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Stevia is a hot topic these days! We know you probably have tons of questions about this popular product, so we attempted to answer them all. The most popular question we get asked is, is stevia safe on a keto diet?

If you’re interested in learning about some of the ingredients that may be in your muffin or coffee, you’ve come to the right place!

What is Stevia?

Stevia is a purified form of sweetener derived from a plant called Stevia rebaudiana, and is often used as a sugar alternative. The sweetener is extracted from the leaves of the plant, and then purified for human consumption.

Stevia is often sold in the form of a fine powder or as a concentrated liquid, and is thought to taste 200-300 times sweeter than traditional table sugar. This refined stevia is commonly used to sweeten many foods and beverages, such as coffee or low carb baked goods and desserts.

Is Stevia an artificial sweetener?

There is a lot of talk about natural versus artificial sweeteners. Stevia is widely considered to be a natural sweetener, being that it is extracted from a plant. However, given that stevia is “processed” for purification (converting the leaf to the consumable powder), some may share the opinion that it is not completely natural. Regardless of this ongoing debate, stevia is generally recognized as a natural sweetener rather than an artificial sweetener.

Stevia nutrition facts

The widely popular stevia sweetener is known as a non-nutritive sweetener, which means it has little to no calories when in its extract form. Be on the lookout for stevia in a powder form though, because sometimes it is bound to dextrose or maltodextrin which to contain carbs and therefor calories.

Stevia ingredients

The ingredients of a stevia sweetener depend upon what version and brand you buy. Commercial stevia powdered products typically have three ingredients: stevia leaf extract, silica, and inulin.

Silica is used to keep the stevia extract powder from clumping and inulin is a naturally occurring vegetable fiber that promotes gut health. Some stevia products are made with “whole leaf stevia” rather than stevia extract, which is thought to be more “natural”. If you’re particular about what’s in your stevia, be sure to read the ingredients list.

With the liquid stevia extracts, some brands do contain up to 20% alcohol whereas some brands are completely alcohol free. Liquid versions are usually free of inulin and silica but some have extracts such as vanilla, hazelnut and caramel to make it a flavored calorie free sweetener. These come in handy to flavor your favorite cup of coffee. 

Stevia to sugar conversion

Stevia has a much sweeter flavor than table sugar (sucrose). When cooking or baking with stevia, it is helpful to have a conversion factor to be sure you do not use too much and end up with an inedible product. Here’s a handy dandy stevia conversion chart from SweatLeaf.

Xylitol vs Stevia

Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that is also used as a sweetener, often as a substitute for sucrose or table sugar. Sugar alcohols are often substituted because they don’t cause many of the negative effects of regular sugar.

However, be sure to limit your consumption of sugar alcohols, as they may cause gastrointestinal discomfort if consumed in excess. As compared to stevia, xylitol contains about 10 calories and 2.5g carbs per serving (1 tsp). Considering the minor carbohydrate increase, xylitol has a slight effect on blood sugar in contrast to stevia, which does not.

Erythritol vs Stevia

Erythritol is another naturally occurring sugar alcohol commonly used as a sugar substitute. Erythritol is thought to be about 60-80% less sweet than sugar, as compared to stevia, which is about 200-300 times sweeter.

Interestingly enough, erythritol has a cooling sensation that can be noticed even in baked goods made with this sweetener. Both erythritol and stevia, as well as xylitol are thought to be good alternatives to sugar.

Because of the cooling effect of erythritol you will see that Faith and I commonly use a mix of both stevia and erythritol to balance out the cooling effect.

If you’re looking for a complete review on keto sweeteners, keto out this in depth article that we wrote about the best sweeteners to use on a keto diet.

Is Stevia healthy?

Stevia, when substituted for sugar, is an easy way to reduce calories and carbohydrate intake in our diets. It has nearly zero carbs and zero calories, making it a helpful sugar alternative for diabetics and individuals who are seeking weight loss. Swapping this plant derived sweetener instead of table sugar may have some true health benefits.

Does Stevia break a fast?

This is controversial topic. Stevia breaking a fast depends on what type of fast you are doing. Are you doing a water fast? Dry fast? Intermittent fasting?

Why are you fasting? To reduce caloric intake or for gut health?

If you’re just doing intermittent fasting or IF, stevia shouldn’t break your fast. Because of the low carbohydrate content of stevia, it does not spike blood sugar, thus it does not provoke an insulin response, and will not interrupt a fast.

If you’re doing a water fast or dry fast on the other hand, stevia would break a fast.

What is Stevia extract?

Stevia extract, just as we defined above, is a purified form of sweetener derived from the Stevia rebaudiana plant, and is used as a sugar alternative. To extract the sweetener, the leaves are harvested from the plant, dried, and then steeped in hot water.

After this, a filtering process is performed to purify the plant for commercial sale. Stevia extract is then sold in the form of a fine powder or as a concentrated liquid.

Does Stevia raise blood sugar?

Since stevia sweeteners contain virtually zero calories and carbohydrates, they have no effect on blood sugar or insulin levels. This can be a game changer for individuals who struggle with diabetes.

Using stevia or other carb-free/low carb sweeteners to replace sugar can help diabetics enjoy sweet foods while keeping their blood sugar in check.

Is Stevia paleo?

It depends. Most stevia sweeteners are considered natural, meaning that someone on a paleo diet would be able to use them. However, someone who is practicing a paleo diet very strictly might avoid most commercially sold stevia extracts, as they may contain ingredients that are not directly plant derived. The best stevia sweetener for a paleo diet would be “pure stevia powder”, which contains no added ingredients.

Stevia and Lyme disease

There has been lots of talk on the internet about stevia as a cure for Lyme disease. Studies are currently being conducted on this theory, but as of now, it is just a theory. So far, nothing has been confirmed that proves stevia can cure Lyme disease, but the research is exciting!

Delicious Stevia recipes

Stevia can be used in just about any recipe as a sugar substitute. Use it in recipes for baked goods, smoothies, coffee, and even making your own barbeque sauce. Linked below are several recipes for stevia-sweetened foods!

• Healthy Snickers Protein Bars (low carb) : An Edible Mosaic
• Keto Edible Sugar Cookie Dough Fat Bombs : The Keto Queens
• The Best Homemade Keto Barbeque Sauce : Lara Clevenger
• Instant Pot Keto Cinnamon Rolls : The Keto Queens
• Rose Tea Latte with Vanilla Rooibos – An Edible Mosaic
• Healthy Java Chip Frappuccino Recipe : Lara Clevenger

If you found this post and you’re ready to start a keto diet, check out our 5 Day Budget Keto Meal Plan. You’ll get 5 days worth of recipes and eat for under $5 per day!

Or if you’ve been doing keto for a while and just need a little help meal planning, we’ve got you covered! We now offer Keto Meal Plans and you can try a week for free!

If you loved this post or any of our recipes, please leave a comment below. We love hearing from you! You can also tag #theketoqueens on social media. To stay up-to-date, FOLLOW US on Instagram @theketoqueens, Twitter, and Facebook.