose sweetener and for baking!)

Stevia on its own is extremely sweet, so you have to either to use very minute quantities or use it in a combination such as with erythritol. With anything else you definitely need to be careful as starches (and apparently even sugar!!) are often used as bulking agents/fillers/flavour enhancers, and while these may well be OK for non-diabetics, they could certainly cause problems for us.

Stevia "Reb A" should apparently have no after taste, but I believe it's more expensive - Google has plenty of information!

Robbity
 

Thanks so much for the info @Robbity. I definitely have to try this out. I enjoy baking and having a larger variety of foods to choose from makes it easier for me to stick to a low carb diet long-term.
 
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I tried Truvia and didn't like it at all. It did leave an aftertaste.
My favourite for cooking at the moment is a sucralose based one .. in a yellow jar in Lidl.. very cheap too. No effect on my BG and I'm very fussy about taste in cooking.. this ticks all the boxes for me.
 
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