Stevia Helps with Weight Loss

September 1, 2020March 29, 2023 ~ Loreeebee ~ Leave a comment

This is a guest post, from the Sweet Talk blog at Pyure Brands….

The bottom line is that the only way to lose weight is to create a calorie deficit by eating fewer calories than your body burns for energy.

There are many ways to accomplish this, and targeting added sugars and replacing them with stevia is an easy and tasty fix.

Research has shown that subjects given stevia-containing foods or beverages consumed fewer calories throughout the day. (2,3)

The Truth About Added Sugars

It seems like everything we read talks about avoiding carbs and sugar.

In the U.S., the average intake of added sugars reaches up to 270 calories or more than 13 percent of calories per day based on an average 2000-calorie diet.

Not surprisingly, the largest source of added sugars in the typical diet is beverages, including soft drinks, fruit drinks, sweetened coffee and tea, energy drinks, alcoholic beverages, and flavored waters. They account for almost half (47%) of all added sugars consumed by the U.S. population.

The other major source of added sugars is snacks and sweets.(1) Most people don’t realize how much sugar they consume from other sources like marinades, sauces, salad dressings, yogurt, crackers, and other items that don’t “seem sweet.”

The 2015-2020 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting added sugars to less than 10% of total calories or about 50 grams per day based on 2000 calories.

If your body needs fewer calories based on size, age, and activity level, the gram limits are even lower.

To take it a step further, the American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugars to 24g grams per day (6 teaspoons) for women and 36 grams per day (9 teaspoons) for men.

It’s obviously an area of concern in our standard American diet as the term “added sugars” appeared 138 times in the dietary guidelines report!

Knowing Your Limit for Added Sugars

Simply put, the consumption of added sugars can make it difficult for people desiring to lose weight to meet their nutrient needs while staying within calorie limits.

Whenever anyone restricts total calories, everything eaten needs to contain more nutrients to make sure you get what you need for proper fueling while limiting total calories.

One of the simplest strategies is to limit added sugars.

Why? Because they are more often found in foods that do not provide quality vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that we look for to help prevent lifestyle diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancers.

That’s where products like stevia fit in.

Can Stevia Help with Weight Loss?

Since stevia is a plant-based, zero-calorie sweetener with a taste 50-350 times sweeter than sugar, a little goes a long way. By substituting stevia for sugar in your daily routine, there are many ways to cut total calories and sugar grams.

Using stevia to sweeten your coffee or tea (hot or iced), saves 16 calories per teaspoon over sugar. A few cups per day with a few teaspoons each can really add up quickly. Each stevia packet is formulated to equal the sweetness of 2 teaspoons of sugar. Take some with you to your favorite coffeehouse or restaurant and add your own.
Instead of eating pre-sweetened Greek yogurt with up to 20 grams of sugar, start with the plain variety and add your own stevia, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and fruit.
Swap stevia for sugar, honey or maple syrup in your oatmeal, homemade salad dressings, baked goods, and other recipes that call for sugar. Even subbing in ½ the amount in a recipe can make a big difference.

We would love to hear your sugar swap success stories. How do you enjoy Pyure Organic Stevia?

References:

Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015- 2018, 8th edition, Added Sugars page 54: https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/resources/2015-2020_Dietary_Guidelines.pdf
Anton SD, Martin CK, Han H, Coulon S, Cefalu WT, Geiselman P, Williamson DA. Effects of stevia, aspartame, and sucrose on food intake, satiety, and postprandial glucose and insulin levels. Appetite 2010;55:37–43.
Tey SL, Salleh NB, Henry J, Forde CG. Effects of aspartame-, monk fruit-, stevia- and sucrose-sweetened beverages on postprandial glucose, insulin and energy intake. Int J Obes (Lond) 2017;41:450–7.

Modified Keto Diet

January 15, 2019February 13, 2022 ~ Loreeebee ~ Leave a comment

Many people (especially us older folks) have a hard time understanding how the popular keto diet can be healthy. Most of us have been warned about cardiovascular disease, so a high-fat diet seems contrary to what we have been taught for years.

Original Keto Diet

The original Keto diet cuts back on carbohydrates and increases fats and proteins. There is not much specification on the source of carbs, fat, or protein. That’s the part requiring modification, in my opinion.

Food items like pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, crackers, and snacks contain high amounts of net carbs, so you should learn to avoid them. A great alternative to pasta and rice is cauliflower. You can purchase it (conveniently) already cut up in “pearls” (like the bags I buy, pictured below) or you can cut up a fresh head yourself.

modified keto, cauliflower pearls — cauliflower pearls have low net carbs, great for a modified keto diet!

As indicated on their label, these pearls of cauliflower contain a mere 2 grams of net carbs (4 total carbs minus 2 fiber) per 3/4 cup. This is a huge difference between pasta and rice. For example, pasta contains 62 grams of net carbs per 3/4 cup, brown rice contains 22 grams per 1/3 cup and white rice contains 32 grams per 1/3 cup. When you are limiting your net carbs to 25 grams per day, those numbers are quite significant. These cauliflower pearls can even be incorporated (with cheese) into a pizza dough!

Another great substitute for the high-carb perils of pasta and rice is zucchini spirals. Purchase these already cut up, or buy them whole and cut them up yourself. I’m all about convenience. If an ingredient is easy to prepare, I will be much more likely to use it in a meal. Use spaghetti squash as a substitute for starchy pasta.

The crunchier the vegetables (generally) the less net carbs (carbs minus fiber) they contain. When counting macros on the keto diet, macros are important.

What is my Modified Keto Diet?

The good news is, there are many versions of a modified keto diet. I have created one for myself by cutting way back on refined carbohydrates like sugar, potatoes, rice, bread, and pasta. Diagnosed with an allergy to wheat years ago, I switched to gluten-free bread and pasta, but even they contain not so good for you net carbs.

Not Just any Fats

For calories formerly taken up by bad carbs in my daily diet, I increased my intake of fats, although I stick to good fats. Yes, believe it or not, there is such a thing as good fats. I don’t like the way so many animal fats (processed and fatty meats, butter, cream, lots of cheese) recommended on the original keto diet make me feel. Constipation and stomach cramps are no fun!

Therefore, to get my fat macros (that’s the keto term), I consume more plant-based omega 3s. Fats like avocado, olive oil, almonds, almond milk, flax seeds, and coconut oil are my favourites. It is easy to replace the fats suggested in keto menus with healthier versions. For example, I substitute almond milk for full-fat cream and olive oil for butter.

Low Net Carb Choices

Also, make sure to have lots of crunchy salad ingredients on hand to throw together a quick lunch option. Make leafy greens, broccoli slaw, seeds, avocado, tomatoes, and cucumbers (all contain low net carbs) as well as a variety of low carb salad dressings mainstays in your fridge. These choices of good carbs have always been staples in my diet, often incorporated into a morning smoothie.

Lean Protein Choices

My protein intake remains about the same. Protein consumption is important to retain muscle mass, especially for post-menopausal women like myself. I have always leaned (pun intended) towards lean meats and fish for sources of protein, so that aspect needed no modification.

For four weeks now I have been following this modified keto version. I have lost a few pounds, but weight loss was not my primary goal. More importantly, I have noticed increased muscle tone in my abdominal area. These are the muscles I have not seen in many years, not since before my kids were born. That is impressive (I think) since those four weeks included one week of vacation (lots of margaritas) as well as the holiday season during which tempting goodies were hard to resist.

Salads work on any diet

January 14, 2019October 31, 2021 ~ Loreeebee ~ 4 Comments

Are you trying a new diet and having a hard time finding things you are allowed to eat? Most diets, especially the currently popular keto diet, restrict carbohydrates, but salads work well if you include the right kind of carbohydrates.

The good news about salad-related carbs is that they contain lots of fiber which means their “net carbs” (what you actually count on keto) are negligible. To calculate net carbs, subtract the grams of fiber from the grams of total carbohydrates indicated on the labels.

For example, the broccoli slaw I love on my salads to add extra crunchiness displays this label:

You can see the total carbohydrates in 1 cup of this slaw is 6 grams, but the fiber is 3 grams, so the net carbs are 3 grams. Considering you might add one-half cup of this to greens on your salad, that is very few net carbs! Of course, you could also eat this slaw like you would traditional coleslaw.

Broccoli by itself has even less net carbs (4 grams of carbs minus 3 grams of fiber per 1.25 cup equals 1 gram of net carbs) That means broccoli would be a great keto-approved option for a side dish at dinner. Or cut up on your salad if you don’t like the slaw that I use.

The salad in a bag (romaine, carrots and cabbage) that my husband likes has a net carbs value of 2 grams per 2.5 cups (4 total carbs minus 2 fiber). I prefer my salad base to contain spinach and kale however, which have even fewer grams of net carbs. I also like cucumber, avocado, flax seed and cheese on my salad…

Ingredients for salads that are low net carbs and healthy fats — broccoli slaw, cucumbers, avocado and cheese, low net carbs, and healthy fats

The cheese (shredded Tex-Mex in this case), avocado, flaxseed, and salad dressing contain the fat necessary for this keto diet. I top the salad with creamy, roasted garlic and Greek yogurt salad dressing from (my favourite) Renee’s line of all-natural, no preservatives added products.

I don’t really count the net carbs as they are so negligible in a salad like this. These carbs though (as opposed to the bad ones) are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, a fact that I think is very important to overall health.

Protein is accounted for in the broccoli and cheese as well as the Greek yogurt-based dressing and lax seeds. A sliced hard-boiled egg or cooked chicken would also be great sources of additional protein.

Concoct your own salad, the variations are endless!