Life is Just a Bowl of (Very Healthy) Cherries

Way back in 1931, Ethel Merman made the song, “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries” very popular by singing it in the Broadway Revue, Scandals of 1931. Since then, it has been covered by artists such as Doris Day, Judy Garland, and Johnny Mathis. It also became another way to say, “Life is going well” or “Life is wonderful.”

However, after Erma Bombeck wrote If Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits in 1978, the phrase is used more sarcastically in modern times, as in, “I got kicked off Twitter. I drove to Target and forgot my mask and everything, including my love life, has gone virtual. Life is just a bowl of cherries.” And I would tell that person to eat that bowl of cherries because they have numerous health benefits.

Although there are about 1,000 varieties of cherries, a stone fruit, in the world, they are usually broken into two categories; sweet and tart. Sweet cherries, like bing and Rainer, are great for snacking, while tart cherries, like morello and Montmorency, are best used for baking.

Regardless, the nutritional value of a typical cup of pitted cherries is as follows: 97 calories, 2 grams protein, 25 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 18% DV (daily value) of vitamin C, 10% DV potassium, 5% DV copper, and 5% DV manganese. However, many of the health benefits of cherries are derived from their antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds and those health benefits include:

• Heart health due to the presence of potassium, which supports muscle contraction and nerve function. Since the heart is your most important muscle, potassium helps regulate your heartbeat. It also regulates your blood pressure by removing excess sodium. The anti-inflammatories in cherries also combat heart disease.
• Improved immune system and skin health which is a direct result of the vitamin C found in cherries.
• Exercise recovery which is linked to the antioxidants and anti-inflammatories in cherries. Cherries are chock full of polyphenols, a category of antioxidants which give cherries, and many other fruits and vegetables, their distinctive color, in this case, numerous red hues, as well as pinks and yellows. Studies have shown that tart cherry juice or powder works best for exercise recovery and may slightly improve athletic performance. Since these studies have only looked at cherry concentrates, more research needs to be conducted on how eating fresh cherries affects recovery and performance.
• Improved gut health as a result of the fiber present in cherries. Fiber also makes you feel full longer, which can facilitate weight loss and helps keep you regular…if you catch my drift.
• Combats arthritis and gout thanks to the anti-inflammatories in cherries. They reduce the level of uric acid (which causes gout) in the body and relieve oxidative stress and reduce inflammation which combats arthritis.
• Improved sleep quality because cherries also contain plant compounds and melatonin, a hormone released by the pineal gland which regulates our sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin supplements seem to be the rage currently, but a handful of cherries could have the same effect and you will be getting a lot of other health benefits as well.
• Fights diabetes, mental decline and certain cancers as a result of those polyphenols, anti-inflammatories and plant chemicals found in these little red bundles of goodness.

If you are looking to put a cherry on top of your day (maraschino cherries are not a variety of cherry but named after the process of preserving cherries in either syrup or maraschino liqueur) then snack on a handful of bings. Your body will thank you for it.