Whether you’ve been travelling recently, haven’t been eating healthfully as you’re used to, be suffering from hormonal fluctuations, or it simply hits you at random, we’ve all experienced constipation – and it isn’t fun. Whether it’s causing you physical discomfort, bloating, or worse (hemorrhoids maybe), when you can’t go to the bathroom, it’s a problem you want to remedy as quickly as possible.
Bethany Ugarte, a very popular “Instagramer”, posted her go-to constipation remedy and was an instant success. Her solution was shockingly simple and involved just three ingredients:
- A sliced orange
- Cayenne pepper
- Cinnamon
“Slice an orange and generously coat it with cayenne pepper and cinnamon” she wrote in her post’s caption. “Eat the entire thing (rind and all – the skin contains essential oils that facilitate). Be sure to wash the outside prior to slicing. Organic oranges are preferred.”
The science behind the “snack” is that “Oranges contain naringenin, a flavonoid shown to help constipation in general. It has also been shown, in studies conducted on rats, that naringenin can also have a laxative effect. Cayenne pepper and cinnamon contain capsaicin, which trigger your TRVP1 receptors (located in your mouth and also throughout your body and GI tract) and stimulate your GI tract – making things move through quite fast.
There are actually even more reasons the remedy might work. According to registered dietician Jessica Cording: “Which specific foods help alleviate constipation can vary widely from person to person, but generally speaking, having enough fiber (current recommendations are 25 to 35 grams per day) and fluid in the diet helps build stool bulk and keep things moving through the GI tract.”
“Oranges provide a good combination of fiber and water.” She thinks that eating the skin is not necessary, because you get enough fiber if you eat the white membranes in the orange.”
She adds that cayenne and cinnamon have also been studied for their role in supporting healthy digestion.
By the way, Bethany Ugarte, has received hundreds of messages, saying that her remedy “has worked like a charm.”
Although spicing up your orange with cayenne pepper and cinnamon may seem a bit odd, it is common practice in many countries to spice fruits up; I, for instance, always put lemon juice and black pepper on melon.
I highly recommend that you give this remedy a try, but first figure out the reason (s) for your constipation, if you can; especially if it is a regular occurrence.
That’s it for this week; see you all the next time.
