I can’t tell you how excited I am today! I just received a package of goodies from NuNaturals. You see, after I raved about their stevia, the company contacted me and said they’d like to mail me some of their best products. So now I have lots of new items to try, including their alcohol-free liquid stevia, their fiber + stevia baking blend that measures one-to-one with sugar, their throat spray, the vanilla stevia and the no carbs packets pictured here, their pure stevia powder, and more! Over the next few weeks, I’ll test the products one by one and review them here. I promise to be honest. Don’t worry, they’re not paying me for this.
Then — and this is the best part – I’ll share some of them with you, dear readers. So stay tuned!
In the meantime, forgive me for my light blogging this week. Exams and all that. Hurricane Ike has made everything quite complicated and high-pressure. But at least I have a roof over my head, even if we do have to replace it. Thank you, God!
Related Posts
A Truly Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free Ice Cream (Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream Recipe)
The Ice Cream Kick Continues: Cheesecake Ice Cream (Sugar Free)
Products I Like: Teeccino (Recipe for Sugar-Free Teeccino Frappuccino)
I totally agree with you about the taste of NuNaturals stevia. I’ve been using the alcohol free drops. However, many of their products contain maltodextrin which is just another form of MSG. That’s probably why they taste better. I just purchased the white stevia powder thinking it would be safe only to find “natural flavoring” listed in the ingredients. Betcha it’s good ol’ MSG. Here’s an article that Donna Gates wrote that lists some of the many, many names for MSG: http://bodyecology.com/07/10/04/reading_nutrition_labels.php
MSG is a known endocrine disruptor.
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/
Kelly,
You bring up an important concern. I am very familiar with the Truth in Labeling site and have referred to it numerous times. In response to your comment, though, I do think that it’s important to note that they list maltodextrin in the category “OFTEN contain MSG or create MSG during processing” (http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html). In other words, maltodextrin on a label does not *necessarily* mean MSG. Usually? Yes. Always? No.
NuNaturals clearly gets this question frequently because they offer the following statement on their website: “We use plant based (herbs and berries) extracts in very small amounts to enhance the taste of Stevia products. These natural flavors do not contain msg(monosodium glutamate) or any other chemicals that have been known to cause allergic reactions in people. ” (http://www.nunaturals.com/products/stevia.html)
True, there’s no way to know with absolute certainty that they’re telling the truth. Personally, I will continue using NuNaturals products at this time, but I understand that others, particularly those sensitive to MSG, may decide differently.
Interesting! Maybe we should ask them for a free amino acid assay? I’ll email them and find out if they can send me one. These “gray” areas bother me.
Wow! I should chat up products more on my blog….. Na….haven’t got the time with educating the kids.
I will tell you that when you use the fiber blend, which I LOVE, you will need to use at least 1/4 c more liquid.
I can’t use the No Carbs blend of the stevia in anything that isn’t just for myself. My second son is sensitive to erythritol and he notices almost immediately if I have put it in baked goods or a drink….So I just stick to the NuStevia packets.
Let me know how you like the liquid. I was tempted to buy some at my health food store last week, but didn’t really need any.
My whole family LOVES the Vanilla Stevia. Make yourself some yogurt, add fruit and a few drops of vanilla stevia and you have a wonderful fruit and cream treat. Rarely do all my kids like something, but this they do….
Thank you for mentioning the maltodextrin issue. I was going to call NuNaturals and ask them since if your are gluten sensitive you are more apt to be sensitive to MSG as well. I knew that maltodextrin was listed as a “sometimes or often” product on the MSG list but wanted to be sure. Don’t want to trigger a full celiac situation!!
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. I’m interested in their baking stevia. I need to see if one of the health food stores here in town carries there stuff. I stopped using stevia because of the bad aftertaste, but I’ve been definitely wanting to try this brand after you mentioned it before. I would love to have a good tasting low glycemic alternative. Have you found it at any stores? We have 3 bigger chain health food stores and some small ones, so surely someone would carry it — or at least I hope.
Kelly and Marjorie,
I have emailed NuNaturals to ask for more specific information about the maltodextrin/natural flavors/MSG issue. I also asked about the oat fiber that is in the baking stevia-fiber blend. I want to find out if there’s a chance it contains gluten. My allergy is mild, but others are highly sensitive even to traces. When I hear back, I’ll post the results.
Marjorie,
I tried using erythritol in some coconut flour brownies last week, and I hated it! Just like xylitol, it made me feel thirsty. J also had that throat-thing that you said your son gets. Then again, our friend MH loved the brownies (and so did the kids). Weird, huh?
DeAnna,
I have found some of their products at Whole Foods before. Ordering online is a bit of a pain because of the difficult website, but the shipping is free on orders of $35 or more. But I’ll also be hosting several giveaways later this month, so you may be able to get some of their products that way too.
Can’t wait to hear your reviews and about the giveaways!!
The response I got from NuNaturals was, “Stevia is not an amino acid”. I believe I was not specific in my request because I asked about the stevia not the maltodextrin. My mistake. I’ll wait and see what response you get, Alison, before I rephrase my question. As far as the Erythritol goes, has anyone tried Body Ecology’s brand of erythritol called, Lakanto? I wonder if it’s different than other brands. I tried it and thought it was great, but it’s way too expensive for me to continue buying. I just bought a brand called Organic Zero, but I’ve not tried it yet.
Kelly,
I can forward you the email I received from NuNaturals about the natural flavorings and the maltodextrin. They were very helpful.
My friend has Lakanto, and I have NuNaturals erythritol. When she gets back into town, we’ll compare the two. Let me know what you think of Organic Zero. I saw it in the health food store and was tempted to buy it, but I resisted.
I have tried Lakanto and really liked it. I like that it seemed to have a more caramel like flavor.
I started using NuNaturals because it was a cheaper source of erythritol. Unfortunately, my son reacts to the erythritol so now I have both the NuNatural brand and Z Sweet another erythritol brand that is cheaper than Lakanto. I like both, but the Nu Naturals stevia is so much better than the erythritol in my experience. It take less to sweeten and for me, no one reacts negatively to the NuStevia.
So I will be sweetening my Teecino or adding the erythritolt baked goods that my kids won’t be eating until it is all gone. That may take awhile!!!
I just noticed at my Whole Foods blog that they have NuNaturals Stevia on sale this week, they didn’t mention the vanilla kind, which I wanted, but they did say the packets and the baking blend were on sale. Might have to run by there and pick some up. Allison, I was going to ask you, where do you get your coconut milk? I looked at Whole Foods the other day, asked a worker there and the only thing they showed me was a small can of Goya. I thought I should be able to find something organic.
Marjorie,
That’s good to know. I noticed that the Lakanto looks like brown sugar, while the NuNaturals erythritol is super white, but I didn’t know if there was a corresponding difference in flavor. I look forward to MH getting back from her camping trip so we can compare!
DeAnna,
I’m really surprised that’s all the associate could find for you, especially considering that Whole Foods has their own store brand of organic coconut milk! That’s what I buy when I’m at Whole Foods (it’s the cheapest organic coconut milk I’ve found). I wonder if the associate was new? That’s so strange. I don’t know what to tell you. I either buy the Whole Foods brand at Whole Foods, or I buy Thai Kitchen organic coconut milk at my local grocery store (HEB). Before I knew better, I bought Goya, but I quit doing that because of the preservatives in it. Hmmm…another option might be an Asian market of some kind, if you have one available to you.
One last thought about Whole Foods: you could speak to a manager to request that they start carrying organic coconut milk. I once asked a grocery store to carry cannellini beans, and they started doing it! It was great! I think Whole Foods would be especially inclined to respond to such a request, given that they are really proud of their customer service. Yes, I think it’s definitely worth asking. What can you lose?
I’ll have to look around again, is it down the ethnic food aisle? That’s where this was found, but that’s all we found. Sometimes my Whole Foods is weird about things they carry, for instance, they carry 1 brand and size of goats milk. That’s it and its way too expensive. But if they have their own brand, they normally have it. If I don’t find it next time, I will definitely ask them to start carrying it. Tomorrow, Isabella’s gymnastics is close to Earth Fare so I’m going to try there instead. Thanks for the help!
I’ve used the Organic Zero brand of erythritol a couple of times now with really good results. I prefer to use it with stevia. I tried it in your cranberry vinagrette dressing by using 2 tablespoons of erythritol and 1/4 teaspoon of stevia powder (SweetLeaf SteviaPlus). It turned out just fine. I’ve also made a baked custard using a little stevia along with erythritol. I like using a combination of the two because I think it gives a more “complete” sweetness. If I only use one or the other, I always feel like something is missing.
Alison-
I was so happy to find your blog when i did a google search for icecream recipes! I can’t wait to try the cheese cake one, I just have to purchase an icecream maker! It’s great to find some recipes that are gluten free and sugar free as well, my natro doc has me on a NT diet exculding all and any sug and gluten so this is a great resource!
Thanks-
Maria
Hope you enjoy the NuNaturals stevia products! I’m addicted to them, and use them in all of my recipes. Neat blog! We seem to have similar health philosophies. I will be trying out that yummy looking cheesecake ice cream for sure!
Please let me know, via email, if you’d like to try some of my Lavender Herbal Blend Tea. I’ll send you a sample to review.
Blessings!
Penny
Website: http://www.pennylaneboutique.com
Email: admin@pennylaneboutique.com