The phrase “eat the rainbow” refers to getting a variety of brightly colored fruits and vegetables in your diet (not Skittles). That’s because the more colorful the food, the more antioxidants it typically contains. A prime example is cherries. They get their vibrant red hue from a category of antioxidants called anthocyanins.
Because antioxidants can bind with free radicals that may be triggering inflammation, eating cherries has been shown in studies to reduce this inflammation and the pain it causes. Cherries, especially the tart variety, may also curtail flare-ups of gout, which is a form of arthritis that causes hard crystals to develop in the lining of joints.
