Cherries and Your Health
I believe each of us are unique in what energizes us in terms of foods we eat, the exercise we need, and the effect of nature and its beauty in feeding us joy. Old civilizations speak to this. Ancient Chinese medicine views each person as a sum of their ancestors. What our ancestors ate is coded in our genes and what we consume during development is a continuum. Ancient Japanese culture admonishes that "you eat with your eyes’’ and attention is given to the color and shape of foods and their optimum acid/alkaline balance.
There’s plenty of healthy reasons to eat a cherry or more daily. Here’s a few:
- ANTI-INFLAMMTORY: Similar to Ibuprofen, the anthocyanins in sweet cherries shut down the enzymes that cause tissue inflammation.
- SYNERGISTIC BENEFITS: Sweet cherries contain an astounding eight ellagic and anthocyanin compounds, along with other phytonutrients. Better than any pill, these compounds are being studied for their synergy in human health.
- LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX: Cherries boast a lower glycemic index than almost any other fruit.
- GOUT RELIEF: Generations of people have reported that sweet cherries help keep osteoarthritis and gout flares at bay. Eating cherries significantly decreases C-reactive protein and nitrous oxide, both known to cause inflammation.
- SWEET CHERRIES FOR SWEET DREAMS: Cherries are one of the few plant sources of melatonin. Eating cherries before bedtime may help regulate sleep cycles.
- AGING & MEMORY: Sweet cherries’ potent anthocyanins appear to improve memory and cognition associated with memory in older adults.
- CANCER, DIABETES, CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: Sweet cherries contain anti-carcinogenic perillyl alcohol, which studies show to be capable of inhibiting pancreatic, breast, liver, colon, skin, and lung cancer.
PS: In my next blog entry, let’s discuss FOR THE LOVE OF CHERRIES
