When your stomach is upset, the best foods are bland, low-fat, and easy to digest: plain rice, toast, bananas, applesauce, broth, boiled potatoes, and plain crackers. These foods put minimal demand on your digestive system while still providing energy and nutrients. What you avoid matters just as much as what you eat, and how quickly you return to a normal diet affects how fast you recover.
Why the BRAT Diet Is a Starting Point, Not a Plan
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. These four foods became the go-to recommendation for decades because they’re low in fiber, easy to break down, and unlikely to irritate an already inflamed stomach lining. They still work well as a starting point when you’re at your worst and can barely keep anything down.
But sticking to only these four foods for more than about 24 hours can actually slow your recovery. The American Academy of Pediatrics no longer recommends a strict BRAT diet for children with diarrhea because it’s too restrictive and lacks the protein, fat, and micronutrients your gut needs to heal. The same logic applies to adults. Once your nausea or vomiting starts to ease, you should gradually reintroduce a wider range of gentle foods: plain chicken, eggs, oatmeal, steamed vegetables, and simple soups.
Best Foods When You Feel Nauseous
Nausea makes eating feel impossible, so start small. Dry crackers, plain toast, or a few bites of banana are often the easiest to tolerate because they absorb stomach acid without triggering more churning. Eat slowly, in small portions, and at room temperature or slightly cool. Hot foods release more aroma, which can make nausea worse.
Ginger is one of the most effective natural remedies for nausea. Clinical trials have found that doses between 250 mg and 1 gram per day, split across three or four servings, significantly reduce nausea and vomiting. You don’t need a supplement to get this. A thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger steeped in hot water makes a simple tea, or you can sip flat ginger ale (though many commercial brands contain very little real ginger). Ginger chews and candies made with real ginger root also work well.
Peppermint tea is another reliable option. Peppermint acts as a natural muscle relaxant for the gut wall by blocking calcium channels in smooth muscle cells, which reduces the cramping and spasms that often accompany nausea and bloating. If tea doesn’t appeal to you, even smelling peppermint oil can help take the edge off.
Best Foods for Diarrhea
When diarrhea is the main symptom, your priorities shift to replacing lost fluids and firming up stool consistency. Plain white rice, bananas, and applesauce all contain pectin, a type of soluble fiber that absorbs water in the colon and adds bulk to loose stools. Oatmeal does the same thing and provides more sustained energy.
Hydration matters more than food at this stage. Water alone isn’t enough because diarrhea drains electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) along with fluid. Broth-based soups are ideal because they replace both. Oral rehydration solutions or diluted sports drinks work too. Sip steadily rather than gulping large amounts, which can trigger more cramping.
Certain probiotic strains can shorten the duration of acute diarrhea. In a randomized controlled trial, children given a specific strain of the yeast-based probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii recovered in about 66 hours compared to 95 hours in the placebo group, roughly 30% faster. Yogurt with live active cultures is the simplest way to get beneficial bacteria, though if dairy sounds unappealing right now, a probiotic supplement is an alternative. Hold off on kefir or other fermented foods until your symptoms calm down, since their high probiotic concentration can cause gas and bloating in a sensitive gut.
Foods to Avoid Until You Feel Better
Some foods are almost guaranteed to make an upset stomach worse. Fat is the biggest culprit. Fatty and fried foods slow gastric emptying, meaning food sits in your stomach longer, which worsens nausea, bloating, and that uncomfortable feeling of fullness. Skip burgers, fries, pizza, creamy sauces, and anything greasy until your digestion normalizes.
Other foods and drinks to avoid:
- Dairy (except yogurt): Milk, cheese, and ice cream are harder to digest when your gut is inflamed, even if you’re not normally lactose intolerant.
- Spicy foods: Capsaicin irritates the stomach lining and can trigger acid reflux.
- Raw vegetables and high-fiber foods: Salads, beans, whole grains, and raw cruciferous vegetables require significant digestive effort and produce gas.
- Caffeine and alcohol: Both increase stomach acid production and act as diuretics, worsening dehydration.
- Carbonated drinks: The gas can increase bloating and abdominal pressure.
- Citrus and tomato-based foods: Their acidity can irritate an already raw stomach lining.
How to Ease Back Into Normal Eating
Most stomach bugs and bouts of food-related distress resolve within one to three days. The mistake people make is either eating too much too soon or staying on an ultra-restricted diet for too long. Neither helps.
For the first 6 to 12 hours, focus on clear liquids: water, broth, herbal tea, and small sips of an electrolyte drink. If you’re vomiting, wait until you’ve kept liquids down for at least an hour before trying solid food. Then introduce bland solids in small amounts: a few crackers, half a banana, a small bowl of plain rice. If that stays down, add a bit more at the next meal.
By day two, if symptoms are improving, you can start adding lean protein like plain baked chicken or scrambled eggs, cooked vegetables like carrots or zucchini, and simple starches like mashed potatoes without butter. By day three or four, most people can return to their normal diet, though it’s still smart to go easy on fatty, spicy, and heavily processed foods for another day or two.
When an Upset Stomach Needs Attention
Most upset stomachs don’t need medical care, but certain patterns signal something more serious. Pain that starts near your belly button and moves to your lower right side, especially if it worsens over hours and comes with fever, could indicate appendicitis. Severe upper abdominal pain that gets worse after eating, paired with nausea, fever, and a rapid pulse, can point to pancreatitis.
Seek emergency care if you can’t keep any liquids down for more than 12 to 24 hours, if you see blood in your vomit or stool, if the pain is severe enough to stop you from functioning, or if symptoms that feel familiar from past episodes are noticeably different or more intense this time. Persistent vomiting with an inability to stay hydrated is the threshold where home care stops being enough.