Stevia question
My morning always starts with a smoothie. On fasting days, it is unflavouered/unsweetend whey protein powder, 2-3 svgs fruits, one svg veggie, about 1 tsp stevia and 3g turmeric. My fruits & veggies have been fresh-frozen and do not sit out before I use them. I put them in the microwave for about 20 seconds (my blender doesn't handle the fully-frozen fruits well) and I make my smoothie right away. I don't take much more than 15 minutes to consume my smoothie.
I usually either have blueberry/strawberry/spinach, or peach/mango/carrot. On the fasting mornings that I have the peach/mango/carrot combo, by the time I get near the bottom of my smoothie, I get an alcohol-like taste. I have deduced it is the stevia because by lowering the amount, the effect is lessened, but still there. It never happens on the berry-smoothie mornings, nor with either if stevia is not used.
On my non-fasting mornings, I use maple syrup to sweeten my smoothies and soy milk instead of water. The issue does not arise. I use stevia to sweeten herbal teas and have not had this issue either. I can't avoid the stevia in my smoothies because just the fruit does not mask the taste of the turmeric enough, and on fasting days I can't afford the calories associated with the maple syrup. I can't skip the turmeric because of arthritis symptoms (it does help quite a bit)
Does anyone have any ideas what could be the cause of this?
Answers
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@zachiedoo I use a monk fruit/stevia combo when I resort to a sweetener. It comes in a packet. This combo has never given me any kind of "off" taste....just gentle sweetness. I would not use any kind of artificial sweetener. I use this at times with herbal teas.
Have you thought of using a turmeric supplement to avoid the taste. It is interesting that you get the odd taste with one smoothie but not the other. I enjoy the taste of turmeric and often use a combo turmeric/cumin/cinnamon in my ginger tea.
Another idea for you. I use an unflavored pea isolate for my protein powder. I frequently use berries, cacao, or PfitB which is an organic roasted peanut powder in my smoothies. It has 60 calories, 7g of protein...much less fat than peanut butter. I'm thinking that perhaps you wouldn't need to mask the flavor of the turmeric because any combo of these ingredients is not only healthy, but might give you enough flavor so you won't have to incorporate the stevia.
I would probably balance out fruit with some greens, skip the stevia, and add chia, flax, or hemp seeds, but each of us has our own path. Good luck on your journey! Wishing you much health and a resolution to your mystery.
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Thanks for this. I try to avoid supplements as a rule, because you don't always know what's in them, whereas I know the turmeric I am presently taking is organic. I will consider it if all else fails. I will see if I can find a stevia/monkfruit sweetener to try to see if that makes a difference.
As for pea protein, that is actually the first protein powder I used, unflavoured pea protein. I found the taste and grittiness off-putting, though, and I did give myself about 6 weeks to see if I could get used to it before moving on to a whey protein. I don't think it was an isolate, though and that may have made a difference. I may try to source one to see if that works as well.
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You are right about supplements...you don't always know what is in them and I always make sure they are third party tested. Turmeric is a wonderful choice and great that you chose organic. I order my stevia/monkfruit off of Amazon and I think that Costco offers one...you could check online. You are right...pea protein is not the best tasting. I don't use whey because I don't eat animal products. I have used great tasting protein powders in the past, but I'm eliminating all the additional products that made them taste so good which is why I've turned to an isolate. I'm in the process of finding the best for me as this is a change in my protocol. This journey is a process and I'm always researching and trying to improve.