Stop craving sugar with these foods

Herbal tea

Keep strongly flavoured teas like ginger or peppermint, or a naturally sweet one like liquorice, in your drawer at work. Liquorice tea is a great after-dinner tea, especially if this is when you tend to experience cravings. Try this for a week and notice if your cravings for chocolate or something sweet reduce.

Bananas

Fruit contains fructose (also known as fruit sugar), but small amounts go a long way! Starchy bananas are great, especially paired with low-fructose berries. Use them to naturally sweeten smoothies or baking, or make an alternative to icecream by blending frozen berries and frozen bananas in a food processor. Or try half a chopped banana with a handful of your favourite raw nuts as a snack.

Kumara/sweet potato

This sweet and starchy root vegetable is a great addition when you’re craving sugar. Try roasting kumara with a small amount of coconut or olive oil plus a pinch of cinnamon to enhance its natural sweetness.

Avocados

These delicious good-fat filled fruits help you feel satisfied for longer. Add them to smoothies to create a creamy blend with serious staying power. Half an avocado, with sauerkraut, a glug of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of salt, is a delicious afternoon snack to help you keep you sustained through what is typically the time you crave sugar the most.

Dates

Dates are great as an afternoon snack; intensely sweet and rich, a little goes a long way! Plus ground dates can be swapped for sugar in baked goods. A neat snack idea is to remove the seed from two fresh dates. Add two raw almonds to each date (from where you removed the seed), and you have a sweet, crunchy snack, full of nutrients.

Dark chocolate

I’m talking about 70 per cent cacao content and up! A little goes a long way and it’s full of antioxidants.

Dr Libby is speaking across the country during October with her From Surviving to Thriving tour. Tickets available from drlibby.com