Stevia's a tricky sweetener at first. If you put in too much, it can have a bitter "licorice-like" after taste to it. You have to remember that it's a lot more potent than sugar.

One cup of sugar = one teaspoon of stevia powder!

Here's a typical lemonade recipe using stevia powder.

Fresh Lemonade
Half cup fresh lemon juice (juice from about 3 lemons)
1 teaspoon Stevia Extract Powder
7 cups water

I tend to prefer liquid stevia over the powder kind. You only need a couple of drops to sweeten up a cup of tea.

Also stevia has been proven to be a safe sweetener for Candida sufferers.
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Pure stevioside (a plant extract) and pure stevia leaf powder like are not sugars, though many people call them that, and refer to them as sugars or artificial sweeteners. They are not. In fact, unlike sugars (including honey and other natural and some artificial sweeteners), pure stevioside does not encourage yeast growth. They are carbohydrate free. Technically, they have a closed 3-carbon-ring central structure of the molecule, so yeast and bacteria can not latch on to them and use them. This makes stevia and stevioside useless to the candida albicans yeast, but highly useful to you.
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So. Stevia is carb-free and doesn't allow nasties like kp and candida to feed. Here's some more information.
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The natural sweetener stevioside, which is found in the plant stevia, has been used for many years in the treatment of diabetes among Indians in Paraguay and Brazil. However, the mechanism for the blood glucose-lowering effect remains unknown. A study conducted at the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, found that stevioside enhances insulin secretion from mouse pancreatic islets in the presence of glucose. The researchers state, "Stevioside stimulates insulin secretion via a direct action on pancreatic beta cells. The results indicate that the compounds may have a potential role as an anti-hyperglycemic agent in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus."

Ray Sahelian, M.D., co-author with Donna Gates of The Stevia Cookbook (Avery/Penguin, 1999), says, "Stevia is a wonderful alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners for those who have diabetes. This study gives us one more reason to recommend diabetics take advantage of this safe, non-calorie herbal sweetener."

Reference: Jeppesen PB, et al. Stevioside acts directly on pancreatic beta cells to secrete insulin. Metabolism 2000 Feb;49(2):208-14. Website: www.raysahelian.com

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That Japanese have been using stevia for a few decades now.

In 1960s Japan, there was a popular movement against adding chemicals such as artificial sweeteners to food. Manufacturers there were on the lookout for a natural alternative to sugar, and stevia was introduced to the Japanese market in 1970. It is currently used in many products there (including cola, desserts, and gum) and makes up 40% of the Japanese sweetener market.
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Here's a link to some stevia recipes.

http://cookingwithstevia.com/cgi-bin/recipe/recipe.cgi


Cody.