Stevia; Nature’s Sweet Little Miracle
Here at Your Coffee Break we can’t function without our morning coffee and over the summer months have found a new obsession in iced coffee! If like us you need your caffeine hit to keep motivated, but worry about the amount of calories in your habit; natural sweetener stevia could be the answer!
With 0 Calories, 0 GI and 0 Carbs, natural, high intensity sweetener stevia has a true, triple advantage; competing favourably with the likes of sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners.
It is no surprise that this high intensity, natural sweeter is therefore taking the food and beverage industry by storm. Replacing sugar with stevia not only reduces refined carbohydrate consumption, but also has the ability to sweeten food and drink without the negative ‘synthetic’ concerns associated with artificial sweeteners and the calories found within sugar.
Here in the UK, we consume on average 700g of sugar per week. That’s about 7,200 teaspoons and 145,600 calories a year! Most sugars such as table sugar are highly refined, meaning that most of the natural vitamins and minerals have been stripped away. Food and drinks that have a lot of added sugars such as sweets and processed foods are often high in calorie content, but with few other nutrients. Stevia is the perfect, sweet solution to a healthy, balanced diet with fewer calories as it combines the natural, plant based sweetness of sugar without the calories in artificial sweeteners.
So what exactly is Stevia? Katherine Elyse Blake from Bsc Nutrition gives Your Coffee Break the low-down.
” The Stevia plant is native to South America where it has been used for centuries in beverages such as yerba mate, teas and medicines. Here in the UK, stevia was approved by the European Commission in November 2011 and since then has been flying onto the shelves and used by high profile brands such as PureVia, Sobe V and PepsiCo. The sweetness in stevia comes from natural sweet components called steviol glycosides found in the leaf of the plant. These components can provide up to 400-600x the sweetness of sugar and thus compete with the likes of artificial sweetener such as sucralose and aspartame.
PureCircle is the world’s largest producer of Stevia and is one of the main driving forces behind the natural revolution of sweetners. It is their company’s mission is to encourage healthier diets around the world through the supply of natural ingredients to the global food and beverage industry. If a product is marked with the Stevia PureCircle Trustmark, you are guaranteed to be receiving the highest and purest quality of stevia. They lead the stevia industry with their unmatched innovation, commitment to sustainability and broad range of highest quality stevia ingredients that deliver great tasting, natural sweetness with fewer calories.
You can learn more about stevia through the Global Stevia Institute a resource dedicated to science-based stevia information.
So if you want a refreshing and delicious way to start your day without the calories, try this homemade iced coffee…
Recipe~Iced coffee with PureVia
Ingredients:
- 2 tsp Instant coffee
- 220 Cold water
- 140 ml Skimmed milk
- 1.5 tbsp Pure Via
- Handful of Ice
Instructions:
1) Place into your blender 2tsp of instant coffee and a dash of hot water
2) Next; add all other ingredients and blend for 10-20 seconds
3) Pour the contents into a tall glass, add a couple more cubes of ice and serve.
….Sweet, simple and all for under 15 Calories