Is Stevia Safe to Use as a Sweetener?

by | Jan 23, 2013 | Artificial Sweeteners, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Another copy of my comment on a post Jimmy Moore’s about artificial sweeteners

 

From Jimmy Moore:

Is Stevia Safe to Use as a Sweetener?: http://www.coachcalorie.com/is-stevia-safe ~ Not all stevia is created equal. REAL stevia comes from a leaf and is green ideally. Liquid is next best if you can get your hands on it. The key is to avoid the highly-refined versions and especially most commercially-sold ones which are combined with GMO erithrytol.

 

My comment:

Stevia leaves whether dried or fresh are the best way of using Stevia and you may not be aware of it but you can actually grow Stevia in most parts of North America so you can always have a fresh supply. Certainly throughout the summer months and it’s as easy to dry as, say, mint or any other leaf that you would use in cooking.

It’s the process ones that I find have a metallic taste. If anything, the natural products might have a slight licorice taste but other than that they’re very sweet and the licorice taste, if it doesn’t compliment what you’re eating is often lost in the cooking simply because the sweetness of the leaf is far greater than the licorice taste.

The products I would steer away from are all of the derivatives of Stevia no matter how natural the claims of the manufacturers are. That said, if you want a liquid sweetener it’s easy enough to make it yourself at home without any troubles whatsoever.

For those of you that would like to take this further, there’s a very useful book by Jeffrey Goettemoeller and Kaen Lucke called “Growing and Using Stevia”. It’s well worth reading not just from the point of view of using Stevia but also the fact that it has some recipes in it as well.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Keeping it simple

by | Jan 23, 2013 | Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

This is a post at Jimmy Moore’s where I commented on regarding low carb diet

 

Debs’ post:

Hi

I am 38 , female and from Australia…

After spending years with round about and yo yo diets I find myself with type 2 diabetes and a heart attack scare last year. I also find myself sick and tired of being sick and tired.

When I was diagnosed with diabetes I went to the Australia Diabetes association and explained that when I ate carbs my blood sugar sky rocketed…their answer was that I should keep eating the carbs and they would put me on insulin…I think that was the moment that I realised that I need to take responsibility for my own health.

And for the next few months I did. I ate low carb, the weight dropped off and my bsls were perfect, my trigs dropped too…but then I got complacent and then spent the rest of last year procrastinating and gained back all I had lost and all the good work I had done…more than that…in November I had a massive heart scare….it wasn’t a heart attack but it could have been…

I realised that diet wasn’t an option but life changes were in order.

This time I am learning so much about low carbing and how it works for my body. It’s been nearly 10 days and I’ve dropped weight and sleeping through the night. My bsls are going down and my energy is starting to improve.

At the moment I have no apetite and am listening to my body with regards to what I put into it. 

It’s early days but I am happier and healthier each day.

 

My response:

Hi Debs and a warm welcome from me as well.

Reading your post was quite heartwarming for me obviously not because of all the problems that you have but simply because you’ve decided to sort out your life using the tools and the systems that you know work for you.

I’m really pleased that you’ve had such good success even it’s only been 10 days since you started and my hope for you is yes, that you will listen to your body and that you will put in to it the things it needs because I know if you do that you’ll get the body you want, the body you deserve and the life to go with it.

All the very best,

Mark

egg yolks

by | Jan 23, 2013 | Low carb diet | 0 comments

Here is a copy of the post over at forum.lowcarber.org where I have commented on about eggs

 

Terry:

I just read on a thread that included info from Cordain, that egg whites can cause problems w/autoimmune concerns but that egg yolks are fine. This puts an end to my breakfasts of omelets and frittatas. Anyone have some suggestions for using egg yolks? I’ll try scrambling them w/some water and see what happens

 

Me:

Hi Terry,

Actually both the egg and the white can cause a problem if you are allergic to the proteins that are in eggs. However of those people who are allergic, it’s normally the proteins that are contained in the whites that they’re allergic to.

Now reactions that are produced by an allergy to the proteins in egg whites is something that you would notice quite quickly. Now if you haven’t had a reaction like that then it’s high like you’re not allergic to egg whites. That said there are a load of things that you can do in order to minimize the possibility of an allergic reaction.

Part of the problem that many people have is due to the fact that the eggs they’re consuming are factory-produced. The problem there is that factory-produced eggs come from chickens who are fed a whole host of antibiotics, growth hormones and other drugs that unfortunately are carried through into the egg itself. These can then trigger a reaction in people who are susceptible who would otherwise be quite okay if it weren’t for the additives in the eggs.

So that does point to the fact that eating pre-range, biologically sound eggs with no additives, genetically modified corn or anything like that, is obviously the way to go. That said, if it’s not possible for you to get hold of those or your sensitivity to egg while protein is such that you just want to stay away from it, well you wouldn’t be surprised that people like yourself have formed various associations and clubs around the world and had come up with lots of either egg-free or partially egg-free recipes and dishes.

One of the websites you can visit is egglesscooking.com. They’ve got loads of recipes and lots of tips and hints about how to live an egg free life. There’s also a bit of background information on egg allergies and what you can do about it.

As a passing thought, we can thank egg allergies for something, and that would be bird’s custard powder that was first cooked by Alfred Bird back in 1837 simply because his wife was allergic to eggs.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Can your statin give you a heart attack?

by | Jan 22, 2013 | Diabetes | 0 comments

Another comment from me on a post at forum.lowcarber.org regarding statin

 

Nancy LC:

Robs the body of CoQ10 which is need to power the body (including the heart), lowers insulin sensitivity, increases risk of diabetes…

Are you sure you want to take that pill just to get a lower meaningless number?

 

My response:

Hi Nancy LC,

More and more studies are showing that indeed statins do interfere with cardiac function and some of those studies have concluded that statins may actually cause heart failure. So I guess the answer to your question is, yes, they can give you a heart attack.

Frankly, whilst the manufactures may not admit this at the moment, when you look at their list of contraindications and adverse reactions, these are frankly quite scary. Even the common ones aren’t something that you would particularly want such as up to 14% of people can get diarrhea from taking statins, 8% of people taking statins can experience urinary tract infection disease. Of the most serious adverse effects is liver failure, autoimmune disease, myalgia and hemorrhagic cerebral infarction.

I’ve attached the slide from my MicroMedex Drug Information program as of course, it’s far better to see the proof rather than just take my word for it.

Cheers,

Mark

Inulin

by | Jan 22, 2013 | Artificial Sweeteners | 0 comments

Just another one of my comments on a post at forum.lowcarber.or regarding inulin

 

Beebuzz,

Is it Good, Bad or ugly??

Just found some crystal light sweetened with inulin and acesulfame-K. 3g of fiber?? Can I safely have glass (as long as it doesnt give me cravings?)?

 

Me:

Hi Beebuzz,

I make no bones about it, I’m against all artificial sweeteners and despite what the industry tries to tell us of how natural it is, in point of fact, inulin when you look at how the commercial versions of it are made, is 100% artificial. And as a compound it hold quite a sneaky little secret because even the naturally-occurring inulins are made up mainly of fructose; lots of little fructose units chained together and obviously those chains break down within our digestive system and the fructose is absorbed by the body. But that would only be about 25 to 30% of it though; the rest of course is fiber.

The thing about inulin is that it is also considered to be a form of soluble fiber, more specifically it’s a fermentable fiber and it’s this ability that it has to ferment within our stomach that can lead to many having gas and bloating. It also provides an ideal home for unwelcome bacteria to grow on as it passes through our intestinal system.

So to answer your question, is it good, bad or ugly? Well I would award it bad and ugly. I would certainly steer away from it. In my book, nothing comes close to the usefulness of Stevia, one of the safest sugar substitutes I know of.

Hope that helps,

Mark