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How do you start your day?
Personally, I have to have my coffee in the mornings to feel human again after sleeping all night. If I'm on my game, I setup my coffee maker the night before and have it programmed to start brewing when my alarm goes off. I have a little coffee bar setup to make my mornings easy. The coffee pot sits under the counter that holds my coffee cups and plates (to hold my spoon and trash). Next to the pot resides the coffee filters, coffee grounds, sweetener packets, and sugar free flavoring syrups. My heavy whipping cream is in the door so it's easy to grab. I can make coffee in my sleep (some mornings this is necessary).
When I started Weight Watchers, I realized that my favorite non-dairy creamers were adding extra points every day. I looked for alternatives and discovered sugar free flavoring syrups. I could add skim milk with syrup and some splenda and my coffee was "legal" again. Over the years, I've slowly drifted back to the non-dairy creamers (especially at school). In researching the Keto lifestyle, I discovered that these delicious flavorings are adding 5-10 carbs per cup of coffee!
Like many teachers I work with, I could not survive without my morning dose of caffeine so I had to find an alternative. I already knew that the SF syrups were zero calorie, but the carb count in milk was too high. That's where the heavy whipping cream comes in. I only needed two tablespoons instead of 1/4 cup of milk to get the same flavor. This comes in at just under one carb (0.8g according to Calorie King's website).
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Not all stevia packets are created equal...
I assumed that all stevia packets were zero carb sweeteners. I never really took the time to research this. I knew that stevia was a natural product compared with Equal, Sweet 'n Low, and Splenda. I used to have to get this from a health food store (usually in a liquid form), but now there are many manufacturers that produce convenient packets of powdered sweeter. When I'm making my morning coffee, I've found that using a sweetener packet is much easier than trying to count out liquid drops into my cup.
I found a quick and easy recipe for Keto Hot Cocoa that used everything I already have in my kitchen. In the recipe notes, the author mentioned that one should use liquid stevia since the green packets have 2g of carbohydrates each. I was a little shocked by this. My green packet turned this one carb recipe into three! I decided to do some online research this morning.
I only looked at one website, but I was able to find nutritional information on seven different packages of stevia packets. I live and work in a rural area, so I focused my research on what I can find where I shop the most (Wal Mart). However, I believe that many of these brands are available at many grocery and discount stores. I don't know about you, but when I want something I'd rather go the store and buy it today.
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Unfortunately, the least expensive option is the highest in carbohydrates. The Great Value brand has two carbs per packet. The next two highest in carbohydrates were Stevia in the Raw and Pyure Organic Stevia with less than one gram per packet. If you only use one packet, these options would be fine. However, when you add up three or four packets a day, you would need to count the carbs. In fact, my Carb Manager app counts the Stevia in the Raw packet as one carb each.
There were two brands available in-store with zero net carbs each: Truvia and Splenda Naturals Stevia. Both of these contained 2 g of Erythritol which is subtracted from the 2 g of total carbohydrates. There were two other brands available online for pickup that also had zero net carbs: Now Foods Better Stevia Organic and Sweet Leaf Organic Stevia.
I've personally tried the Great Value, Stevia in the Raw and Truvia brands over the years. Since the green packets in my kitchen currently have two carbs, I will be shopping soon. I'll post an update to compare the Truvia and Splenda Naturals Stevia soon. I believe I have seen both of these in our local grocery store as well.
Before you purchase your next package of stevia, be sure to look at the nutritional facts before you put it into your cart.
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