When you have diarrhea, the best foods are bland, low-fiber, and easy to digest: white rice, bananas, plain toast, boiled potatoes, lean chicken, eggs, and crackers. The old standby BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) is a fine starting point, but it’s no longer considered sufficient on its own. The American Academy of Pediatrics dropped its recommendation for a strict BRAT diet because it’s too low in nutrients and can actually slow recovery if followed for more than 24 hours. A broader range of soft, bland foods will help you recover faster.
Why Bland Foods Help
Diarrhea happens when your intestines push food through too quickly or release too much water into the bowel. Bland, starchy foods work because they’re gentle on an irritated gut and don’t trigger the intestines to release more fluid. Soluble fiber, the kind found in bananas, oatmeal, and white rice, absorbs water and turns into a gel during digestion. This slows everything down and helps firm up your stool. Insoluble fiber does the opposite: it speeds food through your system and adds bulk, which is the last thing you need right now.
Foods That Are Safe to Eat
Think soft, plain, and low in fiber. You don’t have to limit yourself to four foods. Here’s a broader list of what works well:
- Starches: White rice, white bread, saltine crackers, plain pasta, boiled or baked potatoes (peeled), plain oatmeal, graham crackers
- Fruits: Bananas, applesauce, canned fruit in water (not heavy syrup)
- Proteins: Skinless chicken or turkey, eggs, fish, tofu, creamy peanut butter
- Cooked vegetables: Well-cooked carrots, green beans, or potatoes (canned versions are fine)
- Other: Plain broth or soup, rice cereal, pretzels
The key is keeping things lean and simple. Tender, plainly prepared meats are fine as long as they aren’t fried or heavily seasoned. Eggs are especially easy to digest and a good source of protein when you’re not feeling up to much else.
Foods to Avoid Until You Recover
Several common foods actively make diarrhea worse by pulling more water into your intestines or irritating your gut lining.
Greasy and high-fat foods are hard to absorb even when your digestion is working normally. During a bout of diarrhea, your body can’t break down fats efficiently, which leads to loose, oily stools. Skip fried food, fast food, fatty cuts of meat, and rich sauces.
Sugar, fructose, and sugar alcohols are some of the biggest culprits. Sugars stimulate the gut to release water and electrolytes, which loosens bowel movements further. Fructose is naturally high in certain fruits like peaches, pears, cherries, and apples (whole apples are different from applesauce in this regard), and it’s added to sodas and juice drinks. Sugar alcohols like sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol, found in sugar-free gum, candy, and some medications, have the same effect. These are all part of a group of poorly digested sugars called FODMAPs that commonly trigger diarrhea.
Dairy can be problematic because diarrhea temporarily reduces your ability to digest lactose. Even if you normally tolerate milk, you may find it worsens symptoms during an episode. Yogurt is sometimes an exception because the bacteria in it have already partially broken down the lactose.
Caffeine and alcohol both stimulate the intestines and can increase the frequency of loose stools. Coffee, energy drinks, and beer are worth skipping until you’re fully recovered.
Raw vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds are all high in insoluble fiber, which speeds food through your system. Save the salads and brown rice for when your digestion is back to normal.
Hydration Matters More Than Food
The most dangerous part of diarrhea isn’t the diarrhea itself. It’s the fluid and electrolyte loss. Every loose stool pulls water, sodium, and potassium out of your body, and replacing those is more urgent than eating solid food. Plain water helps, but it doesn’t replace the salts you’re losing.
You can make a simple oral rehydration solution at home: mix 4 cups of water with half a teaspoon of table salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar. This ratio helps your intestines absorb the fluid more efficiently than water alone. Other options include mixing half a teaspoon of salt into a 32-ounce bottle of a low-sugar sports drink, or combining 2 cups of liquid chicken broth (not the low-sodium kind) with 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Sip steadily rather than drinking large amounts at once. If you’re vomiting on top of the diarrhea, small frequent sips are less likely to come back up.
Probiotics Can Shorten Recovery
Certain probiotic strains help restore the balance of bacteria in your gut and can reduce how long diarrhea lasts. The strain with the strongest evidence is Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. In a randomized controlled trial, this strain shortened the duration of diarrhea by roughly 19 hours compared to standard fluid and zinc therapy alone. You can find it in some yogurts and in supplement form at most pharmacies. Saccharomyces boulardii is another commonly recommended strain, particularly for antibiotic-associated diarrhea, though the evidence for it is less consistent. Starting a probiotic early in an episode gives it the best chance of helping.
How Quickly You Can Return to Normal Eating
You don’t need to stay on a bland diet any longer than necessary. The general timeline looks like this: during the first 24 hours, focus on fluids and whatever bland foods you can tolerate. Over the next few days, gradually add back more variety as your symptoms improve. Most people are back to their usual diet within about a week, though everyone recovers at a different pace.
The signal to move forward is your stool. Once bowel movements start firming up and becoming less frequent, you can reintroduce foods one at a time. Add back dairy, raw fruits, and higher-fiber foods last, since these are the most likely to trigger a setback. If a food causes another round of loose stools, pull it back out and try again in a day or two.
Signs That Diet Alone Isn’t Enough
Most diarrhea from food poisoning, stomach bugs, or dietary triggers resolves on its own within a few days. But certain warning signs mean something more serious may be going on. For adults, get medical attention if diarrhea lasts more than two days without any improvement, if you notice blood or black color in your stool, if you develop a fever above 102°F, or if you’re showing signs of dehydration: excessive thirst, very dark urine, dizziness, dry mouth, or skin that stays pinched when you pull it up.
For children, the timeline is tighter. Seek care if diarrhea doesn’t improve within 24 hours, if there are no wet diapers for three or more hours, or if the child seems unusually sleepy or unresponsive. A sunken appearance around the eyes or cheeks in either children or adults is a sign of significant dehydration that needs prompt attention.