Trying to beat sugar cravings!

I have--over the course of the last 6 years or so--been trying to get myself to follow a more healthy lifestyle.
Now I have managed to motivate myself enough to do some kind of working out at least 6 days a week.  I have managed to loose some weight, which I thought was an impossible feat after hitting 60.  Best of all, to me, is that I can now climb stairs and sit on a low stool and get up without help.  I cannot still sit on the floor and get up without using my hands and knees.  But it is certainly an improvement.
I have learned to give up added sugar on a daily basis as much as possible.  But I realise, rather sadly, that the craving for sweets has not gone away at all.  Others have said--including my daughter--that after a while of not eating sweets, the desire for something sweet goes away.  Alas, I still like the sweet stuff.  So now I allow myself the luxury of eating a dessert when I am invited out: after all the maker of that dessert would feel sad if the dessert wasn't eaten isn't that so?  And, dark chocolate is not to passed up--it's healthy anyway.
So I keep hoping that with each passing day my cravings for the sweet stuff will go away.