In one sense, fresh, sweet cherries are like potato chips -- you can't eat just one. It's been a good summer for cherry fans, crop yields exploded with sweet cherry harvests up 52 percent from last year. Often priced upwards of $5.00 a pound, a luscious bowl of dark cherries is a pricey treat. But when you see $2.99 a pound, suddenly you're grabbing a bulging bag of nature's candy from the produce aisle.

But before you start spitting pits from a big bowl of fresh cherries, be aware of the caloric cost. How many calories in a single, sweet cherry?

One of the best parts about summer is all the fresh fruit that comes into season -- not only does it taste so much better when it didn't have to get shipped across the world but freshly ripened fruit is also full of much more in the way of nutrients, enzymes, and other health benefits. And although pretty much all fruits are good for you in one way or another, here are a few you'll want to make sure you incorporate as much as possible into your summer diet:

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The truth is: I love cherries. Some other truths: Cherries have the highest levels of disease-fighting antioxidants compared to other fruits, a growing body of evidence shows that tart cherries may help relieve arthritis, cherries are one of the few foods known to regulate natural sleep patterns, and cherries also might reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Geez, and I just loved them for the taste.

Wait. There's more: Cherry consumption help prevent colon cancer, may aid in the management of diabetes, and may be good for the brain.

Ready to love cherries, like me? If so, check out this handy tool and learn how to incorporate cherries into your routine. Take a peek at these recipes too -- this month's featured treat is Confetti Couscous Salad with Dried Cherries. Yummy. And for up-to-date cherry news, pay this location a visit every once in a while..

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Would you go organic if you could afford it? How about going half and half? If you do, here are eight items definitely worth the splurge: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, and lettuce.

Why?

Because these foods rank the highest in amount of pesticides used to grow them. Some of the lowest pesticide-treated foods are onions, avocado, frozen sweet corn, pineapple, mango, frozen sweet peas, asparagus, and kiwi.

For a full list, from most pesticides to least, check out foodnews.org.

University of Michigan researchers have found that tiny little tart cherries can have a big impact on heart health and on diabetes. During the study researchers fed some rats a diet that included tart cherries; a control group of rats ate a diet that was equivalent in carbohydrates and calories but contained no cherries. At the end of the study, the rats who ate cherries had improvements in weight, fat percentage, cholesterol, and inflammation. A reduction in these risk factors is good news for heart health and diabetes.

Cherries are a nutritious addition to your diet. They're delicious, easy to snack on, and make a great addition to a lot of recipes. In fact, we've written about the perks of cherries before -- Chris wrote about the anti-inflammatory properties of cherries and they even offer some protection against UV rays. So grab a handful of tart cherries and snack away!

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Did you just eat a Big Mac? If so, what should you do next? According to new research, the answer to that question is to grab yourself something else to eat right away -- only this time, make sure that it's healthy!

Eating antioxidant-rich foods like kiwi, blueberries, cherries, nuts, tea, and grapes during meals can help reduce the oxidative stress caused by foods containing high amounts of saturated fat and fast-digesting sugars, say researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Vascular inflammation and a number of other diseases can result from consistently high oxidative stress levels, which is why it may be a good idea to add an antioxidant-rich food to your next order of Chicken McNuggets. However, the calories and fat will still do a number on your waistline, as there's not much the antioxidant-rich foods can do to help you in that regard.

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I love fruit and vegetables, especially when they're fresh, but shopping for them can be more complicated than it looks. We've all seen the jokes where somebody's in the produce department of the grocery store trying to look like they know what they're doing thumping away on a large melon, meanwhile having no idea what they're doing or why. Well here's an article that sums up the basics on some of the best summer fruits you'll find at the store or the farmer's market (watermelon, peaches, cantaloupe, and cherries) and gives you the low-down on what to look for and how to find and buy the very best.

And for the record, there's no knocking or thumping suggested.

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Hey, haven't you heard? Cherries are the new "it" fruit and can cure everything from gout to arthritis and prevent cancer as well. Oh, you haven't heard that yet? Well, with their new campaign -- focused especially on the Internet community -- the Cherry Marketing Institute hopes we'll all soon be looking at tart cherries in a whole new light.

Studies have shown that there really is something special about tart cherries. They're rich in antioxidants, which are known to fight cancer-causing free radicals. Some studies suggest that cherries -- which are rich in melatonin -- can improve sleep, and others say they've been drinking cherry juice for decades to relieve arthritis and gout as well. Though the CMI calls them the new "superfruit," the FDA warns that claims can not be put on product packaging unless they've been scientifically proven.

For years, tart cherries have been viewed as a dessert food. Even today, as I did a cursory search for cherry recipes, I mostly found recipes with the words "pie" or "cobbler" in the title. (Though I did find this list, which promises a few non-dessert type dishes.) It'll be interesting to see cherries rise through the ranks of nutritious foods and shake off their former fat and sugar filled image. Anyone have a recipe for a cherry smoothie?

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