But, I Love Cherries!

I'm not a big fruit eater, in general. My husband makes smoothies every morning, and honestly, that's about my fruit intake for the day. It's not so much that I dislike fruit, there's actually many that I LOVE, it's just that I don't really think of it as a snack when I want something crunchy or salty or sweet. There's just more appealing options, to me.

I feed my children fruit daily, of course. They love green apples and bananas and grapes. My one daughter loves strawberries and blueberries. My youngest loves her some applesauce.

So, the other day I was in the grocery store and saw that green grapes, red grapes, cherries and nectarines were all on sale. I loaded up on fresh fruit. I've been enjoying a little bowl of fruit for my snack, along with my tea, since Monday. Fruit contains A LOT of sugars though, even though they are naturally occurring, so I try to keep the portion smallish.

I noticed something consistently happening, though. After I eat the cherries, and oh how I love cherries, my tongue gets itchy and my lip feels kind of tingly. Are you serious????

I now am starting to believe that I have a sensitivity to cherries. Today, I had the red grapes first and waited a bit. Nothing weird happened. Then, I had some cherries. Immediately, my lip and tongue thing happened.

WHY is nature being so cruel to me???? Seriously? All of my favourite things seem to now be causing a reaction! Whenever I drink wine, or most alcohol actually, my face gets really hot and red. I always thought, "oh that's just what alcohol does to me" but then I was talking to my neighbour who is a nurse, and she said it's likely a sensitivity to alcohol. WHAT? That's it. Strike me down now. She apparently has the same thing happen and had it tested and the sweatiness and red face were a mild allergic reaction. Greaaaaat.

Of course, neither of these reactions are enough to make me stop eating cherries or stop drinking wine. I enjoy living on the edge, I guess. And really, what kind of living would it be without them? I can stand itchy lips and a sweaty face over saying goodbye to the sweet elixirs in my life.

Bring on the vino!