When you have diarrhea, the best foods are bland, low-fiber, and easy to digest: bananas, white rice, plain oatmeal, boiled potatoes, brothy soups, crackers, and toast. These foods give your gut a chance to recover without making symptoms worse. What you avoid matters just as much as what you eat, since certain sugars, sweeteners, and drinks can pull water into your intestines and keep stools loose.
Why Bland Foods Help
Diarrhea happens when your intestines push food through too quickly or pull too much water into your stool. Soluble fiber, the kind found in oats, bananas, and applesauce, works against both problems. It dissolves in water and forms a gel-like material in your stomach that slows digestion. It also absorbs excess water in your intestines and adds bulk to stool, helping firm things up.
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 Harvard Health Publishing notes there’s no reason to limit yourself to just those four foods. A broader range of bland options gives you more nutrients to support recovery. Good choices include:
- Brothy soups (chicken broth, miso, clear vegetable soup)
- Plain oatmeal
- Boiled or baked potatoes (without butter or sour cream)
- Unsweetened dry cereals like plain Cheerios or Rice Chex
- Crackers (saltines or plain water crackers)
- White rice
- Ripe bananas
Once your stomach starts to settle, typically after a day or two, you can add more substantial foods: cooked carrots, sweet potatoes without skin, cooked squash like butternut or pumpkin, avocado, skinless chicken or turkey, fish, and eggs. These are still gentle on your digestive system but contain the protein and nutrients your body needs to bounce back.
Foods and Drinks That Make It Worse
Certain sugars act like a magnet for water in your intestines. When they aren’t fully absorbed, they draw fluid into your bowel and loosen your stool further. Fructose is one of the biggest culprits. It’s naturally high in peaches, pears, cherries, and apples, and it’s added in large amounts to soda, juice beverages, and applesauce. For perspective, a 16-ounce regular cola contains close to 30 grams of fructose. Many people who consume more than 40 to 80 grams per day will develop diarrhea from fructose alone.
Sugar alcohols are another overlooked trigger. Sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, and maltitol are common in sugar-free gum, diet candies, protein bars, and some “no sugar added” foods. They have well-known laxative properties. Sorbitol can cause gas, bloating, urgency, and cramps at doses as low as 5 to 20 grams per day, and anything above 20 grams tends to cause outright diarrhea. It speeds up intestinal transit and increases both the water content and total volume of your stool. Check ingredient labels on anything labeled “sugar-free” while you’re symptomatic.
Caffeine also speeds up the digestive system, which is the opposite of what you want. That means coffee, tea, chocolate, caffeinated sodas, and anything flavored with coffee or chocolate. Greasy, fried, and heavily spiced foods are also worth avoiding since they’re harder to digest and can irritate an already sensitive gut. Dairy products may be problematic too, especially if you have any degree of lactose intolerance, which can temporarily worsen during a bout of diarrhea.
Staying Hydrated and Replacing Electrolytes
Diarrhea flushes water and electrolytes out of your body faster than normal. Potassium is lost in especially large quantities, and low potassium can leave you feeling weak and fatigued. Ripe bananas, boiled potatoes, fish, and meat are all potassium-rich foods that are easy enough on your stomach during recovery. Apricot or peach nectar is another option, though keep portions small since fruit juices contain fructose.
Drink fluids steadily throughout the day rather than in large amounts at once. Water is the foundation, but brothy soups pull double duty by providing both fluid and sodium. Oral rehydration solutions (sold at pharmacies) contain a precise balance of salt, sugar, and water designed to maximize absorption. They’re especially useful if diarrhea is frequent or has lasted more than a day. Sports drinks are an option but tend to be high in sugar, so diluting them with water can help.
Signs that dehydration is becoming a concern include dry mouth, no tears when crying (in children), dark or very small amounts of urine, dizziness, and skin that stays “tented” when you pinch it instead of snapping back immediately. In children, the combination of dry mouth, no tears, slow capillary refill, and a generally unwell appearance is a reliable signal of significant fluid loss.
Probiotics During and After Diarrhea
Two specific probiotic strains have the strongest evidence for helping with diarrhea, particularly the kind caused by antibiotics. One is a yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii, and the other is a bacterium called Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have confirmed their effectiveness in both preventing and shortening antibiotic-associated diarrhea in children and adults.
You can find both strains in supplement form at most pharmacies. Look for the specific strain names on the label, not just the genus. If your diarrhea was triggered by antibiotics, starting a probiotic at the same time as the antibiotic course (rather than waiting until afterward) appears to be the most effective approach. Yogurt and kefir contain some probiotic strains, but the amounts are typically lower and the strains less targeted than what’s in a dedicated supplement.
Zinc for Children With Diarrhea
The World Health Organization recommends zinc supplementation for children with acute diarrhea: 20 mg per day for 10 to 14 days, or 10 mg per day for infants under six months. Zinc helps the intestinal lining recover and can shorten the duration of the episode. This recommendation is most relevant in settings where zinc deficiency is common, but it’s worth knowing about if your child has repeated bouts of diarrhea.
Transitioning Back to Normal Eating
Reintroduce foods gradually rather than jumping straight back to your usual diet. A sudden shift from bland to rich or complex meals can trigger a relapse. Start by adding one or two new foods per meal once your stools begin to firm up. Lean proteins and well-cooked vegetables are good early additions. Reintroduce dairy, raw vegetables, high-fiber grains, and fried or fatty foods last, since these are the hardest for a recovering gut to handle. Most people can return to their normal diet within three to five days of symptoms starting, though it varies based on the cause and severity.