Healthy Lombard Foundation Partner Nancy Nance, CPT, WFS, NFS, CESA composed the following post for today’s blog article:

A few days ago, I had lunch with a new friend. We were at a great restaurant and had a healthy meal of salmon and veggies. As we were talking, the topic of how to eat out and choose the best options came up.  One of the things I noticed was she had three maraschino cherries in her water. She mentioned that she loved the taste of her water with the cherries.  Since we were talking about ways to cut calories and sugar intake, I mentioned to her the maraschino cherries are not helping her lose weight.  She was really shocked and had no idea they were not the best choice when trying to lose weight.

Each maraschino cherry has 2 grams of sugar. Women should keep their daily intake of sugar to 6 teaspoons a day, and men no more than 9. That sounds like a lot, but if you check the labels on the foods and drinks you have each day, you will be surprised how quickly that can add up.

Besides the sugar content, the bright red color of the cherries comes from artificial coloring. Use of red dye is a main part of the processing.  You can google more information about the processing they go through.

So, while they look really good on top of a sundae or in pineapple upside down cake, they are not good on a regular basis. I would say one or two a year.  My friend was drinking the water with cherries about twice a week.  So, that is roughly 24 cherries a month. That is a lot of sugar and red dye. Just by switching to lemon or other fruits, she can save calories and protect her body from the hazards of the red dye.  What little changes can you make in your diet, that can make big changes?