For most people, deciding to switch to an off-sugar diet is more like a nightmare than a decision for a better health. Having in mind that sugar is extremely addictive and as such makes coffee, tea and sweats a lot bigger pleasures then they actually are, that’s completely understandable. However, giving up sugar doesn’t have to be such a painful experience. Introducing: organic stevia.
Organic stevia, as the name suggests, is a completely natural product derived from the stevia plant. Some stevia species known as ‘candyleaf’ are very common in Mexico, Arizona and Texas, but the prized specie, the one that’s used strictly for making a sweetener, is native to Paraguay and Brazil where it’s been used for sweetening foods for hundreds of years. The thing that makes this plant so popular for being better than sugar is the fact that stevia is about 200-300 times sweeter than its artificial counterpart. That’s why today, a lot of companies are devoted to growing and extracting the sweet substance from the stevia plant and making a sugar substitute.
What makes stevia so much better than sugar? Besides the fact that it’s completely natural while being 300 times sweeter than sugar, stevia comes with a lot of health benefits. Studies have shown that switching to stevia can result in reducing weight since stevia is a zero-calorie product. Moreover, using it can help people with type 2 diabetes and can even help lower blood sugar.
Nowadays, scientists are testing whether stevia can help people with hypertension. It’s been long thought that hypertension is caused by an increased amount of salt intake, but it turned out that sugar was the one to blame. So, when studies have been conducted on people by putting them on a diet consisting strictly of fresh veggies, fruits and no sugar at all, the results were stunning; people with high blood pressure started seeing improvements without taking any medication.
For a long time it’s been debated that stevia isn’t exactly the safest product on the market. Back in 1991 in US, the FDA refused to approve the use of stevia because of the heavy pressure from some producers of artificial sweeteners. That however, doesn’t define the plant as unsafe.
Bottom line, there’s finally a good substitute for the biggest addictive, silent killer of all times – sugar. In addition to healthy food regimen and a proper exercise plan, excuses for looking and feeling your best can no longer be justified.