Erythritol, Stevia Extract, and Truvia

Although I've never cooked with stevia, I've heard that it does not withstand the heat very well and can become bitter. As far as cooking with Erithridol or other sugar alcohols (such as Xylitol), they work great. Hope this helps!

Skip all that an use either honey, yogurt or apple sauce to give your cake some moisture and sweetness. Always use natural things when trying to loose weight with fruit and things.

Half off those artificial sweeteners have unwanted side effects you may notice right away or in the latter part in your life.

If you take any fruit and puree them in the blender you will have the natural sweetness, if you wanted added moisture use apple sauce, for an added touch use honey.

I bake and never any of that stuff.

Good Luck!

Please don't use them. Any of them. The more longitudinal studies that come out show that they all end up having side effects after they have been on the market a while and symptoms start showing across the board for everyone who uses them.

My friend who is a severe diabetic nearly died from using all those new ones when the stuff started coming out about aspertame. She used a lot of the ones you are talking about and nearly died.

Her diabetic doc down in OKC told her to stop using ALL artificial sweeteners and use only real sugar. She only watches her carbs and doesn't overdo them. She is healthy today and got her insulin pump out, she doesn't take numerous med all day and her blood sugar is hardly ever high. She eats healthy foods in normal servings and doesn't eat foods with a lot of complex carbs like pasta and breads. If she does eat something like cake she eats a small piece and doesn't eat more carbs later.

She is healthier than ever in her life. She had no idea that artificial sweeteners were so bad but they are.

So I say please, please don't start something like this. Just watch those carbs and eat a minimal amount of them. A piece of birthday cake can be just fine, plus some ice cream, just eat low carb foods the rest of the day.

You can google "foods low in carbohydrates" and you should get a huge list. Or go to the local library and check out some of the books with recipes in them. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of foods that are minimal in carbohydrates. Eat those mostly with a minimal serving of foods not on that list.

The problem with artificial sweeteners, is your body does not know what to do with them. They aren't any healthier then sugar. In fact, if you do some research (I don't mean that in a condescending way) they are heavily linked to weight gain and disease.

I would just use the Truvia it should be fine.

Stevia extract is from a South American plant, just like raw sugar comes from sugarcane. The only difference is in the way you use the plant. Only recently have we been able to buy RAW sugar instead of highly processed white sugar. At the moment, almost all Stevia extract is heavily processed. You can, however, buy the plant (if you can find one) and use the actual leaves from the plant to sweeten your food/drinks. The plants themselves aren't the problem; it's having the end product highly overprocessed that's the problem. However, I do agree you should stay away as much as possible from sugar as well as articifial sweetners. Try to get your taste buds to do away with sugar. Honey is a good substitute, as well as fruit puree like applesauce.

I do not know the answer to your specific question regarding the substitution, sorry. BUT, in the interest of helping you maintain your under 25 g of carbs plan, I thought I would make a cookbook recommendation.
I did the Protein Power Plan with my husband years ago (like, 10 years ago, and off and on since, plus generally keeping its principals in mind). It is very similar to Atkins. I was "allowed" less than 30 g of carbs per day in the beginning phase.

My husband found a cookbook called "500 Low-Carb Recipes", by Dana Carpender. We don't strictly follow "low carb" eating habits these days, but I still use the cookbook as we found some that are really good and easy to make.
Breakfast casseroles, mexican meatballs, picnic chicken, taco seasoning without any salt, etc.. AND, a cake recipe we cannot get enough of: zucchini-carrot cake. I don't even put the frosting on it, it is even better without it (the frosting has a bit of the "artificial sweetener" taste to it in my opinion). Even my (at the time) 4 year old son would ask for slices of this cake. Totally YUM. It is made with hazelnuts, splenda, yogurt, vanilla protein powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, zucchini, carrots and one or two other standard baking ingredients (not flour). SO SO yummy. PM me if you are interested in the recipe. Each serving (it serves 8) has 8 g carbs, 2 g fiber (so net 6 carbs) and 16 grams of protein.

Great to hear about your success! Not sure how to answer your question, but I did stumble upon the following:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/snacks/r/chocrumballs.htm

Stevia is not an artificial sweetner . Stevia is an herb and therefore natural. Just as sugar is made from sugar cane or sugar beets. I don't know about the erythritol, tho.

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupplementguide/a/ery...

I don't know if it would be called artificial. It occurs in some fruits. It's made with a combination of sugar and yeast, natural ingredients. Therefore I doubt that it is classified as an artificial sweetner which is made from chemicals.

I suggest that you can use the Truvia, using it as suggested on the package. Stevia is very sweet. Erythritol is 70% as sweet as sugar therefore less sweet than sugar or stevia. Perhaps look at a regular cake recipe and use the sugar amount to figure out how much Truvia to use.

I use Agave nectar instead of sugar; It's a little sweeter but has never messed up anything I've cooked or baked so far.

The best natural way to sweeten things is medjool dates. process them yourself. Great for smoothies or anything else that needs sweetness.

Hi A., Congratulations on your amazing loss and Happy Birthday!! I love Atkins and love Low Carb! I've been doing it for over 3 years to keep diabetes at bay. I would say, yes, you could substitute Truvia for the erythritol and stevia since Truvia contains both. From what I found on-line, erythritol is 60-70 times sweeter than sugar and stevia is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar so the sweetness may be a little off without the exact percentages listed in the recipe. But, honestly, you're not eating anything sweet right now and I bet it will taste sweet to you regardless! I wish you continued success!!

I know that it really seems like you want an answer to your exact question (which I understand) but I'm sorry, I don't have one.

I do want to answer you in general, though. :) Stevia/Truvia, etc...really isn't good for you. I've done a ton of research on this because I wanted to ditch sugar...but it's only recently been approved by the FDA and I really, really don't like most of what I read about it and it's history.

You may want to consider substituting Splenda (or it's generic counterpart, available at WalMart or other mass merchandisers for pretty cheap) because it's far better for you and has been time tested. It's basically chlorinated sugar, that your body doesn't even absorb, and I'm okay with that idea.

I hope your cake turned out awesome, btw. :)

yes, you can substitute it.
not that you asked<G>, but it will likely be pretty blicky.
i'd rather have something else than an artificially sweetened dessert. i think that stuff tastes vile.
interestingly, i have stevia in my herb garden and LOVE to add chopped leaves to all manner of great dishes. but cannot abide the processed sweetener.
khairete
S.