When indigestion hits, the best things to eat are bland, low-fat foods that move through your stomach easily: plain oatmeal, bananas, rice, boiled potatoes, toast, crackers, and brothy soups. These foods are gentle enough to keep you nourished without making the burning, bloating, or nausea worse. What matters just as much is what you avoid and how you eat.
Foods That Are Easy on Your Stomach
Your goal during an episode of indigestion is to give your stomach less work to do. High-fat and heavily seasoned foods force your stomach to produce more acid and slow down digestion, which is exactly what you don’t want. Bland, simple foods digest faster and are far less likely to trigger more discomfort.
Good choices include:
- Oatmeal made with water rather than milk
- Plain rice or boiled potatoes
- Toast or crackers without butter
- Bananas and applesauce
- Brothy soups (chicken broth, vegetable broth)
- Unsweetened dry cereal
- Cooked vegetables like carrots, squash, or sweet potatoes
If you’re feeling well enough for protein, skinless chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, and avocado are all reasonable options. These provide nutrients you need to recover without the heavy fat load of red meat or fried foods. The old advice to eat only bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast (the BRAT diet) is fine for a day or two, but a slightly broader range of bland foods gives your body more to work with.
Foods and Drinks That Make It Worse
Certain foods relax the muscle at the top of your stomach and slow digestion, letting food sit longer and pushing acid upward. The biggest offenders are foods high in fat, salt, or spice. That means fried food, fast food, pizza, bacon, sausage, cheese, and processed snacks like chips are all worth skipping until you feel better.
A few less obvious triggers:
- Tomato-based sauces and citrus fruits, which are highly acidic
- Chocolate and peppermint, which can relax the valve between your stomach and esophagus
- Carbonated drinks, which bloat the stomach and promote heartburn
- Coffee, tea, and colas, which boost stomach acid production
- Alcohol, which irritates the stomach lining directly
If spicy foods have bothered you before, they’ll almost certainly bother you now. Chili powder, black pepper, and cayenne are common culprits.
What to Drink Instead
Plain water is your best bet. Your digestive system needs fluid to move food along, and dehydration makes everything slower. Sip water throughout the day rather than gulping large amounts at once, which can stretch your stomach and worsen bloating.
Herbal teas like chamomile or ginger tea are popular choices. Ginger in particular has a long history of use for nausea and stomach discomfort. Avoid anything carbonated, caffeinated, or alcoholic until your symptoms have passed.
How You Eat Matters Too
The size and timing of your meals can make as much difference as the food itself. Eating several small, low-fat meals throughout the day at a slow pace puts less strain on your stomach than sitting down to two or three large ones. When you eat a big meal, your stomach has to produce more acid and work harder to break everything down, which is a recipe for discomfort when you’re already feeling off.
Timing matters at night especially. Avoid eating problem foods in the evening close to bedtime. When you lie down with a full stomach, food and acid can travel back up into your esophagus. Finishing your last meal at least two to three hours before bed gives your stomach time to empty.
Eating slowly also helps. Rushing through a meal means swallowing air, which adds to bloating, and it gives your stomach less warning about what’s coming. Chewing thoroughly does some of the digestive work before food even reaches your stomach.
Cooking Methods That Help
How food is prepared changes how hard your stomach has to work. Frying adds fat, and fat is the single biggest dietary driver of indigestion. Steaming, boiling, baking, and poaching all keep fat content low while making food soft and easy to break down. A baked chicken breast with steamed carrots, for example, is a completely different experience for your stomach than fried chicken with a side of coleslaw.
Skip heavy sauces, creamy dressings, and butter-based preparations while your stomach is recovering. Season with mild herbs if you want flavor, but hold the chili flakes and black pepper.
When Indigestion Signals Something Serious
Most indigestion is uncomfortable but harmless, resolving on its own or with simple changes to what and how you eat. But certain symptoms alongside indigestion are red flags: blood in your stool, difficulty swallowing, persistent nausea and vomiting, or unexplained weight loss all warrant a medical visit.
Indigestion can also occasionally mimic more serious problems. If you experience a tight, clenching feeling in your chest or diaphragm along with pain in your jaw, arms, or upper back, shortness of breath, sweating, or unusual fatigue, those are signs to seek emergency care. These symptoms can overlap with cardiac events, and it’s not a situation to wait out at home.