Very common problem among smokers is that they want to quit, but they fear they will gain weight.
But you don’t need for worry. This herb will help you give up smoking without the risk of gaining weight.
Plant from the chrysanthemum family, that originate from Paraguay, which have been used as a natural sweetener for centuries is Stevia. The stevia extract comes from about 150 different species of herbs, in the genusStevia. It's a group of plants related to daisies, asters and sunflowers.The sugar substitute is extracted from the stevia plant. A species called Stevia rebaudiana is naturally grown in Brazil and Paraguay, where it has been used for hundreds of years to sweeten coffee, food and to treat burns and stomach discomfort.
This herb is excellent in the fight against obesity and also helps in the treatment of diabetes and hypertension, and most importantly, it kills any desire for nicotine.It can be used as a mask for skin care, because it nourishes, tightens and makes it smooth. Stevia can also be used to combat acne and effectively acts against dermatitis.Stevia extract has been in use by native South Americans (where it is known as caa-he-éé or kaa jheéé) to reduce weight; to treat wound infections, inflammatory conditions, swelling in the legs and as a tonic to treat depression.
Stevia can be purchased in liquid and powdered concentrates, even though its calorie-free, the plant extract can taste 200/300 times sweeter than the same amount of granulated table sugar.It is available in the form of a leaf, green and white powder and as a liquid. Stevia isn’t necessarily all natural when its industrial processed, because many companies include additional ingredients, but for now there are not enough researches to point to stevia's health benefits or negative side effects.
It does not require much, which means that you can plant stevia in your garden and in pots.
.Health benefits of stevia
- Stevia herb parts are very low in calories. Parts by parts, its dry leaves possess roughly 40 times more sweetness than sugar. This sweetness quality in stevia is due to several glycoside compounds includingstevioside, steviolbioside, rebaudiosides A-E, and dulcoside.
- Stevioside is a non-carbohydrate glycoside compound. Hence, it lacks the properties that sucrose and other carbohydrates possess. Stevia extracts, like rebaudioside-A, are found to be 300 times sweeter than sugar. Besides, being a near-zero calorie food ingredient, stevia extracts have several unique properties such as long shelf life, high temperature tolerance, non-fermentative.
- Furtehr, stevia plant has many sterols and antioxidant compounds like triterpenes, flavonoids, and tannins. Some of flavonoid polyphenolic anti-oxidant phyto-chemicals present in stevia are kaempferol, quercetin, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, isoquercitrin, isosteviol…etc. Studies found that kaempferol can reduce risk of pancreatic cancer by 23% (American journal of epidemiology) [1].
- Chlorgenic acid reduces enzymatic conversion of glycogen to glucose in addition to decreasing absorption of glucose in the gut. Thus, it helps reduce blood sugar levels. Lab studies also confirm a reduction in blood glucose levels and an increase in the liver concentrations of glucose-6-phosphate, and of glycogen.
- Certain glycosides in stevia extract have been found to dilate blood vessels, increase sodium excretion, and urine output. In effect, stevia, at slightly higher doses than as sweetener, can help lower blood pressure.
- Being a non-carbohydrate sweetener, stevia would not favor the growth of Streptococcus mutans bacteria in the mouth which is attributed to be a causative agent of dental caries and tooth cavities. On the other hand, certain compounds in stevia rather found to inhibit caries causing bacteria in the mouth.
- In addition, being a herb, stevia contain many vitals minerals, vitamins that are selectively absent in the artificial sweeteners.
