Tart Cherries

They deliver a host of health benefits. You may have heard that drinking tart cherry juice can help you get a better nights sleep and quell post-workout pain (read more about that here). But did you know that compounds in tart cherries may also help you slimdown and get leaner? When scientists at the University of Michigan Health System put rats on a high-fat diet supplemented with either a tart-cherry powder (equal to 1% of the weight of their total diet) or the same number of calories from carbohydrate, those that got the cherry powder gained less weight and body fat. Why? The anthocyanins in tart cherries activate a molecule that helps rev up fat burning anddecrease fat storage.