When you have diarrhea, the best approach is to eat small amounts of soft, easy-to-digest foods as soon as you feel able. You don’t need to starve yourself or stick to a highly restrictive diet. Your body needs nutrients to recover, and eating sooner helps your gut heal faster than waiting it out.
The BRAT Diet Is Outdated
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. For years it was the standard advice, but it’s no longer recommended. The American Academy of Pediatrics dropped it because it’s too restrictive and lacks the protein, fat, and other nutrients your digestive tract needs to repair itself. Following it for more than 24 hours can actually slow recovery.
Those four foods are still fine to eat. They’re bland and easy on your stomach. But they shouldn’t be the only things you eat. Think of them as a starting point, not a complete plan.
Foods That Help
The goal is bland, low-fat foods that are easy to digest. Good options include:
- White rice and plain pasta: simple starches that are gentle on the gut
- Oatmeal: high in soluble fiber, which absorbs water in the intestines and helps firm up loose stools
- Bananas: easy to digest and a good source of potassium, which you lose during diarrhea
- Applesauce and cooked carrots: both contain soluble fiber that forms a gel-like material in the stomach, slowing digestion
- Plain crackers or toast: simple carbohydrates that are unlikely to irritate your stomach
- Boiled or baked potatoes: starchy and filling without added fat
- Lean chicken or turkey: provides protein your body needs to heal, without the fat that can worsen symptoms
- Broth-based soups: replace fluids and electrolytes while delivering some nutrition
- Eggs (scrambled or boiled): another easy protein source
Soluble fiber deserves special attention. Unlike insoluble fiber (the rough, scratchy kind in raw vegetables and whole grains), soluble fiber dissolves in water and absorbs excess liquid in your intestines. This is exactly what you want when stools are watery. Oats, bananas, applesauce, avocados, and cooked carrots are all good sources. As you start feeling better, gradually add more variety back into your meals rather than staying on bland food longer than necessary.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid
Some foods actively make diarrhea worse by pulling extra water into your intestines. This is called osmotic diarrhea, and it happens when your gut can’t properly absorb certain sugars. The unabsorbed sugar draws water in, making stools even looser.
Common triggers to skip until you’ve recovered:
- Dairy products: Diarrhea can temporarily damage the lining of your small intestine, reducing your ability to digest lactose (the sugar in milk). This temporary lactose intolerance typically lasts three to four weeks after the intestinal lining heals. Yogurt is sometimes tolerated better because bacteria in it have already broken down some of the lactose.
- Fried, greasy, or fatty foods: Fat speeds up intestinal contractions, which is the opposite of what you need.
- Sugar-free gum and candy: These contain sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol, which are poorly absorbed and can cause osmotic diarrhea even in healthy people.
- Fruit juice and sugary drinks: High fructose content can overwhelm your gut’s ability to absorb it, pulling more water into the intestines.
- Caffeine and alcohol: Both stimulate the gut and can increase fluid loss.
- Raw vegetables, beans, and whole grains: High in insoluble fiber, which speeds things through your digestive system. Save these for when you’re feeling better.
- Spicy foods: Can irritate an already inflamed digestive tract.
Hydration Matters More Than Food
The biggest risk from diarrhea isn’t the diarrhea itself. It’s dehydration. Every loose stool pulls water and electrolytes out of your body, and if you’re also vomiting, the losses add up fast. Signs you’re becoming dehydrated include extreme thirst, dark-colored urine, dizziness, urinating much less than usual, and skin that stays tented when you pinch and release it.
Water alone isn’t ideal because it doesn’t replace lost sodium and potassium. Oral rehydration solutions (available at any pharmacy) contain the right balance of sugar and salt to help your body absorb fluid efficiently. Broth, coconut water, and diluted sports drinks also work. Sip small amounts frequently rather than drinking large quantities at once, which can trigger nausea.
Do Probiotics Help?
There’s reasonable evidence that probiotics can shorten a bout of infectious diarrhea. A large Cochrane review of multiple clinical trials found that probiotics reduced the average duration of diarrhea by about 30 hours and lowered the chance of diarrhea lasting beyond three days by roughly a third. The strains with the most research behind them include Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Saccharomyces boulardii, a beneficial yeast.
Probiotics aren’t a cure, but if you want to try them, look for products containing one of those two strains. Yogurt with live active cultures (if you can tolerate dairy) is another option, though it contains lower amounts than supplement capsules.
Feeding Children With Diarrhea
The principles for kids are similar to adults, with a few important differences. Breastfed infants should continue breastfeeding throughout the illness. Breast milk provides both hydration and nutrients, and the World Health Organization specifically recommends not stopping it during diarrheal episodes. Formula-fed babies should continue their usual formula unless a doctor advises otherwise.
For older children, offer small, frequent meals of soft foods as soon as they’re willing to eat. Don’t restrict their diet to just bananas and rice. Children are more vulnerable to dehydration than adults, and the combination of fluid loss and inadequate nutrition can create a cycle where malnutrition makes the diarrhea harder to shake. Pediatric oral rehydration solutions are specifically formulated for smaller bodies and are the best option for replacing lost fluids.
Watch children closely for signs of dehydration: no tears when crying, no wet diapers for three or more hours, sunken eyes, or unusual drowsiness. In infants, a sunken soft spot on the skull is another warning sign. Diarrhea in children under 12 months, or any child with a fever, warrants a call to the pediatrician within a day rather than a wait-and-see approach.
When Diarrhea Signals Something More Serious
Most diarrhea resolves on its own within a couple of days. But certain symptoms mean you should get medical attention quickly: diarrhea lasting more than two days in adults (or more than one day in children), six or more loose stools per day, high fever, severe abdominal pain, bloody or black tarry stools, or signs of dehydration that aren’t improving with oral fluids. Confusion, extreme irritability, or lack of energy can signal severe dehydration that may need more than home care.