Occasional cooks: more stevia failure, I'm giving up

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Share what you're cooking this week, ask for tips or recipes for a dish, tell us about your meals out. 

Via Good Food

Another week, another failure with artificial sweeteners. I wanted to make this favourite recipe, date, ginger and chocolate cookies to take into work. As I was making two batches, I thought I'd take the chance to experiment with replacing the sugar with stevia. 

It's supposed to be a one-to-one replacement product, the packet even talks up its use in baking. But the batch with stevia came out weird. I could immediately tell the batter was different, and the finished texture is odd. At least edible, this time!

And it didn't really cut out that much sugar, since this recipe also has dates, chocolate and crystallised ginger bringing plenty more sugar to the mix.

And then this morning my paper had an article about how some sweeteners may trigger you to eat more (especially for women who are overweight), although the study wasn't looking at stevia, which the article says may actually be a very slight appetite suppressant.

But the general view of the experts quoted is, a little sweeteners are ok, if they help you change your habits, but they're not a large-scale solution.

It's not like I thought sweeteners were going to be my miracle 'loss weight and get healthy' fix, but I hoped to be able to keep a few favourites in the mix.

While I'm talking nutrition, here's a good video from a food scientist about all the different types of milk. The key thing I picked up on is the section about comparing calcium from milk and vegetables like kale and broccoli. 

She quotes a video promoting cutting out milk that claims many vegies contain the same amount of calcium, and then explains that, it's technically true, but the vegetables also contain substances that prevent our bodies from digesting the calcium, so you'd have to consume about a kilo of broccoli to get the equivalent calcium as in a glass of milk.

Which is why nut milks tend to be fortified with calcium.

So the point I'm working around to is, food science is complicated, ignore the fact-picking on the internet and read/listen to actual scientists and dieticians*, and just eat good food.

(*If you've ever wondered, a dietician has a masters degree and is required to be accredited. The term nutritionist is unregulated. (At least in Australia, and it looks like it's similar world-wide.) So if you're looking for experts, check what people call themselves.)

A little more serious than usual, thanks for tolerating me as I work out some issues!

To end on a plus note, those cookies really are amazing (when made with sugar). Every time I do them, people ask for the recipe. So give them a try.