When your stomach is upset, bland, low-fat foods that are easy to digest will help you feel better fastest. The classic go-to list of bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast (the BRAT diet) is a fine starting point, but you don’t need to limit yourself to just those four foods. A wider range of gentle options can keep you nourished while your gut recovers.
The Best Foods for an Upset Stomach
Simple, starchy foods are your best friend when nausea, cramping, or diarrhea hits. White rice, plain toast, crackers, and applesauce are all low in fat and fiber, which means your stomach can process them without working overtime. Bananas are particularly helpful because they’re soft, easy to digest, and replace potassium lost through vomiting or diarrhea.
Beyond the classic BRAT foods, you can also reach for plain boiled potatoes, oatmeal, clear broth, and skinless chicken. The key is keeping meals small and frequent rather than eating a full plate at once. Harvard Health notes that sticking strictly to bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast is reasonable for a day or two, but a less restrictive diet that includes other bland foods often makes more sense for getting adequate nutrition during recovery.
Cooked and cooled starches like rice and potatoes have an added benefit. When starchy foods cool down after cooking, some of their starch transforms into a form that resists digestion in the small intestine and instead reaches the colon, where gut bacteria ferment it into compounds that support the intestinal lining and reduce inflammation. This is one reason why plain rice has been a stomach remedy across cultures for centuries.
Ginger and Peppermint: Two Proven Helpers
Ginger is one of the most well-studied natural remedies for nausea. It works by calming signals in both the gut and the brain that trigger the urge to vomit. Most clinical research has used roughly 250 mg to 1 g of powdered ginger root per day, but you don’t need capsules. Fresh ginger steeped in hot water as a tea, or even flat ginger ale made with real ginger, can settle a queasy stomach. For pregnancy-related nausea, studies have typically used about 1 g total per day, split into four small doses.
Peppermint is the other standout. It relaxes the muscles in the digestive tract, which directly relieves cramping, bloating, and gas. Peppermint tea is the easiest way to get this effect. If you use peppermint oil capsules from a pharmacy, the NHS recommends not taking them for longer than two weeks without checking with a doctor, and leaving at least a two-hour gap between peppermint oil and any antacid or indigestion medicine, since antacids can interfere with how the capsules dissolve.
What to Drink
Staying hydrated matters more than eating when your stomach is actively upset. Small, frequent sips of water are the foundation. If you’ve been vomiting or dealing with diarrhea for more than a few hours, an oral rehydration solution or a drink with electrolytes helps replace lost sodium and potassium more effectively than water alone.
Clear broths, diluted fruit juices, and herbal teas (especially ginger and peppermint) all count toward your fluid intake. Avoid gulping large amounts at once, which can trigger more nausea. Room-temperature or slightly warm liquids tend to be easier on the stomach than ice-cold drinks.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid
Fat and fiber are the two biggest categories to skip when your stomach is struggling. Fatty foods slow down stomach emptying, which means food sits longer in your gut and worsens nausea, bloating, and discomfort. That rules out fried foods, creamy sauces, butter-heavy dishes, and most fast food.
High-fiber foods like raw vegetables, whole grains, beans, and fresh fruit with skin also take longer to break down and can aggravate symptoms. Dairy is another common trigger during stomach illness because temporary difficulty digesting lactose is common when the gut lining is inflamed. Spicy foods, alcohol, coffee, and carbonated drinks can all irritate an already sensitive stomach and are best avoided until you feel consistently better.
What About Probiotics?
Probiotic foods like plain yogurt, kefir, and fermented vegetables contain live bacteria that may help restore balance to your gut after a bout of illness. The evidence is stronger in children, where probiotics have been shown to shorten the duration of acute diarrhea by roughly 14 to 26 percent. In adults, results are more mixed. Some strains have shortened diarrhea duration in clinical trials, while others showed no benefit.
If you tolerate dairy, a small amount of plain yogurt with live cultures is a reasonable addition once the worst of your symptoms have passed. It’s unlikely to make things worse and may help your gut microbiome recover faster. Just avoid yogurts loaded with sugar or artificial sweeteners, which can aggravate digestive symptoms.
How to Ease Back Into Normal Eating
Most stomach bugs and food-related upsets resolve within one to three days. During the first day, focus on fluids and whatever bland food you can manage. By day two, if nausea has eased, gradually introduce slightly more variety: scrambled eggs, plain pasta, steamed vegetables without skin, or lean protein like baked chicken.
Pay attention to portion size. Your stomach has been through stress, and jumping back to large meals can trigger a relapse of discomfort. Eat small amounts every two to three hours rather than three big meals. Reintroduce fatty, spicy, and high-fiber foods last, ideally waiting until you’ve had a full day without symptoms.
Signs Your Stomach Upset Needs Medical Attention
Most upset stomachs pass on their own, but certain symptoms point to something more serious. Sudden, severe abdominal pain that doesn’t ease within 30 minutes warrants emergency care. The same applies to continuous vomiting that makes it impossible to keep any fluids down, which can lead to dangerous dehydration quickly.
Watch for pain that starts near your belly button and moves to the lower right side of your abdomen, especially when combined with fever and loss of appetite, as this pattern is characteristic of appendicitis. Severe pain in the upper middle abdomen that worsens after eating, along with fever and a rapid pulse, can indicate pancreatitis. Bloody vomit, bloody or black stools, and signs of dehydration (dark urine, dizziness, dry mouth) also need prompt medical evaluation.