Over the weekend my friends and I were discussing the pros and cons of artificial sweeteners  - and no, my friends aren’t nearly as nerdy as I am with this stuff, but they are becoming increasingly interested in losing a few pounds and treating their bodies right. So it dawned on me that I have never told all of my *f.a.t. readers about Stevia, the herb that is a natural sweetener!! How could I have forgotten, as this is truly a way to go from “fat” to *f.a.t. (Fit After Thirty)!

I discovered it at my health food store when I was just a hot young co-ed. Actually, I’m not sure I ever was one of those, but I should have been for as healthfully as I ate. (I know you regular readers are thinking, geez, she read the fiber diet book in high school and she hung out at the health food store in college, what a geek!) I’m not denying it, but the good thing is it allowed me to have years of experience with the natural sweetener, so I could pass along that information to all of you! 

Stevia is a South American herb that has been used as a sweetener by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for hundreds of years. The leaves of this small, green Stevia rebaudiana plant have a delicious and refreshing taste that can be 30 times sweeter than sugar. It has been available in liquid and powder form for many years, and is a God send for diabetics. The reason is, because stevia does not spike blood sugar levels. This is why it is a good diet aid for all of you!

I know it sounds too good to be true, so for all of you naysayers, put your positive cap on while you read the next few sentences. It has zero calories, zero carbs, and is even believed to lower blood pressure, blood glucose levels, and even improve digestion. You can bake with it, mix it in drinks and sprinkle it on cereal, just as you would sugar.

It begs the question, why, after decades of successful use by the alternative medicine crowd, and a growing obesity problem in the United States, has it taken the FDA so long to finally approve stevia’s use in commercial food products?  It might boggle your mind to think that some dangerous pharmaceuticals are given the green light, reach the market, and then pulled, in less time than it takes for me to let a bad haircut grow out, when an herb diabetics have used safely throughout modern history has only just a year ago, been deemed safe by the FDA.

It will further boggle your mind to think that it was considered safe enough by the FDA to have allowed us to consume it as a straight dietary supplement for so long, but not safe enough to be added to commercial food products, while known carcinogenic dyes and sulfites are added to our hot dogs and licorice everyday. But you don’t need your mind boggled, so I advise, not thinking about that aspect, and in true *f.a.t. form, let’s focus on the positive, which is that a year ago, the FDA did approve stevia’s use in commercial food products.

In fact, here are some exciting things brewing in the food industry that will affect all of your efforts to stay fit, trim, healthy, and sexy - otherwise known as being *f.a.t. (Fit After Thirty).

* A company out of Arizona, Wisdom Natural Brands, started aggressively marketing packets of its powdered sweetener called SweetLeaf. This means, one day soon in restaurants, you may actually have the option of reaching for stevia from that cute little container in the middle of the table so you can dump a natural sugar substitute in your coffee instead of the synthetic options that fill the blue, pink, and yellow packets.

*A big, agribusiness company named Cargill, is teaming up with Coca-Cola to add their branded version of stevia, called Truvia, to Coke products. Some Odwalla drinks, and Sprite Green are already sweetened with Truvia, so look for these at the store!!

* Whole Earth Sweetener Co., has developed a new line of beverages sweetened with a stevia product called PureVia, and they are working with PepsiCo on adding it to their products.

According to Oscar Rodes, the founder of Texas-based producer Stevita Co., which I am a big fan of, predicts that the herb could eventually account for 20 percent of the overall sweetener market, saying that ”Soon you’ll see stevia in pretty much every food product you can imagine.”

I’m going out on a Fit After Thirty limb to say that once women learn about stevia’s benefits over sugar for themselves and their kids, it will be a lot greater than 20 percent of the sweetener market!!