Our series, Hormones & Our Health: How What You Eat May Affect How They Work, explores the vast role hormones play in the body and the diet and lifestyle factors that help them function as they should.

Nice cream is a delicious dairy-free dessert made from frozen fruit. Most nice cream recipes include bananas, which helps to add creaminess without the need for cream. (Slice and freeze the banana ahead of time so it’s ready when you want to whip up some nice cream.) For this recipe, we used a combination of bananas, sweet cherries and tart cherries, the latter of which happens to have some pretty impressive health benefits when it comes to sleep.

It’s no fun trying to function on insufficient sleep. And besides making us feel groggy, consistent poor sleep can impact our immune system, heart health, weight and mental health. Thankfully, certain foods may help improve both sleep quality and duration, like tart cherries, which are naturally rich in the sleep hormone melatonin. Try this no-sugar-added Tart Cherry Nice Cream as an after-dinner treat!