Bland, low-fiber foods like bananas, white rice, boiled potatoes, and plain toast can help firm up your stools within a day or two. These foods are easy to digest and won’t further irritate your gut, giving your digestive system a chance to recover. But what you avoid eating matters just as much as what you choose to eat, and staying hydrated is the single most important thing you can do while your body heals.
The Best Foods to Eat Right Now
The classic BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) has been the go-to recommendation for decades, and it still works. These foods are low in fiber, gentle on the stomach, and help absorb excess water in your intestines. But you don’t need to limit yourself to just those four items. Brothy soups, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, crackers, plain noodles, and unsweetened dry cereals are all equally safe choices that give you more variety and slightly better nutrition.
Soluble fiber is your friend here. It absorbs water in your gut and turns into a gel-like substance that slows digestion, which helps firm up loose stools. Bananas, white rice, oatmeal, and peeled potatoes are all good sources of soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber, on the other hand (found in leafy greens, fruit skins, nuts, seeds, and beans), does the opposite. It speeds things through your digestive tract and can make diarrhea worse.
Once your stomach starts to settle, usually after 24 to 48 hours, gradually add more nutritious foods: cooked carrots, sweet potatoes without skin, cooked squash like butternut or pumpkin, avocado, and skinless chicken or turkey. These give your body the calories and nutrients it needs to recover without overwhelming your gut.
Lean Proteins That Won’t Make Things Worse
You still need protein while recovering, but how it’s prepared matters. Skinless chicken breast, white fish, eggs, and soft tofu are all well tolerated as long as they’re baked, boiled, or steamed rather than fried. Tender, well-cooked meat and pork are also fine. Avoid fried meats, processed lunch meats like bologna and salami, sausage, bacon, and hot dogs. High-fat and greasy proteins can stimulate your digestive tract and send you right back to the bathroom.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid
Some foods actively pull water into your intestines, making loose stools even looser. The biggest culprits:
- Sugar-free gum and candy. Artificial sweeteners like sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol are poorly absorbed and draw water into the bowel. Even small amounts can trigger or worsen diarrhea.
- High-fructose foods and drinks. Fructose, found naturally in peaches, pears, cherries, and apples, and added to sodas and juice beverages, is a common diarrhea trigger. Ingesting more than 40 to 80 grams per day causes diarrhea in many people, and your threshold drops when your gut is already irritated.
- Dairy products. Milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, and ice cream contain lactose, which many people have difficulty digesting even under normal circumstances. During a bout of diarrhea, your gut’s ability to break down lactose is temporarily reduced.
- Caffeine and alcohol. Coffee, tea, sodas, and alcoholic drinks all stimulate your intestines and can speed up transit time.
- Fried and fatty foods. French fries, donuts, chips, and anything cooked in a lot of oil.
- Spicy and acidic foods. Citrus fruits, tomato sauces, vinegar-based dressings, and hot spices can all irritate an already sensitive gut lining.
Other common triggers include wheat, onions, garlic, legumes (chickpeas, lentils, beans), honey, pistachios, cashews, asparagus, and artichokes. These belong to a group of poorly digested sugars that ferment in the gut and draw in water.
Hydration Is More Important Than Food
Diarrhea flushes water and electrolytes out of your body fast. Replacing those fluids is actually more urgent than eating the right foods. An oral rehydration solution like Pedialyte or Oralyte contains the right balance of sugar, sodium, and minerals to counteract dehydration. Sports drinks like Gatorade aren’t ideal because they contain too much sugar and not enough sodium.
You can also make your own rehydration drink at home: mix 4 cups of water with half a teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Sip it steadily throughout the day rather than gulping large amounts at once.
Potassium is one of the key electrolytes you lose during diarrhea. Ripe bananas, boiled potatoes, and peach or apricot nectar are all potassium-rich options that are gentle enough to eat while you’re still symptomatic. Fish and well-cooked meat also help replenish potassium as you start recovering.
Probiotics Can Shorten Recovery
Certain probiotic strains can reduce how long diarrhea lasts, particularly if it was triggered by antibiotics. The two strains with the strongest evidence are Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Saccharomyces boulardii. A 2019 Cochrane review found that high-dose probiotics (5 to 40 billion colony-forming units per day) were significantly more effective than low-dose options. Look for supplements that list specific strain names and CFU counts on the label. Low-dose products with just a billion or two CFUs per day are less likely to make a noticeable difference.
When Diarrhea Needs More Than Diet Changes
Most episodes of acute diarrhea resolve on their own within a couple of days with the right food choices and good hydration. But certain signs point to something more serious: diarrhea lasting more than two days in adults (or more than 24 hours in children), a fever of 102°F or higher, blood or pus in the stool, black tarry stools, severe abdominal pain, or signs of dehydration like dizziness, dry mouth, and dark urine. Diarrhea in newborns and infants is especially concerning and warrants a prompt call to a healthcare provider.