Sweeten staying in shape with Stevia
You are not able to give up with desserts and sugar in coffees and beverages, but you don’t want to give up even to a healthy diet without refined sugar. There is a solution for you: Stevia!
It comes from Brasile and Paraguay and it is not a coincidence if it is called sweet or honey grass, for its sweetener properties that are 300 times more than sucrose (the most common sugar). Its sweetener power is enclosed in the leaves that can be dried to extract the main substances to produce this sweetener in capsules, powder or liquids.
The benefits of Stevia: sweet and no calories
The success of Stevia? Its spreading in the western world is given by its nutritive characteristics. For sure, the most important thing is that is has 0 calories and sugars, and then its is perfect for who is on a diet, because, thanks to its sweetener power it allows to eat desserts.
And not only, besides the “zero calories”, Stevia has more benefits than the classic sugar, in particular on:
- Teeth: it doesn’t produce dental decays like sucrose
- Body and skin: it contains antioxidants flavonoids that fight the free radicals
- Organism: it is rich in magnesia and iron but it contains also proteins, mineral carbohydrates and vitamins
- Mind: do not underestimate the fact that it allows to give yourself the sweet taste that for many people has a anti stress and relaxing power. A sweet now and then has benefits on body and mind!
It is ideal for many diets
Stevia allows even the diabetics to create cakes and desserts. It has in fact a sugar count of zero, it doesn’t increase the glucose in the blood and it doesn’t affect the enhancement of cholesterol.
Its assumption is suggested also to soften the burst of hunger and greediness. The mouth perceives a sweet taste, with a slight and pleasant flavour of liquorice, make it a kind of natural candy without sugar and calorie; the sense of sweetness, moreover, should interact with the synapses, pushing away, or at least reducing the sense of huger and the desire of sugary foods.
Stevia in cuisine
We have already said that it is sweet, in addition its taste is fresh and herbaceous (if you eat fresh or dried leaves) and it always maintains its own aftertaste of liquorice, perfect with many recipes but also with teas, infusions and coffee. Stevia can be used exactly as sugar, to sweeten biscuits, creams, cakes and jams, in a cappuccino in the morning and in an infusion after dinner.
How is it possible to buy Stevia?
Nowadays, it is produced by the most famous brands and it is easily to find in the large-scale retailers, but you can find it also in herbalist’s shop and other shops specialized in natural or vegan food.
If you are looking for the fresh plant, ask to the well-stocked nursery, or at the themed fairs on health, wellness and diet, or you can try in any specialized herbalist’s shop.
How can you find it in shops? The most common and comfortable formula is capsules, enclosed in practical dispenser, powdered as a sugar bags or liquid, contained in small phials. A capsule or small drops is the same quantity of a whole teaspoon of sugar!
If you haven’t tried it yet… you will be pleasantly surprised by its sweet taste without feeling guilty!
