Stevia as a Sweet Herb America Should Be Using as a Sugar Substitute

It's a shame many of the herbs available on the planet that can virtually heal any disease are being stifled by big business and usurped by artificial products that ultimately harm the health of everything human being. Whether you personally choose to believe such a thing or not, it's really just a corollary of capitalism in America and of how corporations operate. It's also indicative of how things have devolved in the evolution of human beings when there's plenty of evidence that shows early humans in every continent effectively used herbs in their own diets. In one of the best examples, the sweet herb Stevia Rebaudiana was already used as a method to sweeten virtually any food by ancient cultures in South America. And Stevia is one of myriad healthy herbs from South America that should be in full use here.

The immediately noticeable benefits of Stevia are as a natural sweetener that doesn't raise your blood sugar or give you weight gain. Yes, that sounds like an out and out miracle product, and it is. It's also a threat to some of the biggest industries in America: Artificial sweetener and refined sugar industries. Perhaps it's unfair to blame every case of Diabetes and other illness over the last 100 years on the big business of refined sugar and artificial sweeteners. Obviously, blood sugar and other diseases can still be controlled if you eat products with refined sugar through a sense of moderation.

Despite that, putting refined sugar and artificial sweeteners into one's body has been proven to cause more harm than good in the long run. The CEO's of these major industries likely know that, though face what every other CEO running an industry that's harmful has to do: Find ways to work around it or just live in denial until the status quo finally changes.

In the case of the refined sugar and artificial sweetener industries, there really isn't much of a compromise available. Unless those in control invested in marketing Stevia, the prospects of this herb overtaking all other sweeteners means the end of the refined sugar and artificial sweetener industry. While we'd have a much healthier world if that happened, it's already been thwarted. There isn't definitive evidence of it, but deduction is all that's necessary when you see the trajectory of what the FDA did to keep the Stevia herb from getting into the kitchens and digestive systems of the American people.

To show you why the Japanese people are much healthier than Americans, the use of Stevia has been widespread there for years. Perhaps their health has begun to tumble a bit due to the advent of the American fast-food industry in Japan. Outside of that, however, there aren't heavy incidents of Diabetes or obesity in Japan due to their use of Stevia in everything. The same could be said of South America, parts of Europe and Australia. America can now join those to some extent, except it's through a different method from what it should be.
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It was during all those reports of South Americans and Japanese using large and safe amounts of Stevia as a sweetener when those attuned to herbs in America started to take notice. Eventually, Americans attempted to bring it home with them when visiting in those countries, hence inciting the FDA to consider making it legal here in the States. By 1991, that was about to happen until the FDA announced a perplexing ban on the herb. Basing their opinion on a highly flawed study that said it could cause a disruption in people's metabolism, Stevia was banned from any shelf in America for close to four years. After all the copious studies in other countries that showed the ancients and present populations used it in large degrees with 100% positive results, the banning by the FDA was thought to be lobbying by the artificial sweetener and refined sugar industries who were concerned at Stevia's potential.

During those four years, there were growing gripes against the FDA from those in the know about Stevia's benefits. Unfortunately, it was a minority crowd who found it obvious that Stevia was being banned because of the big business status quo. The rest of America's population kept eating foods with refined sugar and pouring artificial sweeteners in their coffee. We all know what that led to in the time since.

By the mid 90's, the FDA finally relented on allowing Stevia into America. The only provision was that it had to be sold as a supplement rather than being marketed as a replacement for the artificial sweeteners. To date, that's where Stevia stands in America. Yes, you can buy it in any health food store within a price that's reasonable. The problem is that there hasn't been a drive toward promoting it enough in America. Despite that, there has been slow awareness of it, which keeps it on the health food store shelves.

The overall miracle of Stevia is that you can use as much of it as you want without it causing weight gain, raising blood sugar or even harming your teeth. Those who buy it (usually in liquid form) frequently use it in their coffee, on their cereal or even bake with it when making desserts. No, the refined sugar and artificial sweetener industry doesn't want to hear that. But they aren't worried yet, because the majority of Americans still buy and use those products by the ten tons as part of the old American way.

Perhaps when the word gets out that Stevia is sweeter than sugar, things will change. Even when I tried it for the first time, I was floored at how good it tasted and how much sweeter it is than even the sweetest confection you've ever tasted.

So here's every recommendation in the world to head to your local health food store and ask about Stevia. They'll have it on the shelf--sometimes in small bottles. In order for it to make a huge difference, getting it placed into all snack and sugary foods on the grocery store shelves would literally change the shape of America. Don't expect that to happen anytime soon, though, as big business in America isn't about to change anything, no matter how much damage is done in the meantime.

For those who buy it in the health food stores, spreading the word to family and friends is the only way to make Stevia more diffuse in everybody's diet. Consider this article a spreading of that word to those suffering with health problems because they're unknowingly under the thumb of America's backwards food industry...

Source:

http://www.stevia.com/SteviaArticle.asp?Id=2269