Welcome to my blog!!! I have been an herbalist & an aromatherapist for over 20 years!! My blog is over 10 years old & there are over 150 informative blogs. Not only do I have hopes of teaching the masses, I too, have learned a lot during my research on different topics! There's always new & updated information in the herbal & essential oil worlds. There are blogs on herbs, essential oils, nutrition, supplements, different modalities of healing and just a little bit of everything!! Maybe in reading my blogs, just one person will come away with a bit of knowledge that they might be able to help themselves or another human being, I would consider that to be a great blessing.....

Over the years I have had several businesses. It seems I can't get away from seeing if a certain herb or essential oil can help a fellow human and that's usually how it starts. I am now in Arizona and I was asked again if I would be interested in starting another herbal business!! We now have Herbs 4 Health!! Providing numerous herbs....herbal blends....single essential oils...essential oil blends....minerals....tinctures all to help the body to heal itself.

The information in these blogs is not meant in any way shape or form to plagiarize, for I have never said this is all MY work. It is a compilation of reputable informative websites, my 'go to' books I have always depended upon & my own knowledge. I gather & put together information to help people learn & this way they can come back here to help remind themselves of said information instead of 'where oh where' did I find that on the world wide web. Seems to me it's just better & easier.

DISCLAIMER: All the information in these blogs do not diagnose, treat or heal any type illness or disease.

























Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Stevia...plain & simple!


Stevia is a member of the chrysanthemum family & a member of the subgroup of the ragweed family. The leaves are THE sweet part everyone seems to want. There are basically 3 types of stevia that is commercially available: green leaf, stevia extract & stevia blends.

Many of the commercial stevia blends contain very little of the actual stevia plant. Sometimes they have been altered so they contain chemical solvents.

Stevia's glycosides is the component in the plant that is responsible for it's sweetness. Specifically they are: stevioside, rebaudioside (which have 5 variations: A, B, C, D, E & F), steviolbioside & isosteviol. These active compounds, mainly the stevioside & the rebaudioside, contain 30-150 times the sweetness of sugar. They are heat stable, pH stable, but not fermentable. The body doesn't metabolize the glycosides so it contains zero calories.

Now stevioside is sweet, but has a bitter licorice aftertaste. The rebaudiosides are sweet with no bitterness & are usually present in highly refined commercial stevia products. When companies make their version of the sweetner, the plant is subjected to a water extraction process. During this process, it loses about 50% of the rebaudioside A. They separate the various glycosides & are then purified via a crystallization technique using ethanol or methanol as a solvent. Yummm, sounds like something I want to put into my body regularly...not!! So stevia extracts & derivatives are produced industrially & marketed under different trade names.

It's also a good source of polyphenols, carotenoids, chlorophyll compounds & amino acids making the whole plant the optimum choice to add to your diet instead of processed down sugar & toxic sweetners.

It's interesting that the only part of stevia that's been approved by the FDA is the highly processed powder form of stevia. Which is chemically processed, contains genetically modified ingredients (GMO's) & often only contains minute traces of actual stevia!!!

Recent studies have found that stevia has the potential to terminate chronic lyme disease which a 2-4 week round of antibiotics sometimes can & sometimes can't defeat this tricky bacteria. Stevia leaf extract is rich in many phytonutrients that are known antimicrobial agents to help get rid of most persistent forms of lyme disease. This study even found how the extract could help lower high blood pressure & reduce blood glucose in type II diabetics, help in weight loss & contains anticancer properties.

A pinch of stevia powder is = to about 1 tsp. of sugar. Do not use if pregnant, especially if it's the commercial type.

Sources: thetruthaboutcancer.com, healthline.com, Wikipedia.com, DrAxe.com & RenegadeTribune.com