Hi, Dr. Meredith Warner here:

For those that don’t know me, I’m an Air Force Veteran and have a private Orthopedic Surgery practice in Baton Rouge, LA.

For as long as I can remember, I have been telling my patients about the power of Tart Cherry Extract.

I’m so happy I can share it now with those outside my clinic doors.

If you try Tart Cherry Extract, and stick with it, you won’t be disappointed. I love recommending to people because you may start to notice you get sick less, take fewer NSAIDS, and move better with less pain.  

Tart cherry extract is a convenient and low-calorie way to obtain all the benefits of the tart cherry fruit.

It is possible to eat tart cherries and to drink tart cherry juice of course, and I do that occasionally too. But to take a standard amount of tart cherry extract without unhealthy added sugars, I’ve found that a supplement is the best way to take it.

Tart cherry is one of the best natural anti-inflammatories and antioxidants there is. These benefits are specific to tart cherries - not sweet ones. You won’t get these benefits from Bing sweet cherries. Tart cherries usually make your mouth pucker when you eat them. These are the cherries that are traditionally used for cherry pies.

“Pain is normal of course and is part of life, but if I can take a natural and healthily supplement like Tart Cherry Extract to tamp that down, why wouldn't I?.” – Dr. Meredith Warner

Oxidative stress occurs when your body has difficulty breaking down free radicals. For example, when you breathe in, oxygen molecules are broken down.

When unpaired electrons, the building blocks of molecules, are released during this process, they can wreak havoc on the body. Your body naturally releases antioxidants to capture these electrons, but a variety of factors can impact your body’s ability to create them.

Lifestyle choices, environmental factors such as pollution, and more can impact this process, causing oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress in the brain and nervous system leads to pain, decreased cognition and a decline of motor abilities over time. The body has a certain capacity to combat oxidative stress, but this decreases with age along with the lifestyle factors mentioned above. Worse still, oxidative stress generally increases as we age.

Therefore, anything that helps us to fight oxidative stress should be explored and considered in my opinion.

Tart cherries also have an abundance of anthocyanins.

Anthocyanins are a polyphenol class and are usually responsible for the rich coloring of fruits and berries. Cyanidin is one of the most plentiful anthocyanins in tart cherries. Tart cherries also produce flavan-3-ols and flavanols.

These compounds allow tart cherries to reduce inflammation and to decrease oxidative stress in the brain and throughout the body.

When assaulted, cells in the nervous system and in the body have an increase in oxidative stress and inflammation. Markers of this stress are NO, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2).

Tart cherry can decrease nitric oxide (NO) production and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression. In studies that induce inflammation in animals, those pre-treated with tart cherry powders had decreased levels of NO, TNF-alpha and COX-2.

Tart cherry has also been found to reduce pain in fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and also in situations with induced oxidative stress and muscle damage. This means that while tart cherry is a great option for treating certain diagnosable conditions, it is also great as a daily supplement to address pain after exercise and other mild aches and pains.

I take tart cherry daily because it has such overwhelming anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacities I feel that it will certainly help me to age optimally.

1. Have a mindset of wellness over time: Don’t Expect It To Feel Like A Synthetic Drug. The timeline for better health with natural medicine is longer than with synthetic pharmaceuticals.
   
   
2. Addressing Root Cause: Natural remedies attempt to address the root causes, or the cellular beginnings of a given problem, pain, or inflammation. Naturally, this will take a bit longer and be less noticeable initially. But the results are wonderful.
   
   
3. Few Known Side Effects: My Well Theory products are formulated with higher doses of plant-based ingredients to deliver steady results over time – without the harmful side effects found in traditional pharmaceutical applications.
   
   
4. Get Blood Work Done: There are inflammatory markers you can check to determine your progress.
   
   
5. I Take Everything We Make: I wholeheartedly believe in the power of natural supplements.

Dr. Meredith Warner is the creator of The Healing Sole and Well Theory. She is a board-certified and fellowship-trained Orthopedic Surgeon and Air Force Veteran.

Dr. Warner has treated countless patients for heel pain and plantar fasciitis pain in her private practice, Warner Orthopedics and Wellness. She developed The Healing Sole so that wearers can harness the body's natural healing power and have an option for everyday relief, without the need for surgery or expensive medical intervention.