The best foods to eat when you have diarrhea are bland, low-fiber, and easy to digest: white rice, bananas, plain crackers, broth-based soups, boiled potatoes, and applesauce. These foods are gentle on an irritated gut and help firm up loose stools. Beyond just picking the right foods, though, how you eat and what you avoid matters just as much for a faster recovery.
The Best Foods to Reach For
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s a fine starting point for the first day or two, but there’s no reason to limit yourself to just those four items. A broader range of bland foods will keep you better nourished while your gut recovers.
Good choices include:
- White rice and refined pasta (low in fiber, easy to absorb)
- Bananas (rich in potassium, which you lose during diarrhea)
- Plain crackers, graham crackers, or white toast
- Broth and brothy soups (provide both fluid and salt)
- Boiled or baked potatoes (without butter or heavy toppings)
- Applesauce
- Oatmeal (cooked, plain)
- Eggs (scrambled or boiled)
- Skinless chicken or turkey, and white fish (steamed or baked, no added fat)
- Cooked carrots or squash (butternut, pumpkin)
Once your stomach settles, usually after a day or two, start adding more nutritious options like avocado, sweet potatoes without skin, and lean protein. These are still gentle on the gut but provide the calories and nutrients your body needs to recover. Most people are back to their normal diet within about a week, though some find they need to avoid rich or spicy foods a bit longer.
Why Soluble Fiber Helps
Not all fiber is the same. Soluble fiber, the kind found in oats, bananas, applesauce, and cooked carrots, dissolves in water and forms a gel-like material in your stomach. This slows digestion and absorbs excess water in the intestines, which helps firm up loose stools. That’s why oatmeal and bananas show up on every “what to eat” list for diarrhea.
Insoluble fiber, on the other hand, speeds things through your digestive tract. That’s the type in raw vegetables, whole wheat, nuts, and seeds. During a bout of diarrhea, these foods can make things worse. Stick to cooked vegetables and refined grains until you’re feeling better.
Foods and Drinks That Make Diarrhea Worse
What you avoid is just as important as what you eat. Several common foods and drinks can pull more water into your intestines or irritate your gut lining, prolonging symptoms.
- Fried and fatty foods (fast food, pizza, anything greasy)
- Caffeine (coffee, energy drinks, some teas and sodas)
- Alcohol
- Milk and dairy products (your ability to digest lactose can be temporarily impaired for up to a month after a diarrhea episode)
- High-sugar drinks (fruit juice, soda, sweetened beverages). Excess fructose draws water into the gut.
- Sugar-free gum and candy (sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol are well-known diarrhea triggers)
- Spicy foods
The dairy point catches a lot of people off guard. Even if you normally tolerate milk just fine, your gut lining may temporarily lose some of its ability to break down lactose while it heals. If you want dairy, stick to yogurt, which is generally easier to digest.
Hydration Matters More Than Food
Diarrhea causes you to lose far more water and electrolytes than you might realize, especially sodium and potassium. Replacing that fluid is the single most important thing you can do. Water alone isn’t ideal because it lacks the salts your body is losing.
Your gut absorbs fluid most efficiently when sodium and glucose are present together in roughly equal proportions. That’s the science behind oral rehydration solutions (like Pedialyte or store-brand equivalents), which are designed with this ratio in mind. They’re available at most pharmacies and grocery stores.
Broth is another excellent option because it naturally contains sodium. Weak tea and diluted juice can help too. Sports drinks, despite their marketing, generally contain too much sugar and too little sodium. The excess sugar can actually pull more water into your intestines and make diarrhea worse.
A simple homemade rehydration drink: mix about six teaspoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt into one liter of clean water. It won’t taste great, but it works.
Probiotics Can Shorten Recovery
Probiotic-rich foods like plain yogurt, kefir, and fermented vegetables may help your gut recover faster. The evidence is strongest for specific strains. One large review found that probiotics reduced the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea by up to 51%, with the strains Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Saccharomyces boulardii showing the most consistent results. For traveler’s diarrhea, Saccharomyces boulardii reduced episodes by about 21%.
If you’re not up for fermented foods while your stomach is unsettled, probiotic supplements are an alternative. Look for products that contain one of the well-studied strains listed above. Probiotics won’t stop diarrhea immediately, but they can trim a day or two off recovery time.
How to Reintroduce Normal Foods
There’s no strict schedule, but the general pattern is: start with clear fluids and broth, move to bland solids when you can keep liquids down, then gradually reintroduce richer foods as your symptoms improve. Pay attention to how each food makes you feel. If cooked chicken sits well but cheese triggers another round, pull back on dairy for a few more days.
The foods to add back last are fried foods, fatty foods, caffeine, alcohol, and heavily spiced dishes. Some people bounce back in two to three days. Others need a full week or more before their gut feels normal. Both timelines are common.
Signs Diarrhea Needs Medical Attention
Dietary management handles most cases, but certain symptoms signal something more serious. For adults, these include diarrhea lasting more than two days with no improvement, signs of dehydration (extreme thirst, very dark urine, dizziness, little or no urination), severe abdominal pain, bloody or black stools, or a fever above 102°F.
For children, the threshold is lower. Diarrhea that doesn’t improve within 24 hours, no wet diaper for three or more hours, a fever above 102°F, bloody stools, or unusual drowsiness all warrant a call to a pediatrician. Children and older adults dehydrate faster, so oral rehydration should start early and continue consistently. Severe diarrhea, defined as more than 10 bowel movements a day or fluid losses clearly exceeding what someone can drink, can become dangerous quickly.