When you have a stomach bug, the best things to eat are bland, easy-to-digest foods like plain rice, bananas, toast, broth, and boiled potatoes. But before you think about food at all, fluids come first. Vomiting and diarrhea drain your body of water and electrolytes fast, so rehydration is the real priority in the first several hours.
Start With Fluids, Not Food
Right after vomiting, give your stomach a short break of a few hours before putting anything in it. Then start by sucking on ice chips or taking small sips of water every 15 minutes. If you try to gulp down a full glass, you’ll likely bring it right back up.
Once you can keep small sips down, expand to other clear liquids: broth, sports drinks, diluted fruit juice, or an oral rehydration solution like Pedialyte. These replace both fluids and the sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes you’re losing. Older adults and anyone with severe diarrhea or a weakened immune system should lean toward oral rehydration solutions rather than plain water, since water alone doesn’t replace lost electrolytes. Saltine crackers can also help with electrolyte replacement while giving your stomach something very gentle to work with.
When to Start Eating Solid Food
Once you’ve kept liquids down for a few hours, your appetite will likely start creeping back. That’s your signal to try small amounts of bland food. There’s no need to force yourself to eat before that point. Your body is telling you to focus on hydration first, and that instinct is correct.
Start small. A few bites of plain toast, a quarter cup of rice, or half a banana is enough for a first attempt. If it stays down and your stomach feels okay after 30 minutes or so, you can eat a bit more. The goal is gradual reintroduction, not a full meal.
Best Foods During Recovery
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s fine for the first day or two, but there’s no research showing it works better than a broader bland diet. Harvard Health notes that restricting yourself to just those four foods isn’t necessary, and a less limited approach actually makes more sense because your body needs protein and other nutrients to recover.
Good options beyond BRAT include:
- Starches: boiled potatoes, oatmeal, plain pasta, unsweetened dry cereal
- Vegetables: cooked carrots, butternut or pumpkin squash, sweet potatoes without skin
- Proteins: skinless chicken or turkey, fish, eggs
- Other: brothy soups, avocado, saltine crackers
All of these are bland and easy to digest but provide more nutritional variety than bananas and white rice alone. The common thread is that they’re low in fat, low in fiber, and not heavily seasoned. Think soft, plain, and simple.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid
Some foods and drinks can make diarrhea and nausea noticeably worse. Skip these until you’re fully recovered:
- Dairy products: Milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream contain lactose, which your gut may struggle to digest. This sensitivity can actually linger for a month or more after a stomach bug, even after other symptoms have cleared.
- Fatty and fried foods: Pizza, fast food, and anything greasy is hard on an inflamed digestive tract and can trigger more nausea and diarrhea.
- Sugary drinks and foods: Sweetened beverages, candy, and full-strength fruit juice can pull water into the intestines and make diarrhea worse. If you drink juice, dilute it with water.
- Caffeine: Coffee, tea, and caffeinated sodas can irritate your stomach and speed up digestion when things are already moving too fast.
- Alcohol: It’s dehydrating, irritating to the gut lining, and will set your recovery back.
- Spicy or heavily seasoned food: Anything with a lot of spice, garlic, or acidity puts extra stress on an already irritated stomach.
A Note on Probiotics
Probiotics may help shorten the duration of diarrhea. A large meta-analysis found that the strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG reduced diarrhea duration by roughly one day in children with acute gastroenteritis. Evidence in adults is less robust, but many people find that probiotic-rich foods like plain kefir (once dairy is tolerable again) or a probiotic supplement help them feel better sooner. If you try a supplement, look for one with at least 10 billion CFU of a well-studied strain.
How Long This Lasts
Most stomach bugs resolve within one to three days, though some can drag on for up to 10 days depending on the virus. Your appetite typically returns before your gut is fully healed, so ease back into normal eating over several days rather than jumping straight to your regular diet. The temporary lactose sensitivity mentioned above is worth keeping in mind. If dairy seems to bother you in the weeks after recovery, that’s normal and it will pass.
Contact a doctor if you can’t keep any liquids down for 24 hours, have been vomiting or experiencing diarrhea for more than two days, notice blood in your vomit or stool, have severe stomach pain, or run a fever above 104°F. Signs of dehydration that need medical attention include very dark urine or almost no urine output, excessive thirst, dry mouth, and dizziness or lightheadedness. For children, the thresholds are lower: a fever of 102°F or higher, bloody diarrhea, unusual sleepiness, or no wet diaper in six hours all warrant a call to your pediatrician.