When you have diarrhea, you can usually return to eating your normal diet as soon as you feel up to it. Most experts no longer recommend strict restrictive diets like the old BRAT plan (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast). Instead, the goal is to replace lost fluids and electrolytes, choose foods that are easy on your gut, and avoid the handful of items that genuinely make things worse.
Start With Fluids and Electrolytes
Diarrhea pulls water and minerals out of your body fast. Potassium is one of the biggest losses, and running low on it can leave you feeling weak and shaky. Before you worry about solid food, focus on staying hydrated with water, broth, or an oral rehydration solution.
Once you’re ready to eat, reach for potassium-rich foods that are also gentle on your stomach: ripe bananas, potatoes (baked or boiled, not fried), and fish or lean meat. Apricot or peach nectar is another easy option if solid food still feels like too much. Sip fluids steadily throughout the day rather than drinking large amounts at once.
Foods That Help Firm Things Up
Soluble fiber is your friend during a bout of diarrhea. It dissolves in water and forms a gel-like material in your stomach, which slows digestion and absorbs excess liquid in your intestines. That helps transform loose, watery stools into something more solid. Good sources of soluble fiber include oats, bananas, applesauce, carrots, and white rice.
Plain white rice, oatmeal, and peeled potatoes are all starchy, low-residue foods that give you energy without asking much of your digestive system. Pair them with a source of protein (more on that below) and you have a meal that supports recovery without irritating your gut.
Best Protein Sources During Recovery
Your body still needs protein, especially if diarrhea has lasted more than a day. The key is choosing lean options and keeping preparation simple. Baked, broiled, or steamed chicken, turkey, and fish are all good choices. Eggs are another easy pick. Avoid frying, and skip heavy sauces, butter, and oils, all of which can speed food through your intestines and make diarrhea worse.
Yogurt with live active cultures is a notable exception to the “keep it plain” rule. It provides protein and delivers beneficial bacteria that may help your gut recover. One particular strain found in many yogurts and supplements, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, has been shown to reduce the duration of acute diarrhea by roughly 19 hours in clinical trials. Not every probiotic strain performs equally, so if you’re buying a supplement, look for that specific one on the label.
Why Dairy Can Be a Problem
Milk, ice cream, and soft cheeses often make diarrhea worse, and there’s a specific biological reason. The cells lining your small intestine produce the enzyme that breaks down lactose (the sugar in milk). When a stomach bug or other infection damages those cells, your ability to digest lactose drops temporarily. Undigested lactose pulls water into your intestines, which is the last thing you need.
This temporary sensitivity typically resolves within three to four weeks once the intestinal lining heals. In the meantime, yogurt is usually tolerated better than milk because the bacterial cultures have already partially broken down the lactose. Hard cheeses like cheddar and Swiss are also lower in lactose and less likely to cause trouble.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid
Some foods actively worsen diarrhea through an osmotic effect, meaning they draw extra water into your intestines. The biggest culprits:
- Sugar-free candies and gum. These often contain sorbitol, a sugar alcohol that acts as an osmotic laxative. As little as 10 grams of sorbitol (roughly three pieces of dietetic candy) can cause bloating and gas, and 20 grams reliably triggers cramping and diarrhea. One CDC-investigated outbreak of diarrhea was traced entirely to sorbitol-containing dietetic candies.
- Fruit juice, especially apple juice. High in fructose and sometimes sorbitol, undiluted juice can pull water into the gut and make loose stools worse.
- Soft drinks and sweetened beverages. The combination of sugar and carbonation can irritate an already sensitive digestive tract.
- Fried and greasy foods. Fat speeds up intestinal contractions, pushing contents through before your body can absorb water from them.
- Caffeine and alcohol. Both are mild diuretics that work against your rehydration efforts, and caffeine stimulates the colon.
- Raw vegetables and high-fiber grains. Insoluble fiber (the rough, scratchy kind found in whole wheat, raw broccoli, and leafy greens) speeds transit time. Save these for after you’ve recovered.
Feeding Children With Diarrhea
The guidelines shift somewhat for kids. Breastfed infants should continue nursing on demand throughout the illness. For bottle-fed babies, full-strength lactose-free or lactose-reduced formula can be given as soon as rehydration is underway. If only regular formula is available, it can be used, but watch for signs that the lactose is making things worse.
Older children can eat their usual age-appropriate diet once they’re ready for solid food. The foods to keep away from kids with diarrhea are the same ones that cause osmotic problems in adults: undiluted apple juice, soft drinks, gelatin desserts, and presweetened cereals. Children are more sensitive to sorbitol than adults, so sugar-free snacks and candies should be off the table entirely.
Dehydration develops faster in small children than in adults. Signs to watch for include fewer wet diapers than usual, a dry mouth, crying without tears, and unusual drowsiness or fussiness.
Signs That Need Medical Attention
Most bouts of acute diarrhea resolve on their own within a few days. The CDC recommends seeing a doctor if diarrhea lasts more than three days, or if you develop signs of dehydration: urinating very little, a dry mouth and throat, or feeling dizzy when you stand up. Bloody stools and a fever above 102°F (39°C) also warrant a call to your doctor, as these can indicate a bacterial infection that needs treatment beyond dietary changes.