When your stomach feels unsettled, the best foods are soft, bland, and low in fat. Think plain crackers, bananas, broth, applesauce, and white rice. These foods are easy to break down and unlikely to trigger more nausea. But the old advice to eat nothing but the “BRAT diet” (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) is outdated. You can and should eat a wider range of gentle foods so your body gets the nutrients it needs to recover.
Best Foods for a Queasy Stomach
The goal is to eat things that are soft, not spicy, and low in both fat and fiber. Your digestive system is already irritated or sluggish, so you want foods that require minimal effort to process. Good options include:
- Plain crackers, white toast, or graham crackers to absorb stomach acid without adding bulk
- Bananas and applesauce for gentle, easily digested calories and potassium
- White rice or plain pasta made with refined flour
- Broth or clear soup for hydration and a small amount of salt
- Eggs (scrambled or boiled, not fried)
- Lean poultry or whitefish that’s steamed or baked with no added fat
- Cooked vegetables like potatoes or soft carrots
- Popsicles, gelatin, or pudding when you can’t face solid food
- Weak tea
You don’t have to force a full meal. Small amounts eaten frequently are easier on a queasy stomach than sitting down to a large plate. Even a few bites of plain toast or a handful of crackers can help settle things.
Why the BRAT Diet Isn’t Enough
For decades, doctors recommended the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) as the default for stomach trouble. It’s no longer the standard recommendation because it lacks calcium, vitamin B12, protein, and fiber. Following it for more than a day or two can actually slow recovery by depriving your body of what it needs to heal. The American Academy of Pediatrics specifically advises against a strict BRAT diet for children, noting it’s too restrictive and may delay gut recovery if followed for more than 24 hours.
The BRAT foods themselves are fine. They’re just a starting point. As soon as you can tolerate more variety, add in other soft, bland foods like eggs, lean chicken, cooked vegetables, or creamy peanut butter on toast.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid
Greasy, fatty, and spicy foods are the worst choices when you’re nauseated. Fat slows down the rate at which your stomach empties, which means food sits in your gut longer and can worsen that queasy feeling. Spicy meals can irritate your stomach lining and trigger acid reflux, compounding the nausea.
Skip these until you’re feeling better:
- Fried or greasy food
- Rich, creamy sauces
- Spicy dishes
- Citrus fruits and tomato-based foods (especially if you’re prone to reflux)
- Carbonated drinks and fruit juice, which can be too sugary and have the wrong balance of electrolytes
- Full-fat dairy
- High-fiber foods like raw vegetables, whole grains, and beans
Cold Foods Often Work Better Than Hot
If the smell of cooking food makes your nausea worse, you’re not imagining it. Hot food releases more aromatic compounds into the air, and when your stomach is already on edge, those smells can push you over. Serving food cold or at room temperature cuts down on odor significantly. This is why cold crackers, chilled applesauce, popsicles, and room-temperature broth are often easier to get down than a freshly cooked meal.
Ginger and Peppermint Actually Help
Ginger is one of the most well-studied natural remedies for nausea. The active compounds in ginger work by blocking serotonin receptors in the gut, the same receptors that trigger the vomiting reflex. They reduce the amount of serotonin your body produces and increase the rate at which it’s cleared, essentially turning down the signal that tells your brain you need to throw up. You can get this benefit from ginger tea, ginger chews, or even flat ginger ale made with real ginger (check the label, as many brands use artificial flavoring).
Peppermint works through a similar mechanism, also blocking serotonin receptors in the digestive tract. Interestingly, most of the clinical evidence supports inhaling peppermint rather than drinking it. Simply smelling peppermint oil or sipping peppermint tea (where you naturally inhale the steam) has been shown to reduce nausea severity in studies of post-surgical patients, pregnant women, and people undergoing chemotherapy. If you don’t have peppermint tea, even putting a drop of peppermint oil on a cotton ball and breathing it in can help.
Staying Hydrated Matters Most
Dehydration is the real danger when nausea leads to vomiting or when you simply can’t eat or drink much. Replacing fluids and electrolytes is more important than getting solid food in. Small, frequent sips work better than gulping a full glass, which can trigger more nausea.
Your best options are broth (which provides sodium), oral rehydration solutions, and water. Oral rehydration solutions are specifically designed with balanced ratios of sodium, potassium, and glucose to help your body absorb fluid efficiently. The current formulation recommended by the World Health Organization uses a 1:1 ratio of sodium to glucose at a low concentration, which optimizes absorption through the gut wall. You can find these at any pharmacy.
Fruit juice and soda are poor substitutes. Testing of common fruit juices shows they contain very little sodium (under 10 mmol/l compared to the 75 mmol/l in a proper rehydration solution) and tend to be very high in sugar, which can actually pull more water into your intestines and make things worse. If plain water is all you can manage, that’s still far better than nothing.
Warning Signs That Need Medical Attention
Most bouts of nausea resolve on their own within a day or two. But certain symptoms alongside nausea point to something more serious. Vomit that contains blood, looks like coffee grounds, or appears green needs prompt evaluation. The same goes for signs of dehydration: very dark urine, dizziness when standing, dry mouth, or going many hours without urinating.
For adults, vomiting that lasts more than two days warrants a doctor visit. For children under two, the threshold is 24 hours, and for infants, 12 hours. Nausea paired with chest pain, severe abdominal cramping, high fever with a stiff neck, confusion, or blurred vision is a medical emergency.