We Tried Eating Dragon Fruit To Poop Instantly. Here's How It Went
TikTok user electriceats warned us. "Dragon fruit should come with a warning," she said as she explained what happened to her after eating two yellow dragon fruits.
She advocated eating yellow dragon fruit as a way to relieve constipation or detox your system. "Do me the favor of canceling plans you have for the day," she said. "Because the only place you'll be going to is the bathroom." Intrigued, I decided to try this myself. After all, I typically eat fruit first thing in the morning, so it wouldn't be too far off to try a different fruit.
She said that you have to eat two yellow dragon fruits alone to poop quickly. She insisted that the dragon fruit had to be the yellow one, though she didn't explain why. I couldn't find yellow dragon fruit in the four grocery stores in my area, so I settled for two large red dragon fruits.
The nutrition in dragon fruit
Doing a little digging, I found that there were three different species of dragon fruit. The ones with the red flesh have a few more phenols and a higher proportion of glucose to fructose, but they are essentially the same nutritionally. Besides, cutting into the red dragon fruit, I noticed that it had the same white flesh as the yellow dragon fruit.
I also wanted to know what I was getting into. The "laxative properties" of dragon fruit (red or yellow) are essentially the fiber and perhaps the magnesium. A cup of dragon fruit has 5.5 grams of fiber and 12.6 milligrams of magnesium. The fiber is a good start to the recommended 25 to 30 grams a day, but the magnesium in dragon fruit falls short of the 320 milligrams for females.
Even so, having dragon fruit for breakfast sounded like a good idea for a Saturday morning. So I cut up the dragon fruit Friday evening and was overwhelmed. The two large dragon fruits I bought (at a hefty $6 a piece) come to 4 cups. You read that right. Four cups. If you do the math, that means eating 22 grams of fiber in a single sitting. No wonder the TikTok user spent so much time in the bathroom. That much dragon fruit boosted my magnesium total to 15% of my daily value. I also loved that I would be getting 32% of my potassium for the day. Yahoo, electrolytes!
Two dragon fruits is a lot of fruit in one sitting
The next morning was my big day of dragon fruit. I canceled my plans, though I had hoped to exercise a little since I'd be fueled with electrolytes. I followed her instructions and ate nothing but dragon fruit. While eating my first cup, it was time for my typical morning constitutional. No, it wasn't the dragon fruit; it was just my usual time to go.
But then I had to eat another cup of fruit. That was a chore. I was so full! I managed to finish it, but I just didn't want to eat any more dragon fruit. I waited for the "detox" to start, but that didn't happen. The TikTok user said she raced to the bathroom seven times in two hours. Not me. Aside from just feeling full from so much fruit, I actually felt quite energized. No, I felt pretty great.
Other users said they could barely eat one without running to the bathroom. Some said that it didn't work for them because they weren't constipated to begin with. Neither was I. Rather than sit and eat another cup of dragon fruit, I decided to do something with this excess energy. So I brought my tub of dragon fruit to my bike trainer.
Dragon fruit fueled my workout
I was amazed at how strong my legs were during my workout. I noticed my power readings and heart rate were much higher than normal, yet I still had a ton of energy. After about 45 minutes, I ate a little more dragon fruit. That kept me going for a longer while. Another half an hour later, more dragon fruit. Yes, I was fueling myself for my workout with dragon fruit. Why didn't I discover this great carb before?
I wound up putting in a solid hour and 45 minutes on my bike trainer and finishing up all the dragon fruit. I also wasn't exhausted like I usually am after a hard workout. I even had energy the rest of the day. I also wasn't hungry, thanks to the 22 grams of fiber that started my day.
Even though I didn't have the religious detox experience that other people have had eating dragon fruit, I found a new way to fuel my workouts from now on. Will dragon fruit become the next fuel source for Ironman or the Tour de France? I don't know. All I know is that it really was a healthy way for me to start my day.