The Stevia Diabetes Connection – The Benefits Of Stevia For Diabetics

If you’re looking for a stevia diabetes control formula I’m glad you found this site. I’m going to share some of what I know about the herb stevia for diabetes and some of the other benefits of it.

But before I get into why I personally feel stevia is a powerful sweetener, first let me share with you some background on stevia.

Stevia And Diabetes Explained

Stevia is a very popular herb, which comes from the stevia rebaudiana plant. It has been used for centuries in its native Paraguay as a sweetener. It contains compounds called steviol glycosides that are up to 300 times sweeter than sugar.

Stevia comes in liquid or powder form and can be found in your local health food store as well as some grocery stores.

Most of the studies involving stevia’s efficacy on blood sugar involve rats. The same as used for pharmaceutical drugs. Two Denmark clinical studies in rats have shown reduced blood sugar levels when using stevia with the standardized extract being shown to be more effective in lowering blood sugar.

In another study done in 2013 on diabetic rats, stevia leaves were found to have a protective effect on kidney and liver function.

Stevia has also been widely studied for its effects on:

• Blood pressure
• Blood sugar lowering
• Inflammation
• Diarrhea
• Cancer
• Urine production
• Alcohol and tobacco cravings
• Weight loss

I first gave Stevia a try as a means for balancing my blood sugar because I was tired of the artificial sweeteners. Plus, I have my doubts as to which ones are healthy. So I wanted a healthier alternative.

I searched all of the literature and I couldn’t find a single bad thing about Stevia. So I started off adding it to my tea. Then I’d add it in my oatmeal for breakfast instead of fruit because I feared the fruit would screw up my blood sugar.

The funny thing was, before long I was adding it to everything. My Kale (veggies), my shakes…you name it.

I would drop the little dropper into everything (I prefer the stevia extract in the liquid form). The label says not to use more than a drop or two, but I always used much more than that.

Then to my surprise one day, I started feeling an itchy feeling all over around lunchtime. Kind of like something was crawling on my skin. I also felt jittery like I had just gulped a double shot of expresso. This was one of the weirdest feelings!

I also had this chill that would run through me and I asked myself, “What is going on?” So knowing as much as I do about diabetes, I decided to test my blood sugar. And to my surprise, my blood sugar was VERY low. It was 70, which for me was low and my body felt it.

So the only takeaway here is – be careful with Stevia. It can work TOO good sometimes and lower your blood sugar quite a bit. Also, be careful if you’re on medicines which cause low blood sugar such as sulfonylureas.

Or if you’re taking insulin, you might want to just use a drop or two instead of the whole dropper like I did.

One last thing, depending on the formulation of Stevia that you choose, it does produce an aftertaste, which takes some getting used to.

Please consult with your physician before applying any of this material.