Cure your sugar cravings - without the calories!

Cravings. They have to be one of the most frustrating feelings. Productivity must drop between the hours of 03:00 and 04:00 in the afternoon as employees around the country battle the urge to grab a chocolate bar instead of a carrot.\n\nSome people believe that giving into your cravings is better than holding out - the 'if you want it, have it' philosophy. Apparently this can help us avoid overeating or getting too emotionally attached to food.\n\nHowever, this approach does not work for everyone - and can be pretty hard to follow if you are on a weight loss journey, or have to stick to a particular diet plan due to a health condition.\n\nYet at the same time, you may be wondering if battling the cravings is worth all of the stress that comes with it - or the guilt that occurs on those occasions when you do give in and reach for a bag of lollies.\n\nA happy compromise could be finding foods that satisfy your cravings, but are low in calories - and therefore not a guilty indulgence at all.\n\nSome examples of this could be swapping a slice of chocolate cake for a hot chocolate drink with skim milk.\n\nOr why don't you enjoy some fresh fruit and a few marshmallows instead of a calorie-packed bag of sweets?\n\nThere are plenty of options out there that can satisfy a sweet tooth without being over-indulgent.\n\nYou can make some nutritional changes every day by replacing sugar with Stevia, a natural sweetener that is low in calories but high in delicious sweet flavour.\n\nStevia extract can be added to your morning cup of coffee, sprinkled over cereal or even swapped for sugar in baked goods.\n\nI believe that it is important to eat for taste and enjoyment, but also for health. So if you can find foods that are both tasty and nutritious, then you will be well on your way to enjoying food and maintaining a healthy weight.\n\n