When you have diarrhea, the best foods are bland, low-fiber, and easy to digest: white rice, bananas, plain toast, boiled potatoes, brothy soups, and oatmeal. But eating is only half the equation. Replacing lost fluids matters just as much, and knowing which foods to avoid can prevent you from making things worse.
The BRAT Diet Is a Start, Not a Plan
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s been standard advice for decades, and it works as a starting point. These four foods are gentle on an irritated gut and unlikely to trigger more cramping or loose stools. The problem is that no clinical studies have actually compared the BRAT diet to other approaches, and sticking to just those four foods for more than a day or two leaves you short on protein and key nutrients you need to recover.
A better approach is to think of BRAT as a framework, not a strict menu. The goal is bland, low-fat, low-fiber foods that are easy to break down. That opens the door to a much wider list:
- White rice or plain pasta
- Bananas
- Plain toast or crackers
- Oatmeal
- Boiled or baked potatoes (without skin or heavy toppings)
- Brothy soups (chicken broth, miso)
- Unsweetened dry cereal
Eat small amounts frequently rather than full meals. Your gut is inflamed, and smaller portions put less demand on it at once.
Adding Protein and Nutrients Back In
Once you’ve kept bland carbs down for a day without worsening symptoms, start adding more nutritious foods. You don’t need to wait until diarrhea fully stops. Protein and micronutrients actually help your intestinal lining repair itself, so introducing them sooner supports recovery.
Good next-step foods include skinless chicken or turkey, baked or steamed fish, eggs, cooked carrots, sweet potatoes without skin, cooked squash (butternut or pumpkin), and avocado. These are all still easy to digest but give your body the building blocks it needs. The key is that they’re cooked soft, not raw, and served without heavy sauces, butter, or spice.
Why Hydration Matters More Than Food
Diarrhea pulls water and electrolytes out of your body fast. Severe cases, defined as ten or more bowel movements a day, can cause dangerous dehydration if you’re not replacing what you lose. Even moderate diarrhea over a couple of days can leave you depleted.
Water alone isn’t ideal because it doesn’t replace the sodium and potassium you’re losing. The World Health Organization’s oral rehydration solution uses a precise mix of glucose, salt, and potassium dissolved in water, and you can buy premade versions (like Pedialyte or Drip Drop) at most pharmacies. If you don’t have those on hand, clear broths and diluted coconut water both provide electrolytes naturally.
Sip fluids steadily throughout the day rather than drinking large amounts at once. If you’re vomiting along with the diarrhea, take very small sips every few minutes. Signs that dehydration is becoming serious include excessive thirst, dry mouth, dark urine, dizziness, and little to no urination.
Foods That Make Diarrhea Worse
Some foods actively pull more water into your intestines or speed up gut motility, which is the opposite of what you want. Avoiding these can shorten a bout of diarrhea significantly.
Sugar and fructose are among the biggest offenders. Sugars stimulate your gut to release water and electrolytes into the intestines, loosening stools further. Fruit juice, soda, applesauce with added sugar, and high-fructose fruits like pears, cherries, and peaches can all make things worse. This is an important nuance with the BRAT diet: applesauce with added sugar may not be as helpful as plain rice or toast.
Artificial sweeteners like sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol, commonly found in sugar-free gum, candy, and some medications, have a well-documented laxative effect. Check labels if you’re chewing gum or taking liquid medicines during a bout of diarrhea.
Fried and fatty foods are hard to absorb even under normal conditions. When fat passes through without being fully digested, it reaches the colon and gets broken down into fatty acids, which cause the colon to secrete fluid. Greasy takeout, creamy sauces, and butter-heavy dishes will almost certainly make your symptoms worse.
Dairy is worth avoiding temporarily, even if you’re not normally lactose intolerant. When your intestinal lining is inflamed, it may not produce enough of the enzyme that breaks down lactose (the sugar in milk). Undigested lactose then ferments in the colon, producing gas, bloating, and more diarrhea. This temporary sensitivity usually resolves once the gut heals, but during active symptoms, skip the milk, ice cream, and soft cheese.
Coffee and alcohol both stimulate the gut and can worsen dehydration. Hold off on both until symptoms have fully resolved.
Probiotics Can Shorten Recovery
Probiotics, the beneficial bacteria found in supplements and fermented foods, have solid evidence behind them for acute diarrhea. A large meta-analysis published in The Lancet found that probiotics reduced the risk of acute diarrhea from various causes by 34% overall, with even stronger results in children (57% risk reduction) and in antibiotic-associated diarrhea (52% reduction).
Several well-studied strains showed similar benefits, including Saccharomyces boulardii and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. The good news is that you don’t need to hunt for a specific strain. The analysis found no significant difference in effectiveness between individual strains, whether taken alone or in combination. A general probiotic supplement or foods like plain yogurt (if you’re tolerating dairy) and kefir can help restore the balance of gut bacteria that diarrhea disrupts.
How Soluble Fiber Helps
This sounds counterintuitive since fiber is usually associated with loosening stool, but there are two types. Insoluble fiber (found in raw vegetables, whole grains, and bran) adds bulk and speeds things up, which you don’t want right now. Soluble fiber does the opposite: it absorbs water and turns into a gel during digestion, which helps firm up loose stools.
Good sources of soluble fiber that are gentle enough during diarrhea include oatmeal, bananas, and peeled, cooked potatoes. Beans, lentils, and nuts are also high in soluble fiber but may be too heavy during the worst of your symptoms. Save those for the recovery phase when your gut is settling down.
Getting Back to Normal Eating
Most cases of acute diarrhea resolve within two to three days. The shift back to your regular diet should be gradual. A reasonable timeline looks like this: start with clear fluids and bland carbs on day one, add lean proteins and cooked vegetables on day two if symptoms are improving, and ease back toward your normal diet over the following few days. If a food causes a flare, pull back and try again a day later.
For adults, diarrhea that lasts more than two days without any improvement, a fever above 102°F, bloody or black stools, or signs of dehydration (severe weakness, dizziness, very dark urine) all warrant medical attention. For children, the timeline is shorter: seek care if diarrhea doesn’t improve within 24 hours, if there’s no wet diaper in three or more hours, or if a fever exceeds 102°F.