Bland, low-fiber foods like bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast are the classic go-to choices for an upset stomach, and they do work well as a starting point. But sticking only to those four foods for more than a day can actually slow your recovery. The better approach is to eat whatever gentle foods you can tolerate, then gradually expand your diet as your stomach settles.
Start With Liquids, Then Ease Into Food
If you’ve been vomiting, give your stomach a break for a few hours before eating or drinking anything substantial. Start by sucking on ice chips or taking small sips of water every 15 minutes. Once you’ve kept liquids down for a couple of hours, your appetite will likely start returning on its own.
Diluted apple juice is a surprisingly effective first step. A little extra water and a little less sugar is easier on the stomach than full-strength juice, and it provides some of the glucose and fluid your body needs. For young children especially, offering an ounce or two at a time helps make sure it stays down. You don’t necessarily need a commercial electrolyte drink, though those work fine too.
The Best Foods for a Sensitive Stomach
The old BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) earned its reputation for good reasons. These foods are bland enough that they’re unlikely to trigger nausea, and they offer some specific benefits. Bananas and applesauce both contain pectin, a soluble fiber that binds excess water in the gut and helps firm up loose stools. Bananas also replenish potassium, a mineral you lose quickly during diarrhea or vomiting. Plain white rice is starch-heavy, and that starch converts into soluble fiber during digestion. Toast made from white bread is gentle and easy to absorb.
But you shouldn’t limit yourself to just those four foods. The American Academy of Pediatrics no longer recommends a strict BRAT diet for children because it’s too low in nutrients to support recovery. The same logic applies to adults. Following it for more than 24 hours may slow healing rather than help it. As soon as you feel well enough to eat more, you should. Your body needs protein, healthy fats, and a broader range of nutrients to get back to full strength.
Other foods that tend to be well tolerated include:
- Plain crackers or pretzels, which are easy to digest and provide a small amount of salt
- Boiled or baked potatoes (without butter or heavy toppings)
- Plain chicken or turkey, steamed or baked, for lean protein
- Oatmeal, cooked with water rather than milk
- Eggs, scrambled or soft-boiled, which are gentle and nutrient-dense
Why Broth Is Worth Sipping
Bone broth and clear chicken broth are some of the most helpful things you can consume during stomach trouble. They deliver fluid, sodium, and a set of amino acids (glutamine, glycine, proline) that support cellular repair and help maintain the gut’s protective lining. These compounds appear to reduce intestinal permeability and help regulate inflammation in the digestive tract. Even a few cups a day gives your body raw materials for recovery while putting almost no digestive burden on your stomach.
Ginger and Peppermint for Nausea
Ginger has genuine anti-nausea properties. It appears to work by blocking certain serotonin receptors in both the gut and the brain, which are key players in triggering the urge to vomit. Most clinical research has used between 250 mg and 1 g of powdered ginger root daily. In practical terms, that’s a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger steeped in hot water for tea, or a few ginger chews throughout the day. For pregnancy-related nausea specifically, studies have used 250 mg four times daily with good results.
Peppermint tea can help if cramping or bloating is part of the picture. Menthol, the active compound in peppermint, relaxes the smooth muscle lining your digestive tract. This reduces the spasms that cause that tight, painful feeling in your abdomen. A cup of peppermint tea after the worst nausea has passed can ease things along.
Probiotics May Shorten Recovery
If your upset stomach is caused by a stomach bug, probiotics can meaningfully cut the duration of symptoms. A large Cochrane review of clinical trials found that probiotics reduced the average length of diarrhea by about 29 hours in children. For rotavirus infections specifically, the reduction was closer to 38 hours, and children taking probiotics were far less likely to still have diarrhea by day three.
You can get probiotics from supplements or from fermented foods like plain yogurt (if you tolerate dairy), kefir, or miso soup. Yogurt is often easier on the stomach than milk because the fermentation process breaks down some of the lactose. If you’re choosing a supplement, strains in the Lactobacillus family have the strongest evidence behind them for gut-related illness.
Foods That Will Make Things Worse
Some foods actively aggravate an already irritated stomach, and knowing what to avoid matters as much as knowing what to eat.
Fried and fatty foods are the biggest offenders. When fat isn’t fully absorbed in the upper digestive tract, it reaches the colon and gets broken down into fatty acids. These trigger the colon to secrete extra fluid, which worsens diarrhea. This includes obvious culprits like french fries but also creamy sauces, cheese-heavy dishes, and buttery baked goods.
Dairy can be problematic even if you don’t normally have trouble with it. When your gut lining is inflamed, your ability to break down lactose (the sugar in milk) temporarily drops. This can lead to bloating, gas, and more diarrhea. Plain yogurt is usually the exception because it’s partially pre-digested by bacterial cultures.
Spicy foods irritate an already sensitive digestive tract and can cause burning discomfort on the way out. Many spicy dishes also contain hidden fat, especially curries and Tex-Mex food, which compounds the problem. Coffee, alcohol, and carbonated drinks are also worth skipping until you’re feeling more like yourself. Caffeine stimulates acid production and gut motility, neither of which helps a recovering stomach.
A Practical Recovery Timeline
In the first few hours after vomiting or the onset of symptoms, stick to small sips of water, ice chips, or diluted juice. Don’t force food.
Once you’ve kept liquids down for two to three hours, try a small portion of something bland: a few bites of toast, a quarter of a banana, or a small bowl of broth. Eat slowly and stop if nausea returns.
Over the next 12 to 24 hours, gradually add more variety. This is where lean protein, cooked vegetables, and plain starches come in. The goal is to eat as normally as you can tolerate, not to restrict yourself unnecessarily. Your digestive tract heals faster when it has adequate nutrition to work with.
If you can’t keep any fluids down for more than a few hours, notice blood in your stool or vomit, develop a fever of 100.4°F or higher, or experience severe sudden abdominal pain, those are signs that something beyond a routine stomach bug may be going on, and you need medical evaluation.