END YOUR SUGAR ADDICTION

IF YOUR diet is peppered with refined carbohydrates, sweets and sugary treats, there’s every chance you are caught in a loop of impossible-to-resist cravings.

One thing that happens is your body releases the hormone insulin in response to the sugar or carbohydrates you eat. Insulin whips that excess sugar out of your blood so it can be stored as fat for future use, but this leaves your blood low in sugar and triggers cravings for more. Here’s how to break that cycle:

CUT down on sugar, treats, drinks and desserts. MINIMISE or avoid the starchy ‘white stuff’ — bread, pasta, potatoes and rice. Try quinoa, bulgur, whole rye, wholegrain barley, wild rice and buckwheat. Legumes, such as lentils and kidney beans, are healthy and filling too.

AVOID most breakfast cereals as these are usually full of sugar.

SWITCH low-fat sweetened yoghurts for plain full-fat yoghurt and add blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, or a sprinkling of nuts.