When you have diarrhea, the best foods are bland, low in fat, and easy to digest: white rice, bananas, plain toast, applesauce, boiled potatoes, oatmeal, and baked chicken without skin. These foods give your gut a chance to recover without triggering more fluid loss. But what you eat matters just as much as what you avoid, and sticking to an overly restricted diet for too long can actually slow your recovery.
The BRAT Diet: A Starting Point, Not a Plan
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. These four foods are gentle on an irritated gut, and they’re a reasonable place to start in the first several hours of symptoms. Bananas are especially useful because the starch helps absorb water in your colon, firming up loose stool, and they replace potassium lost through diarrhea.
The problem is that BRAT was never meant to be a full diet. It provides roughly 300 fewer calories per day than what even a toddler needs and is low in protein, fat, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B12, and calcium. Staying on it for more than a day or two can leave you energy-depleted and nutritionally behind, which is the opposite of what your body needs to heal. Think of BRAT as a launching pad: eat those foods when your stomach is at its worst, then expand your choices as soon as you can tolerate them.
Safe Foods Beyond BRAT
Once you can keep the basics down, you have more options than most people realize. The goal is to add enough protein and calories to support recovery while keeping things bland and low in fat. Good choices include:
- Boiled or baked potatoes (peeled, no butter or cream)
- Plain white rice or rice porridge
- Oatmeal
- Plain pasta or noodles
- Baked chicken with the skin removed
- Boiled eggs
- Canned tuna packed in water
- Saltine crackers or pretzels
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Sweet potatoes
Choose white rice over brown rice and white bread over whole grain. Normally whole grains are the healthier pick, but during a bout of diarrhea, the extra insoluble fiber in whole grains can irritate your gut further. You want foods that are as easy to break down as possible.
Why Soluble Fiber Helps
Not all fiber is your enemy right now. Soluble fiber, the type found in oats, bananas, applesauce, and carrots, dissolves in water and forms a gel-like material in your stomach. It absorbs excess fluid and adds bulk to stool, which is exactly what you need when things are too loose. Pectin, a soluble fiber found naturally in apples and carrots, is particularly effective at firming things up.
Insoluble fiber is different. It speeds movement through the intestines and can make watery stool worse. Raw vegetables, whole grain bread, seeds, and nuts are high in insoluble fiber and best saved for after you’ve recovered.
Replacing Lost Minerals
Diarrhea pulls water and electrolytes out of your body faster than normal. Potassium is one of the biggest losses, and running low on it can leave you feeling weak and fatigued. You can rebuild your potassium stores through food: ripe bananas, boiled potatoes, fish, and peach or apricot nectar are all good sources that are gentle enough for a sensitive stomach.
Sodium matters too. Saltine crackers, pretzels, and broth-based soups help replace the salt you’re losing. Oral rehydration solutions (available at any pharmacy) are the most efficient way to restore both electrolytes and fluid if your diarrhea is frequent or lasting more than a day.
Foods and Drinks That Make Diarrhea Worse
Some foods actively pull more water into your intestines or speed up digestion, which is the last thing you need. The main categories to avoid:
Fried and fatty foods. When fat isn’t fully absorbed in the small intestine, it reaches the colon and gets broken down into fatty acids. Those fatty acids trigger the colon to secrete fluid, worsening diarrhea directly.
Dairy. Milk, ice cream, and soft cheeses contain lactose, a natural sugar that many people have trouble digesting even under normal circumstances. During a bout of diarrhea, your gut’s ability to break down lactose may be temporarily reduced, making dairy even more likely to cause problems.
Caffeine. Coffee, energy drinks, and strong tea all speed up your digestive system. When your gut is already moving too fast, caffeine amplifies the problem.
Sugary foods and drinks. Sugar stimulates the gut to release water and electrolytes into the intestines, loosening stool further. This includes sodas, fruit juice, and gelatin desserts. Even unsweetened applesauce is preferable to sweetened versions for this reason.
Spicy foods. These can cause burning and irritation in an already inflamed digestive tract.
Watch for Sugar Alcohols
Sugar alcohols like sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, and maltitol are a frequently overlooked cause of diarrhea. They’re poorly absorbed in the intestines, where they pull in water through osmosis. As little as 5 to 20 grams per day can cause gas, bloating, and cramps. Above 20 grams, outright diarrhea is common.
These sweeteners show up in sugar-free gum, mints, diet candies, protein bars, and some liquid medications. Sorbitol also occurs naturally in apples, pears, peaches, plums, prunes, and dried fruits like dates and figs. If you’re dealing with persistent diarrhea and can’t figure out why, check the labels on anything marked “sugar-free” and consider whether you’re eating a lot of stone fruits.
Probiotics May Shorten Recovery
Certain probiotic strains can reduce how long diarrhea lasts. A large meta-analysis of clinical trials in children found that Saccharomyces boulardii, a beneficial yeast, shortened diarrhea duration by about 1.25 days compared to placebo and significantly reduced the chance of symptoms lasting two or more days. Lactobacillus reuteri showed similar benefits. These strains are available in supplement form at most pharmacies.
Probiotic-rich foods like plain yogurt (if you can tolerate dairy) or fermented foods may also help, though they contain less concentrated doses than supplements. If you’re choosing yogurt, pick one that’s low in added sugar and contains live active cultures.
When to Start Eating Normally Again
You can typically return to a regular diet 24 to 48 hours after your symptoms improve. There’s no benefit to restricting food longer than necessary. In fact, withholding food for more than 24 hours is counterproductive because early feeding reduces illness duration and helps restore the intestinal lining faster.
Reintroduce foods gradually. Start with the milder options on the expanded list (rice porridge, boiled eggs, plain pasta, steamed chicken) before moving on to higher-fat or higher-fiber meals. If a food brings symptoms back, set it aside for another day or two.
Feeding Children During Diarrhea
The approach for kids is slightly different. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends continuing age-appropriate foods during diarrhea rather than switching to a restrictive diet. Breastfeeding should continue through the entire illness, including during rehydration. Formula-fed infants generally tolerate their usual full-strength formula and don’t need a lactose-free version.
Children eating solid foods should keep eating their normal diet, with the same core principle: avoid high-sugar drinks, sodas, and juice, which can worsen diarrhea through their osmotic effect. The goal is to maintain calorie and nutrient intake so the child recovers faster, not to restrict food in hopes of “resting” the gut.