When you have a stomach virus, the best foods are bland, easy-to-digest options like plain rice, toast, bananas, crackers, and simple chicken. But the most important thing isn’t food at all. It’s fluids. Replacing the water and electrolytes you’re losing through vomiting and diarrhea takes priority over eating, especially in the first several hours.
Fluids Come First
A stomach virus causes your body to lose water and salts rapidly, and dehydration is the main danger. Your gut absorbs water most efficiently when sodium and glucose are present in roughly equal amounts. This is the principle behind oral rehydration solutions (like Pedialyte or store-brand equivalents), which are specifically designed to match that ratio.
Sports drinks, juice, and soda don’t cut it. They contain too little sodium and too much sugar, and that excess sugar can actually pull more water into your intestines, making diarrhea worse. If you can’t get a commercial rehydration solution, sipping small amounts of clear broth, diluted juice, or water is better than nothing. Take small, frequent sips rather than gulping large amounts, which can trigger vomiting.
For young children, the approach matters even more. Kids under two should receive about one teaspoon of fluid every one to two minutes. Older children can take frequent sips from a cup. After each loose stool, aim for roughly 50 to 100 mL (a few ounces) of fluid for toddlers, and 100 to 200 mL for children ages two to ten. Interestingly, one study found that children with mild dehydration did well with half-strength apple juice followed by their preferred fluids, reducing the need for more aggressive rehydration.
When to Start Eating Again
The old advice was to avoid food entirely until symptoms settled, sometimes for a full day or more. That’s outdated. CDC guidelines are clear: withholding food for more than 24 hours is inappropriate, and “gut rest” is not recommended. Eating sooner actually helps. Early refeeding reduces illness duration, improves nutritional outcomes, and helps repair the intestinal lining faster.
If you’re vomiting frequently, wait until you can keep fluids down for a couple of hours before trying solid food. Once the worst of the nausea passes, start with small, frequent portions rather than full meals. Your stomach will tolerate a few bites every hour or two better than a plate of food all at once.
Best Foods During a Stomach Virus
Stick to bland, low-fiber, low-fat foods that are gentle on your digestive system. Good choices include:
- Plain white rice or rice porridge
- Toast or saltine crackers (without butter)
- Bananas
- Applesauce
- Plain boiled or baked chicken
- Broth-based soups
- Plain oatmeal
- Boiled potatoes
You may recognize some of these as the classic “BRAT diet” (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast). That framework is a fine starting point, but you don’t need to limit yourself strictly to those four foods. The goal is to return to a normal, balanced diet as quickly as your body will allow. If plain chicken or potatoes sit well, eat them. The more nutrition you can get in, the faster your recovery.
Foods That Make Things Worse
Certain foods actively worsen diarrhea, and the reasons are straightforward. Sugary foods and drinks stimulate your gut to release extra water and electrolytes into your intestines, loosening stools further. Fatty foods that aren’t absorbed properly in the inflamed upper intestine travel to the colon, where they break down into fatty acids that trigger the colon to secrete fluid. The result is more diarrhea, not less.
Avoid these until you’ve been symptom-free for at least a day or two:
- Fried or greasy foods
- Spicy dishes
- Candy, cookies, and sugary cereals
- Caffeine (coffee, energy drinks, strong tea)
- Alcohol
- Full-sugar fruit juice
- Raw vegetables and high-fiber foods
The Dairy Question
You’ve probably heard to avoid dairy during a stomach bug. There’s a real reason for this. Viruses like rotavirus and norovirus can damage the lining of your small intestine, including the cells that produce lactase, the enzyme that breaks down milk sugar. Without enough lactase, dairy products can cause bloating, cramping, and more diarrhea.
This temporary lactose intolerance typically resolves within three to four weeks as the intestinal lining heals. In the short term, it’s reasonable to skip milk, ice cream, and soft cheeses for the first few days. Yogurt is often better tolerated because the bacteria in it help break down some of the lactose. One notable exception: breastfeeding. Breastfed infants should continue nursing throughout the illness, as breast milk provides both hydration and immune support.
Ginger for Nausea
Ginger has a long track record for settling nausea, and clinical trials have tested it in doses ranging from 250 mg to 2 grams per day. Most of the strong evidence comes from studies on motion sickness, pregnancy nausea, and post-surgical nausea rather than stomach viruses specifically. Still, sipping flat ginger ale (check that it contains real ginger), chewing on crystallized ginger, or brewing ginger tea is unlikely to hurt and may take the edge off. A dose of about 250 mg to 500 mg, three to four times daily, is the range used in most studies.
What About Probiotics?
Probiotics are often recommended for stomach bugs, but the evidence is less convincing than marketing suggests. A large, well-designed trial by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network found that Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, one of the most commonly studied probiotic strains, did not reduce the severity or duration of gastroenteritis symptoms in children. There were no differences in how long diarrhea or vomiting lasted, how many days kids missed daycare, or whether the illness spread to family members. This doesn’t mean probiotics are harmful, but they may not speed your recovery the way you’d hope.
Feeding Kids With a Stomach Virus
Children follow the same general principles as adults, with a few key adjustments. Return them to their normal diet as soon as they can tolerate it. There’s no need to restrict them to crackers and broth for days on end. An age-appropriate diet with regular foods, including complex carbohydrates, lean meats, fruits, and vegetables, is the goal once rehydration is underway.
For formula-fed infants, continue their usual formula. You don’t need to switch to a soy or lactose-free version unless diarrhea persists beyond the acute illness, which could signal that temporary lactose intolerance. Breastfeeding mothers should keep nursing on demand. Breast milk is well absorbed even during active diarrhea and helps maintain the infant’s calorie intake during a period when every bit of nutrition counts.
A Practical Day-by-Day Approach
During the worst of it (typically the first 12 to 24 hours), focus almost entirely on fluids. Small sips of an oral rehydration solution, broth, or water every few minutes. Don’t force food if you’re actively vomiting.
Once vomiting slows or stops, introduce small amounts of bland food. A few bites of toast, a quarter of a banana, a small bowl of plain rice. Eat every couple of hours rather than waiting for a big meal. If it stays down, gradually increase the amount.
By day two or three, most people can expand to a wider range of foods. Add in things like plain pasta, steamed vegetables, lean chicken, and eggs. If dairy doesn’t cause cramping or worsening diarrhea, you can try small amounts of yogurt. Within a week, most people are back to eating normally, though some find that rich, fatty, or heavily spiced meals still cause discomfort for a few extra days. Let your body guide you.