When your stomach is upset, bland, easy-to-digest foods are your best bet. Bananas, plain rice, applesauce, toast, broth, crackers, and oatmeal all sit well for most people. But you don’t need to limit yourself to just a handful of foods, and eating too little can actually slow your recovery.
Start With Liquids, Then Add Solids
If you’ve been vomiting, give your stomach a break for a few hours before eating or drinking anything. Then start small: suck on ice chips or take tiny sips of water every 15 minutes. Once you can keep water down, move on to other clear liquids like broth, diluted electrolyte drinks, or gelatin.
After a few hours of tolerating liquids, your appetite will likely nudge you toward solid food. This is where bland, soft foods come in. Applesauce, bananas, plain crackers, dry toast, and plain oatmeal are all gentle starting points. From there, you can expand fairly quickly.
The Best Foods for an Upset Stomach
The classic BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) has been recommended for decades, but it’s more limited than it needs to be. No studies have ever compared it to a broader bland diet, and sticking to only those four foods for more than a day or two can leave you short on protein, fat, vitamin A, vitamin B12, calcium, and calories. In rare cases, children kept on strictly restrictive diets during illness have developed serious malnutrition within just two weeks.
A better approach is to use BRAT as a starting point and expand to other well-tolerated foods as soon as you can. Good options include:
- Broth and bone broth: Easy to sip, replaces fluids and electrolytes, and contains amino acids like glutamine and glycine that support your gut lining. It also provides calcium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.
- Bananas: Contain pectin, a type of soluble fiber that helps firm up loose stools. In one study of children with persistent diarrhea, green banana and pectin reduced stool weight by about 50% over a week. Bananas also replace potassium lost through vomiting or diarrhea.
- Plain white rice: Low in fiber, easy to digest, and unlikely to irritate your stomach.
- Oatmeal: Gentle on the stomach and more nutritious than toast or crackers alone.
- Boiled potatoes: Starchy, bland, and a good source of potassium. Skip the butter and sour cream until you’re feeling better.
- Crackers and dry cereal: Unsweetened varieties can settle nausea and give you something to nibble when a full meal feels like too much.
- Cooked carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes (without skin): Soft, mild vegetables that add vitamins without being hard to digest.
- Skinless chicken or turkey, fish, and eggs: These are lean protein sources that help your body recover without overloading your digestive system.
- Avocado: Provides healthy fats and potassium in a soft, bland package.
The goal is to eat enough protein and calories to actually recover, not just survive on starch until you feel better. Add these foods as your stomach allows, even within the first day or two.
Ginger and Peppermint for Nausea
Ginger is one of the most studied natural remedies for nausea. It works by increasing the tone and movement of your digestive tract while blocking chemical signals that trigger the urge to vomit. Clinical studies typically use about 1,000 mg per day (roughly half a teaspoon of ground ginger), and it’s been shown to help with morning sickness, motion sickness, and post-surgical nausea. Fresh ginger steeped in hot water as tea, or even ginger chews, can help settle your stomach.
Peppermint is another option, particularly if your discomfort involves cramping or bloating rather than nausea from a stomach bug. Peppermint oil relaxes the smooth muscles of your digestive tract by blocking calcium channels in muscle cells, which reduces spasms. Controlled studies support its use for irritable bowel syndrome, general indigestion, and abdominal pain. Sipping peppermint tea is the easiest way to try it.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid
What you leave off your plate matters as much as what you put on it. Certain foods can slow digestion, pull more water into your intestines, or directly irritate an already inflamed stomach lining.
- Fried and fatty foods: Fat slows gastric emptying, meaning food sits in your stomach longer and can worsen nausea, bloating, and cramping.
- Dairy: Milk, cheese, and ice cream can make diarrhea worse, especially if your gut is temporarily less able to break down lactose during illness.
- Spicy foods: These can irritate your stomach lining and intensify cramping.
- Caffeine and alcohol: Both are dehydrating and can stimulate your gut in ways that worsen diarrhea.
- Sugary foods and drinks: High sugar concentrations draw water into your intestines, which can make diarrhea worse. This includes full-strength fruit juice and sodas.
- Acidic fruits: Citrus, tomatoes, and pineapple can aggravate an already sensitive stomach.
- Heavily processed or high-fiber foods: Raw vegetables, whole grains, beans, and packaged snack foods are harder to digest when your system is already struggling.
Probiotics Can Shorten Recovery
If your upset stomach is caused by a stomach bug or food poisoning, probiotics may help you recover faster. A large Cochrane review of clinical trials found that probiotics reduced the average duration of infectious diarrhea by about 30 hours compared to no treatment. They also lowered the likelihood of diarrhea lasting beyond three days by roughly a third.
Yogurt is often suggested as a probiotic food, but it’s worth noting that dairy can be irritating during acute illness. Probiotic supplements or fermented foods like miso (dissolved in warm broth) may be easier to tolerate. Look for products containing well-studied strains, which are typically listed on the label.
How Quickly to Return to Normal Eating
Most people can return to their regular diet within two to three days of symptoms improving. The transition doesn’t need to be dramatic. Once bland foods are sitting well, gradually add back cooked vegetables, lean meats, and then your usual meals. If a particular food causes discomfort when you reintroduce it, wait another day and try again.
For children especially, returning to a normal, age-appropriate diet quickly is important. Pediatric guidelines recommend prompt feeding during and after diarrhea rather than prolonged dietary restriction. Kids need the calories and nutrients from a full diet to bounce back, and keeping them on a limited menu longer than necessary does more harm than good.