Yesterday I learned that there are issues with stevia and hormons at KC’s Brain Boosting Conversations:
https://kindnessinspires.us/hello/

Fans of Marama have been meeting since January when a series of meetings was initiated by Heather Sandison.  Well attended by patients and coaches, there was a desire to continue connection when Heather concluded her presentation series. KC, who is a RE-CODE client, stepped up to fill the gap upon completion on April 5 with … Continue reading

It’s a still small group with weekly online meetings for people with brain issues and their caretakers, currently free with donations requested.   I have learned a lot and it’s just different when you can interact with real people and see what they’re doing, what works for them, etc.

I’ll be writing a separate post about KC, Heather Sandison and Marama ASAP.

Back to Stevia:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319837#unsafe-forms-of-stevia

Endocrine disruption

As a type of steroid, steviol glycosides can interfere with hormones controlled by the endocrine system. A 2016 study found that human sperm cells exposed to steviol experienced an increase in progesterone production.

I’ve had a box of stevia for several years and when I recently started drinking yerba mate, I decided to finally use stevia.   I found myself drinking a lot more water, just refilling my glass with hot water and some stevia.

I’m really NOT worried about sperm in any way shape or form 🙂  But, there are likely other hormonal issues.

Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar

Although stevia may help control blood sugar in people with diabetes, it was also once thought that long-term or heavy stevia consumption might cause hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.

This has since been proven highly unlikely, except in individuals with abnormally low blood sugar levels.

That’ll be the day when I have low blood sugar!

As always, sick people have to be extra careful:

Who should not use stevia?

Some people are at an increased risk of developing side effects from regular stevia use. This is because stevia can lower blood sugars and blood pressure, and act as a diuretic.

Stevia can also interact with certain medications, so it is important to discuss stevia with a doctor before consuming or purchasing the product.

Factors that may increase the risk of stevia side effects include:

  • blood pressure conditions and medications

  • liver conditions and medications

  • kidney conditions and medications

  • heart conditions and medications

  • hormone regulating medications

  • steroids

  • cancer medications

I don’t take any meds, so good on that.

THIS does worry me:

Common potentially harmful chemicals found in stevia products include:

  • maltodextrin

  • sodium saccharin

  • sodium cyclamate

  • aspartame

Those bastards!

An interesting read from the NIH on Stevia:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4890837/

They’re still questioning whether sugar makes you fat.   I lost about 60 lbs by substituting whipped cream with erythritol for the organic Alden ice cream, was eating almost a quart/day in summer 2018.   Then found out how much sugar was in the ice cream, insane!

Now I couldn’t eat the Alden ice cream if I wanted to because it is way too sweet for me.   I also couldn’t eat the cakes / pies my helpers made according to recipes.   And then a friend brought an organic cake mix and we added cannabis.  It was SO incredibly sweet, neither one of us could eat it.    I felt so bad for my good weed, over time I did eat it, in very small portions.  And I learned to only use about 20 – 30% of the sugar called for in recipes.

In conclusion, I don’t have all day to research stevia, BUT:

As with everything you BUY, there are the risks of poisons and contaminants, deliberate or accidental.  You don’t want to use a whole lot of ANYTHING that you didn’t grow yourself.   And I wish I could trade for homegrown food from different soils.   Input is everything.

I’ve tried growing Stevia years ago and it’s not for our hot summers, but I’m going to order seeds again.  I’d bet a million bucks (if I had it!) that the WHOLE PLANT is much healthier than the extract.   It’s the same with cannabis.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/a20705718/growing-stevia/

HighMowingSeeds has a patented Stevia variety:

https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-candy-stevia.html

Now that I have a winter greenhouse I might be able to grow it through the winter.  The tomatoes made it, looked very sad, but are thriving now.

Whole leaves would be great for yerba mate.

And they are available on Etsy, but they make you click on each product to see how much you get.  So, off to Amazon:

https://smile.amazon.com/Stevia-Sifted-green-Certified-Organic/dp/B003PPA232/

I have a Frontier wholesale account and have been wanting to place an order for months …   But those reviews, so I just learned that the stems are bitter.

Soon it’s going to be so hot, I won’t be drinking much hot tea, back to cold hibiscus tea with a little spearmint and I need no sweetener with that at all.

Will have to figure out how to eat all that fruit I expect to harvest, if the birds don’t get it.  Really need a continuous glucose monitor so I can see how timing and combinations of food affect my blood sugar.