Stevia feels like a workaround to me. "It won't kill you" isn't the same as "it's good for you."

I've worked very hard to remove sugar and sweets from my diet. I don't crave them any more. Additives like Stevia would be a huge step back towards my old diet, even if it's "okay" to eat. I'd rather just move forward without sugar/sweets in my diet.

Here are all of the previous posts about stevia

Personally I think it's a great option.

From a recent study:

"Stevia [...] significantly reduced [post-meal] glucose levels compared to sucrose [...] , and [post-meal] insulin levels compared to both aspartame and sucrose."

I'd rather guzzle a gallon of local honey than put a flake of the fake stuff on my tongue. But that's because I'm hardcore Paleo.

Any scientific arguments aside, I don't think it tastes good. I avoid sugar as much as I can - your tastebuds adapt - and use honey when I really can't avoid a sweetener. Life is too short to eat something that tastes less than good IMO.

I have used it in my tea daily for about 7 years. I eat no other sweets & have zero sweet cravings.

I eat pie 2X/Yr - Thanksgiving & Christmas - no other sweets.

There's nothing about it that is bad for teeth. To my knowledge it does not promote bacterial growth.

Good or bad for you I just can't stand the taste--nothing covers up the bitter. It's a no-go for me.

Google the following and then report back: "Stevia Dan Quinn."

I use it in my coffee and tea. It does taste a bit different than sugar, but I like it. However, you should use the liquid drops and not the powder. The powder is bitter and horrible! The brand I'm currently drinking in my coffee (with coconut milk, too!) is Better Stevia Original by Now. It costs a little over $5 for 2 oz. which will last me a pretty long time. I don't understand the controversy since stevia is made from a root.

The sweetner chemicals have the chemical structure of a steriod, so its likley it either boosts or suppresses the immune system. And the jury isnt back yet on whether it causes cancer either.

As for consesus, there isnt one. Some folks here love it, some wouldnt touch it with a barge pole.

I am on (read it!) day 3 of drastically changing my eating habits-Paleo. I doubt that I'd be able to stay on this (new lifestyle) diet if I couldn't at least use my stevia in my coffee, tea, etc. I barely have any thyroid left from my lupus destroying it(hashimoto's thyroiditis)for the past 40 years, so my self-control over eating needs as much help as I can find. To just completely take away all sweets at this point would be the end before I've hardly begun. I also want to add-I love this site!! Ellen from Binghamton, NY

Try the Kal brand of stevia -- no aftertaste! I also found some of the other brands to have funky aftertaste.

"The stevia plant is a perennial shrub native to Paraguay and Brazil. Native Americans in these regions realized that the leaves were sweet, and used them to season teas and other foods. The plant is also sometimes called sweetleaf or sugarleaf, in a reference to the natural sweetness held in the leaves."

That sounds paleo if you ask me.

The only place I have used it is in this fabulous (and I mean fabulous) recipe for Paleo meatloaf: http://www.eatingforidiots.com/homestyle-meatloaf/

The recipe doesn't call for it, but a pinch of stevia added to the ketchup recipe makes me cry tears of joy. I don't find it increases my sugar cravings.

Like anything you put into your body, try it and see if you like the results. If you don't like the results, and you feel better without it, then stop using it.