Stevia ok as a sweetener?

P

pjgtech

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
So I've been told I can drink tea/coffee on the T2D pathway to remission program.
But can't really have milk or sugar.
I love tea and always, always start my day with a cuppa.
I always have milk, not a lot, literally just a dash, as I like it very strong, and always with sugar.
Used to have 2 sugars, then came down to one.
However, since starting the program, (9 days ago) I have had tea with no sugar, every day, but I really, really don't like it.
Absolutely spoils it for me!
So I did a bit of research online and Stevia seems to get a good rap, as its plant based and no real side effects as long as you don't have too much. Generally I only have one cup of tea a day, first thing in the morning. I sometimes have a second cup later in the day but its rare.
What does the hive mind think about sweeteners in general and Stevia in particular?
Cheers
 
I use Stevia in my decaff coffee and Rooibos tea for sometime now and it has never raised my blood sugars...so for me it's perfectly acceptable.
 
Thank you.
 
I tried Stevia..... in fact I tried LOTS and LOTS of different sweeteners (my cupboards are full of them).... and I didn't find it sweet and I hated the aftertaste. I think it comes down to individual taste as to which if any sweetener works for you. I kissed a load of frogs and didn't find my prince 🙄.

I find Rooibos (RED BUSH) tea is sweet enough without needing any additional sweetener. I also now drink normal tea without, but I do need a decent amount of milk in it.
 
Thanks, I will look into the Rooibos tea, cheers.
 
My wife bought some Erythritol which is used in lots of recipes on the Freshwell app. Not sure if it can be used as a sweetner in drinks though. However, it did make some very nice low carb chocolate muffins. My first sweet think in a week :party: That said my wife wasn't keen as she felt it had an unpleasant after taste.
 
JimmyBlue said:
My wife bought some Erythritol which is used in lots of recipes on the Freshwell app. Not sure if it can be used as a sweetner in drinks though. However, it did make some very nice low carb chocolate muffins. My first sweet think in a week :party: That said my wife wasn't keen as she felt it had an unpleasant after taste.
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The thing with erythritol is not to use too much, it does have a reputation of causing stomach issues if you do.
You may be better to wean yourself off any sweetener or sugar in your tea by cutting to half a spoon then quarter then none. You may fid a different tea more acceptable with none.
Other half uses canderel tabs coffee or tea and finds they have no aftertaste whereas Stevia does.
Whether people can detect sweeteners is genetic apparently or so I learned in a lecture once.
 
Well today I've tried both Stevia and Rooibos tea.
Sadly I like neither!
Tried Stevia in my normal (Yourkshire) tea, I could immediately detect an aftertaste and it did not really sweeten it that much either (one stevia tab used).
Tried Rooibos tea, and ugh, no, nope, not for me! Too much like herbal tea and unfortunately I hate herbal tea.
I have always had "builders" tea, eg: strong with little milk and sugar. I've drunk tea that way for 50+ years.
Switching to tea with no sugar just makes the tea taste awful for me.
Maybe I'll just give tea up till after this diet (another 10 weeks to go) and then can have a cup again, even with only half a sugar in it would be better than none? [Sigh]
 
Rooibos tea is not for me either. I switched to it when I was early in one of my pregnancies, and had very bad morning sickness. No idea if the two were at all related but the association is now there and even the thought of Rooibos always makes me feel a bit nauseous!

I can't handle the aftertaste of Stevia. After experimenting - I seem to get on best with Xylitol (v. toxic for dogs but we're a pet free house so not a consideration for us). But that's for baking and the such, as I don't take sugar in tea.

I'm a mentor for students in my job and my last student knew she couldn't buy me chocolates to say thank you so she bought me M&S shortbread teabags instead! They're lovely, the shortbread flavour makes them naturally sweet and they're the only non-fruit tea I have ever had that I can take black.

You might find that, if you do go cold turkey (cold tea!?) for 10 weeks, you might not need the sugar anymore. Don't they say it takes 30 days to form or break a habit? And with what you'll be eating/drinking, you may very well find your taste changes in that time. I never thought I'd lose my sweet tooth (and I'm not sure I have totally) but almost 3 months of eating for diabetes, I definitely don't want sweet stuff as often or miss it as much as I did.
 
pjgtech said:
Well today I've tried both Stevia and Rooibos tea.
Sadly I like neither!
Tried Stevia in my normal (Yourkshire) tea, I could immediately detect an aftertaste and it did not really sweeten it that much either (one stevia tab used).
Tried Rooibos tea, and ugh, no, nope, not for me! Too much like herbal tea and unfortunately I hate herbal tea.
I have always had "builders" tea, eg: strong with little milk and sugar. I've drunk tea that way for 50+ years.
Switching to tea with no sugar just makes the tea taste awful for me.
Maybe I'll just give tea up till after this diet (another 10 weeks to go) and then can have a cup again, even with only half a sugar in it would be better than none? [Sigh]
Click to expand...
Well Rooibos tea is a herbal tea of sorts @pigtech..and you can say at least you tried it.
 
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A little bit of aspartame for me.
 
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