Bland, easy-to-digest foods like bananas, white rice, boiled potatoes, and brothy soups are among the best choices when you have diarrhea. The right foods can help firm up loose stools, replace lost nutrients, and speed your recovery. Just as important: knowing which foods to avoid so you don’t make things worse.
The BRAT Diet Still Works, but It’s Too Limited
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s a reasonable starting point for the first day or two of stomach flu, food poisoning, or traveler’s diarrhea, but there’s no need to limit yourself to just those four foods. They’re low in fiber and gentle on the gut, which helps, but they also lack the protein and broader nutrients your body needs to recover.
A better approach is to think of BRAT as a foundation and build from there. These foods are all easy to digest and won’t irritate your gut:
- Brothy soups (chicken broth, bone broth, miso)
- Oatmeal made with water
- Boiled or baked potatoes (without butter or sour cream)
- Plain crackers and unsweetened dry cereals
- White rice or plain pasta
Once your stomach starts to settle, typically after a day or two, you can add more nutritious options: cooked carrots, butternut or pumpkin squash, sweet potatoes without the skin, scrambled eggs, and skinless chicken or turkey. These give you the protein and vitamins that plain toast simply can’t provide.
Why Bananas and Potatoes Matter for Recovery
Diarrhea flushes potassium out of your body quickly. Potassium is an electrolyte your muscles and heart depend on, and losing too much of it can leave you feeling weak, dizzy, and fatigued. Bananas are one of the most convenient high-potassium foods you can eat while your stomach is upset, because they’re also soft, bland, and naturally binding.
Other good sources of potassium during recovery include boiled potatoes, apricot or peach nectar, fish, and lean meat. Working these into your meals as soon as you can tolerate them helps restore what diarrhea has taken.
How Soluble Fiber Helps Firm Up Stools
Not all fiber is the same. Insoluble fiber (found in raw vegetables, whole grains, and seeds) can speed things through your gut and make diarrhea worse. Soluble fiber does the opposite. It absorbs water in your intestines and forms a gel-like consistency that helps slow things down and add bulk to loose stools.
Pectin, a type of soluble fiber found naturally in applesauce, bananas, and cooked carrots, is particularly useful. It stimulates the growth of the protective lining in your colon and supports the healthy bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids, which are essential for normal bowel function. Oatmeal is another excellent source of soluble fiber that’s gentle enough to eat on the first day of symptoms.
Lean Protein Without the Grease
Your body needs protein to heal, but fatty or heavily seasoned meats will only aggravate your digestive system. Small portions of boiled or baked chicken (no skin), turkey, scrambled eggs, or plain baked fish provide necessary nutrients without being too heavy. The key is preparation: steamed, boiled, or baked with minimal seasoning. Skip fried foods entirely until you’re fully recovered.
Probiotic Foods Can Help Restore Your Gut
Diarrhea, especially when caused by antibiotics or infection, disrupts the balance of bacteria in your intestines. Probiotics help re-establish that balance. One of the most studied strains for diarrhea is a beneficial yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii, which has been used for over 30 years to prevent and treat diarrheal diseases. It works by neutralizing bacterial toxins and helping normal gut flora recover faster.
You can find probiotics in supplement form, but certain foods contain them naturally. Plain yogurt with live active cultures is often tolerated well, though you should choose varieties without added sugar. Fermented foods like miso (easy to sip as a broth) can also help. One important caveat about dairy, though: keep reading.
Temporarily Avoid Dairy (Except Yogurt)
After a bout of diarrhea, especially from a stomach virus, your small intestine may temporarily lose some of its ability to digest lactose, the sugar in milk. This happens because the illness damages the cells that produce lactase, the enzyme that breaks down lactose. When undigested lactose sits in your gut, it draws water into the intestines through osmotic pressure, which makes diarrhea worse.
This temporary lactose intolerance can last days to a couple of weeks after the illness itself resolves. During that time, it’s wise to avoid milk, ice cream, soft cheeses, and cream-based foods. Yogurt is generally an exception because the fermentation process breaks down much of the lactose, and the live cultures aid digestion.
Foods and Drinks That Make Diarrhea Worse
What you avoid matters as much as what you eat. Several common foods and ingredients actively worsen diarrhea:
- Sugar-free products containing sorbitol, mannitol, or xylitol. These sugar alcohols have well-known laxative properties. Your small intestine can’t fully absorb them, so they pull water into your bowel and speed up transit time. Check the labels on sugar-free gum, candy, and diet drinks.
- Coffee and caffeinated drinks. Caffeine directly stimulates intestinal smooth muscle and activates the nervous system in your gut, promoting contractions. Coffee also triggers gallbladder contraction, releasing bile acids that further accelerate intestinal movement. Even decaf coffee has some of these effects.
- Alcohol, which irritates the gut lining and impairs water absorption.
- Greasy, fried, or spicy foods, which are harder to digest and can trigger cramping.
- Raw vegetables and high-fiber fruits like berries, prunes, and dried fruit, which contain insoluble fiber that speeds up the gut.
- Carbonated drinks, which can cause gas and bloating on an already sensitive stomach.
Staying Hydrated Is Half the Battle
Diarrhea pulls water and electrolytes out of your body far faster than normal. Dehydration, not the diarrhea itself, is what makes most people feel terrible and is the main medical risk. Sipping fluids throughout the day is more important than any single food choice.
Water is essential, but it doesn’t replace the sodium and potassium you’re losing. Clear broths, diluted fruit juices (like apple juice mixed with water), and oral rehydration solutions available at any pharmacy are better options. You can also make a simple rehydration drink at home with water, a small amount of salt, and a small amount of sugar. The sugar isn’t just for taste; it helps your intestines absorb the water and sodium more efficiently.
Drink in small, frequent sips rather than large gulps. Cold fluids can sometimes trigger cramping, so room temperature or warm liquids like broth or herbal tea tend to be gentler.
A Simple Meal Plan for the First Few Days
Day one, when symptoms are at their worst, focus on liquids and the blandest foods: broth, plain white rice, a banana, dry toast, or a few saltine crackers. Eat small amounts frequently rather than full meals.
By day two or three, if things are improving, add oatmeal made with water, boiled potatoes, scrambled eggs, and plain yogurt with live cultures. Cooked carrots and applesauce are good additions here too.
As you continue improving, reintroduce skinless chicken or turkey, baked fish, cooked squash, and sweet potatoes. Gradually return to your normal diet over the course of a few more days. Reintroduce dairy products (other than yogurt) and raw fruits and vegetables last, giving your gut the most time to recover before asking it to handle those again.