Stevia
Latin name: Stevia Rebaudiana
Common names:
Sweet leaf, Sugar leaf, or simply Stevia
Stevia is a wonderful sweetener but many people don't know that it is also a powerful herb with many medicinal properties.
Quality VS. Junk:
Finding quality Stevia is not always the easiest thing in the world to find. Several large corporations have gotten their greedy claws on this pretty little plant, then refined, processed, added chemicals, addictive agents, etc to it and put it on a shelf in your "health food" store labeled Stevia. Lies, Poison, probably worse for you than Sugar. So how does one tell the difference between good Stevia and bad? One easy way is to look at the color. If you examine the plant above, you might just notice that it is Green. Now look at the Stevia in your cupboard. If it's not GREEN, it's not Stevia!!!
Sugar VS. Stevia:
Sugar is really bad for the human body! (Why does poison always taste so good??? LOL) It causes tons of diseases. Eating Sugar is really not worth it. It is very, very bad for your health and extremely addictive. High quality Stevia can be 30 times sweeter than white sugar and Stevia is not addictive or poisonous but is actually good for the human body and promotes health!!
Medicinal Properties:
Studies have found that Stevia leaf contains Proteins, Chromium (good for weight loss), Fibers, Carbohydrates, Iron, Phosphorus, Calcium, Potassium, Sodium, Magnesium, Zinc, Rutin, True Vitamin A, Vitamin C and oils that contains 53 other constituents. Stevia regulates and balances blood sugar and aids in the handling of Diabetes, Hypoglycemia and enhances energy levels, mental activity as well as prevents tooth & gum decay and reduces cravings for fatty foods, is an exceptional aid in weight loss & weight management and helps with digestion and reduces alcohol cravings as well as tobacco cravings and stimulates the body to produce it's own natural Insulin , and, and, and. In other words.... Stevia is exceptionally good for you.
Why Stevia was banned in the USA:
(I'll do my best to tame down my anger as I type this and just give you the facts.) Three words: Mon - san - to.
Monsanto Corporation is well known for bastardizing our seeds with their GMO, creating hormones that are given to milk cows to increase milk production (causing breast cancer and prostate cancer) and for the toxic aspartame they produce. NutraSweet, Equal and Aspartame are all owned by the NutraSweet Company, a subsidiary of Monsanto.
Aspartame is very sweet but flies won't eat it, neither will dogs or cats or ants, which we all know, like honey and other sweet things. Basically, the reason Stevia is restricted is because Monsanto lifted it's finger as it saw Stevia as a threat to NutraSweet Company's profits. One of the largest herbal tea companies in the world 'Celestial Seasonings' was using Stevia in their teas. In 1986, with out warning the FDA raided their warehouse and confiscated all of their Stevia. In 1991 Stevia was banned in the US, despite it's world wide use with no reported side effects and was deemed unsafe with no research conducted. Now on the other hand, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) surveyed 80 people who had suffered brain seizures after eating/drinking products with Aspartame. The report stated "These 80 cases meet the FDA's own definition of an immediate hazard to the public's health, which requires the FDA to immediately remove Aspartame from the market." Monsanto's puppet (the FDA) however did not remove this toxic substance from our stores but increased it's production and added it to more and more products consumed world wide. Stevia is a plant and can not be patented. Right? But Monsanto has patented Corn, Wheat, Soy and Cotton by genetically changing them. Stevia when extracted can be even more than 30 times sweeter than sugar. If processed correctly, Stevia can be 300 times sweeter than the white stuff. Today the ban on Stevia has been lifted and white Stevia is easily obtained everywhere. Stevia plants are getting harder to find in America. Very very few seed companies have Stevia seed.
Growing Stevia:
Stevia is native to Paraguay but now grows all around the world. We grow our Stevia in a window throughout the winter but if you live in a place that does not freeze, you can grow a bunch. Seeds can be obtained from Seed Saver's Exchange # 563-382-5990 50 seeds for $2.75 I recommend you try growing some. It is easy to grow once sprouted. It likes a decent amount of sun and well drained soil. Grows very well in pots and likes compost, worm castings, the usual. It looks and grows a lot like mint or catnip and I always assumed that it was in the Mint Family but in doing my research today I discovered that it is really in the Sunflower Family, go figure.
Diabetes Remedies:
Stevia instead of sugar is a good place to start. Artificially made Insulin is not the solution to Diabetes. The solution is to get the Islets of Langerhans in the Pancreas working and producing real Insulin. A High Quality Liver/Gallbladder Cleanse (like Doc Shillington's, which also cleanses the pancreas and Islets of Langerhans) is a very workable solution to Diabetes. If you know of someone who has Diabetes, you should definitely tell them about Cleansing and Stevia.
Taste:
Very sweet but also has a green taste of passion. It tastes much much much much better raw than it does dried (to me). Dried is good too but that green passion flavor turns into a unique distinctly different flavor that some (myself) find not so yummy.
How to use Raw Stevia:
Dice leaves and add them to your dishes or drinks to taste. In making sauces, you can simmer the diced leaves in water for your base and then add your other ingredients. A great desert is fresh cream still warm from the cow (or goat) with diced Stevia leaves soaking in it. Strain the leaves out (put in your coffee or breakfast tea) and whip the cream in a blender for eating with fresh fruit. Stir-fry is also an excellent dish to use Stevia as leaves blend in with the other leaves and veggies. In curry or in cooking a sweet spicy chicken dish, a few leaves will sweeten the dish perfectly to satisfy even the pickiest of Druish princesses. Fresh Stevia is aromatic, delicious, incredibly sweet and is a luxury that few folks have the pleasure of using in every day cooking.
How to use Dried or Powdered Stevia:
A small pinch is equal to around a tbsp of sugar. You can use it instead of sugar in all your recipes. Baking can be tricky (or in the case of cookies, nigh impossible) but banana bread and cakes turn out great. My favorite way of using dried Stevia is in tea and in mint sauce for lamb chops. Yum!!!
Sun starve your Stevia, the Bryan way:
If you love Stevia than you might want to sun starve your potted plants before harvest. I discovered that plants grown in the house got long and gangly (like most any sun starved plant) but I also noticed that the 'strong Stevia taste' was gone. Sun starving for two weeks turns thick strong tasting leaves into large thin sweet leaves with no strong taste. Such was the verdict from my high tech laboratory testing (AKA being cooped up fro the winter with my plants). The Stevia Plant you see in my pictures here looks completely different than Stevia that has not been starved but it is the same plant.
That all for now folks. hope you enjoyed reading my research notes.
~B
♣
If you want to subscribe to Bryan's weekly post and receive his research notes, write Bryan@AcademyOfNaturalHealing.com and ask to subscribe your email address.
Write Bryan@AcademyOfNaturalHealing.com if you would like to be unsubscribed from Bryan's posts.
♣
This Herb of the Week is brought to you by Herbal Remedies yahoo group
♣
~B
You have the permission of the author to pass this on if you wish.
Latin name: Stevia Rebaudiana
Common names:
Sweet leaf, Sugar leaf, or simply Stevia
Stevia is a wonderful sweetener but many people don't know that it is also a powerful herb with many medicinal properties.
Quality VS. Junk:
Finding quality Stevia is not always the easiest thing in the world to find. Several large corporations have gotten their greedy claws on this pretty little plant, then refined, processed, added chemicals, addictive agents, etc to it and put it on a shelf in your "health food" store labeled Stevia. Lies, Poison, probably worse for you than Sugar. So how does one tell the difference between good Stevia and bad? One easy way is to look at the color. If you examine the plant above, you might just notice that it is Green. Now look at the Stevia in your cupboard. If it's not GREEN, it's not Stevia!!!
Sugar VS. Stevia:
Sugar is really bad for the human body! (Why does poison always taste so good??? LOL) It causes tons of diseases. Eating Sugar is really not worth it. It is very, very bad for your health and extremely addictive. High quality Stevia can be 30 times sweeter than white sugar and Stevia is not addictive or poisonous but is actually good for the human body and promotes health!!
Medicinal Properties:
Studies have found that Stevia leaf contains Proteins, Chromium (good for weight loss), Fibers, Carbohydrates, Iron, Phosphorus, Calcium, Potassium, Sodium, Magnesium, Zinc, Rutin, True Vitamin A, Vitamin C and oils that contains 53 other constituents. Stevia regulates and balances blood sugar and aids in the handling of Diabetes, Hypoglycemia and enhances energy levels, mental activity as well as prevents tooth & gum decay and reduces cravings for fatty foods, is an exceptional aid in weight loss & weight management and helps with digestion and reduces alcohol cravings as well as tobacco cravings and stimulates the body to produce it's own natural Insulin , and, and, and. In other words.... Stevia is exceptionally good for you.
Why Stevia was banned in the USA:
(I'll do my best to tame down my anger as I type this and just give you the facts.) Three words: Mon - san - to.
Monsanto Corporation is well known for bastardizing our seeds with their GMO, creating hormones that are given to milk cows to increase milk production (causing breast cancer and prostate cancer) and for the toxic aspartame they produce. NutraSweet, Equal and Aspartame are all owned by the NutraSweet Company, a subsidiary of Monsanto.
Aspartame is very sweet but flies won't eat it, neither will dogs or cats or ants, which we all know, like honey and other sweet things. Basically, the reason Stevia is restricted is because Monsanto lifted it's finger as it saw Stevia as a threat to NutraSweet Company's profits. One of the largest herbal tea companies in the world 'Celestial Seasonings' was using Stevia in their teas. In 1986, with out warning the FDA raided their warehouse and confiscated all of their Stevia. In 1991 Stevia was banned in the US, despite it's world wide use with no reported side effects and was deemed unsafe with no research conducted. Now on the other hand, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) surveyed 80 people who had suffered brain seizures after eating/drinking products with Aspartame. The report stated "These 80 cases meet the FDA's own definition of an immediate hazard to the public's health, which requires the FDA to immediately remove Aspartame from the market." Monsanto's puppet (the FDA) however did not remove this toxic substance from our stores but increased it's production and added it to more and more products consumed world wide. Stevia is a plant and can not be patented. Right? But Monsanto has patented Corn, Wheat, Soy and Cotton by genetically changing them. Stevia when extracted can be even more than 30 times sweeter than sugar. If processed correctly, Stevia can be 300 times sweeter than the white stuff. Today the ban on Stevia has been lifted and white Stevia is easily obtained everywhere. Stevia plants are getting harder to find in America. Very very few seed companies have Stevia seed.
Growing Stevia:
Stevia is native to Paraguay but now grows all around the world. We grow our Stevia in a window throughout the winter but if you live in a place that does not freeze, you can grow a bunch. Seeds can be obtained from Seed Saver's Exchange # 563-382-5990 50 seeds for $2.75 I recommend you try growing some. It is easy to grow once sprouted. It likes a decent amount of sun and well drained soil. Grows very well in pots and likes compost, worm castings, the usual. It looks and grows a lot like mint or catnip and I always assumed that it was in the Mint Family but in doing my research today I discovered that it is really in the Sunflower Family, go figure.
Diabetes Remedies:
Stevia instead of sugar is a good place to start. Artificially made Insulin is not the solution to Diabetes. The solution is to get the Islets of Langerhans in the Pancreas working and producing real Insulin. A High Quality Liver/Gallbladder Cleanse (like Doc Shillington's, which also cleanses the pancreas and Islets of Langerhans) is a very workable solution to Diabetes. If you know of someone who has Diabetes, you should definitely tell them about Cleansing and Stevia.
Taste:
Very sweet but also has a green taste of passion. It tastes much much much much better raw than it does dried (to me). Dried is good too but that green passion flavor turns into a unique distinctly different flavor that some (myself) find not so yummy.
How to use Raw Stevia:
Dice leaves and add them to your dishes or drinks to taste. In making sauces, you can simmer the diced leaves in water for your base and then add your other ingredients. A great desert is fresh cream still warm from the cow (or goat) with diced Stevia leaves soaking in it. Strain the leaves out (put in your coffee or breakfast tea) and whip the cream in a blender for eating with fresh fruit. Stir-fry is also an excellent dish to use Stevia as leaves blend in with the other leaves and veggies. In curry or in cooking a sweet spicy chicken dish, a few leaves will sweeten the dish perfectly to satisfy even the pickiest of Druish princesses. Fresh Stevia is aromatic, delicious, incredibly sweet and is a luxury that few folks have the pleasure of using in every day cooking.
How to use Dried or Powdered Stevia:
A small pinch is equal to around a tbsp of sugar. You can use it instead of sugar in all your recipes. Baking can be tricky (or in the case of cookies, nigh impossible) but banana bread and cakes turn out great. My favorite way of using dried Stevia is in tea and in mint sauce for lamb chops. Yum!!!
Sun starve your Stevia, the Bryan way:
If you love Stevia than you might want to sun starve your potted plants before harvest. I discovered that plants grown in the house got long and gangly (like most any sun starved plant) but I also noticed that the 'strong Stevia taste' was gone. Sun starving for two weeks turns thick strong tasting leaves into large thin sweet leaves with no strong taste. Such was the verdict from my high tech laboratory testing (AKA being cooped up fro the winter with my plants). The Stevia Plant you see in my pictures here looks completely different than Stevia that has not been starved but it is the same plant.
That all for now folks. hope you enjoyed reading my research notes.
~B
♣
If you want to subscribe to Bryan's weekly post and receive his research notes, write Bryan@AcademyOfNaturalHealing.com and ask to subscribe your email address.
Write Bryan@AcademyOfNaturalHealing.com if you would like to be unsubscribed from Bryan's posts.
♣
This Herb of the Week is brought to you by Herbal Remedies yahoo group
♣
~B
You have the permission of the author to pass this on if you wish.
Disclaimer:
The above information is the opinions of a 23 year old, uneducated tree hugging farmer and is to be regarded as complete and utter BS by any and all readers. Nothing here in is acknowledged as being true by licensed professionals and nothing stated above is to be taken as medical advice. The writer, as well as the readers who send this on, hold no responsibility and can not be charged, tried or held responsible in any way for Organic Gardens springing up in rural neighborhoods or anything else that grows from the text above. Remember that if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. 
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