Welcome to My World – Health Benefits of Cherries
Hello World! Do you like cherries? Today’s post is about cherries and their many health benefits for you. It never ceases to amaze me how many great tasting natural foods are so good for you!
Health Benefits of Cherries
Here’s another amazing fruit for you to enjoy that has many health benefits!
When you eat cherries, you enjoy much more than just their amazing taste. They’re packed with antioxidants and offer many health benefits, including help with insomnia, joint pain and belly fat. Cherries could be just what the doctor ordered.
Here are 11 good reasons to start eating this power food today!
Protects Against Diabetes
Sweet cherries have a low glycemic index of 22 — lower than apricots (57), grapes (46), peaches (42), blueberries (40) or plums (39). This makes them a better snack than many other fruits, especially for diabetics.
Promotes Better Sleep
Tossing and turning at night? Cherry juice to the rescue! Drink cherry
Maybe this technique will have you sleeping like your cat…
juice 30 minutes after waking and 30 minutes before your evening meal. In a study, participants boosted their melatonin intake by following this routine. Cherries are a good source of melatonin, which helps us regulate our sleep cycles. Cherries have also been found to help with jet lag.
Note: there is a higher level of melatonin in tart cherries compared to sweet cherries.
Decreases Belly Fat
Researchers found that rats who were fed whole tart cherry powder, in
are you overweight due to sleep issues? You should try cherries as they help you produce melatonin, & if you sleep better, you’ll speed up your metabolism.
high fat diet, didn’t gain as much weight or body fat as rats who did not eat tart cherry powder.
Helps Ward Off Alzheimer’s
The Alzheimer’s Association includes cherries as one of the memory boosting foods because they are rich in antioxidants.
Reduces Risk of Stroke
Tart cherries provide cardiovascular benefits. The anthocyanins, which are the pigments giving tart cherries its red color, may activate PPAR which regulates genes involved in fat and glucose metabolism. This reduces the risk of high cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes, according to research from the University of Michigan Health System.
Slows the Aging of Skin
Cherries have the highest antioxidant level of any fruit. Antioxidants help
Your healthier skin can also come from your getting a good night’s sleep, & cherries might be just what you need to do both…
the body fight the free radicals that make us look old. Drinking one glass of tart cherry juice daily slows down the aging process, according to Scientists from the Michigan State University. Cherry juice is also recommended as an alternative treatment for other skin conditions.
Lowers Risk of Gout Attacks
Eating cherries lowers risk of gout attacks by 35 percent in a study with 633 gout patients, done by by Yuqing Zhang, professor of medicine and public health at Boston University. Gout patients who consumed cherries over a two-day period had a 35% lower risk of gout attacks, compared to those who did not eat the cherries. “Our findings indicate that consuming cherries or cherry extract lowers the risk of gout attack, the gout flare risk continued to decrease with increasing cherry consumption, up to three servings over two days,” said Zhang.
Reduces Muscle Pain
A cup and a half of tart cherries or one cup of tart cherry juice can reduce muscle inflammation and soreness studies suggest. A group of marathon runners drank tart cherry juice twice daily for 7 days before their race. The group who drank the cherry juice group experienced less muscle pain after the race than those who drank another fruit drink.
Helps Regulate Blood Pressure
Cherries are very high in potassium, which helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure and reduces the risk of hypertension. The phytosterols in cherries help reduce bad cholesterol levels.
Helps with osteoarthritis relief
Your pain and discomfort from swollen joints can be reduced when tart cherry juice is taken twice a day for 3 weeks as it showed in a study of
Lower Back Pain? Inflammation has much to do with it, & cherries can help
twenty women ages 40 to 70 with inflammatory osteoarthritis.
Helps to Prevent Colon Cancer
Substances in tart cherries can reduce the formation of the carcinogenic chemicals that develop from the charring of hamburger. Researchers added tart cherries to ground beef patties. “The fat contents of the cherry patties were, as expected, lower than that of the control patties, whereas the moisture contents were greater. Cherry tissue will not only slow down the oxidation deterioration of meat lipids, but will also substantially reduce the formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines,” reported J. Ian Gray, PhD, Professor of Food Science at Michigan State.
Last year I was given a few big boxes of cherries, so I needed to get
Cherries can help you sleep longer as well as having quite a few other benefits for you…
creative. I froze them, dried them and cooked some, putting them in jars. There are many things you can do with cherries besides eating them raw.
I find this to be more great information that I had to share with you, and I hope you’ll let me know if you eat cherries; and also share any recipes you may have using cherries…
Have a great day!
Enhance Your Life with Mother Nature; Great for your Mind, Body & Spirit!