The Truvia Debate

Day three. So far, so good! I have been very mindful of my sweetener intake. Zilch, so far. Sugar-free syrup can easily become its own food group in my personal food period and as of today, I have yet to experience separation anxiety. Win! I'm struggling with the idea of Stevia. It's not artificial, right? I mean... I even dried the leaves from my own Stevia plant in my kitchen then pressed it to powder. It's as good as any other seasoning, right?

Are you addicted to sweeteners? What are your thoughts on Stevia and Truvia? Really--what is the difference?

According to Eating Rules, Truvia is natural Stevia but with Reb-A and erythritol added. If Stevia plants are already sweet as it is, then why the added elements? Because consumers want their sugar substitute to look like sugar, and this is how they get it done. In its natural form, ground Stevia looks like any kind of green seasoning you may already find in your cabinet. Another reason for the extra ingredients? By itself, Stevia is already about 30 times sweeter than sugar. The addition of Reb-A to form Truvia actually makes this substitute 300 times sweeter than sugar. THREE HUNDRED TIMES! Someone tell me why any sugar substitute has to be any sweeter than it is?

My advice? Stick with Stevia. Grow your own, dry it, ground it up. It will make you feel domestic, and it's absolutely delicious. 

I have Truvia in my cabinet, but for the sake of my goal this week, I will only use the pure Stevia that I grew and ground myself! Or... I could always just use sugar. Yeah, that works too.

Other Goals

Finances: Ok, making a monthly budget is very difficult if you have never created one. I learned this the other night while I typed out all the different categories I wanted to plug into my app. Do I just have "eating out" as a category? Well what if I want to see where I'm spending on coffee, dates, or fast food on the road? Do I make separate categories, or is that getting to be too much? Entertainment... isn't food entertainment? Is getting a drink at a bar "eating out" or "entertainment"?  How do I know what to allot for my first month when this is the first time I have tried this? I'm determined to have one laid out by the end of the week. 

How do you budget for the month, or do you? Where do you find yourself spending the most unnecessary money?

Fun: Writing that letter to my friend. I keep sitting down to type this before I realize that the point is hand writing it. I plan to set aside a half hour to do this this weekend.

Work: Look into budgeting tools. I did this! I can spend more time on it, but I did take a look and tediously start entering things into a spreadsheet that I meant to tackle months ago. Time to make it a routine now.

What are your goals?