When you have diarrhea, the best foods are bland, low in fiber, and easy to digest: plain white rice, bananas, toast, boiled potatoes, plain chicken breast, and eggs. These foods give your gut less work to do while helping firm up watery stools. What you avoid matters just as much as what you eat, since certain common foods and drinks can actively make things worse.
The BRAT Diet and Why It Works
The classic starting point is the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. All four foods are soft, bland, and low in fiber, which makes them gentle on an irritated digestive tract. They’re easy to keep down when your stomach is unsettled, and they provide simple carbohydrates for energy without triggering more cramping or urgency.
That said, the BRAT diet is meant to be a short-term strategy for a day or two, not a complete nutrition plan. It lacks adequate protein, fat, and micronutrients. Once you can tolerate these basics, you should expand to other gentle foods fairly quickly.
Proteins That Won’t Make Things Worse
Your body needs protein to recover, and several options are well tolerated even during active diarrhea. Skinless chicken breast, white fish, eggs, soft tofu, and cottage cheese are all good choices when prepared simply, without added fat. Smooth nut butters (like creamy peanut butter) also work for most people.
The key is how you cook them. Baked, boiled, or steamed proteins are fine. Fried meat, greasy sausage, bacon, hot dogs, and fatty deli meats like salami or bologna are likely to make diarrhea worse. Fat speeds up intestinal contractions, which is the opposite of what you want.
Soluble Fiber Firms Up Loose Stools
This sounds counterintuitive, but certain types of fiber actually help with diarrhea. Soluble fiber absorbs water in the intestines and adds bulk to stool, which can turn watery bowel movements more solid. Good sources include oats, bananas, carrots, barley, and peeled potatoes. Oatmeal cooked with water is one of the most practical options.
Insoluble fiber, on the other hand, does the opposite. It adds roughage and speeds things along, which you don’t need right now. Hold off on raw vegetables, whole grains, bran, seeds, and the skins of fruits and vegetables until you’ve recovered.
Replacing Lost Fluids and Electrolytes
Diarrhea pulls water and minerals out of your body fast. Replacing fluids is arguably more important than food choices in the first 24 hours. Sip water, clear broth, or an oral rehydration solution throughout the day rather than drinking large amounts at once.
Potassium is one of the electrolytes you lose most during diarrhea, and low levels can leave you feeling weak and shaky. Bananas, boiled potatoes, and coconut water are potassium-rich foods that are gentle enough for a sensitive stomach. Salty broth or crackers help replace sodium. If you can tolerate it, lactose-free yogurt provides both potassium and beneficial bacteria.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid
Some foods trigger the gut to dump more water into the intestines, which is exactly the mechanism behind diarrhea. Sugar is one of the biggest culprits. Fructose, the natural sugar in fruit, causes diarrhea in many people when intake exceeds 40 to 80 grams per day. Fruit juice, soda, and sweetened drinks can easily push you past that threshold. Peaches, pears, cherries, and apples are particularly high in fructose.
Sugar alcohols found in sugar-free gum, candy, and some medications (sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol) are even worse offenders. They’re poorly absorbed and pull water into the bowel. If you’re chewing sugar-free gum or eating “no sugar added” snacks while dealing with diarrhea, stop.
Coffee and other caffeinated drinks stimulate muscle contractions throughout the digestive tract, speeding up transit time. Coffee also triggers the release of a stomach hormone called gastrin that further increases gut motility. Even the warmth of hot beverages relaxes smooth muscle and reduces resistance in the intestines, making things move faster. Alcohol has a similar stimulating effect and also contributes to dehydration.
Spicy foods, greasy or fried foods, and raw vegetables should all wait until your symptoms resolve.
Why Dairy Can Be a Problem
If your diarrhea is caused by a stomach bug, you may temporarily lose the ability to digest lactose, the sugar in milk. Infections like rotavirus and other common GI viruses can damage the lining of the small intestine where lactose-digesting enzymes are produced. This means that even if you normally handle dairy just fine, milk, ice cream, and soft cheese might cause bloating, gas, and more diarrhea while you’re sick.
This temporary intolerance typically resolves within three to four weeks as the intestinal lining heals. In the meantime, plain yogurt is often tolerated better than milk because the fermentation process breaks down much of the lactose. Lactose-free versions of milk and yogurt are another safe option.
Probiotics Can Shorten Recovery
Probiotics, the beneficial bacteria found in yogurt and supplements, have strong evidence behind them for infectious diarrhea. A large Cochrane review of multiple trials found that probiotics shortened the average duration of diarrhea by about 30 hours and reduced the risk of diarrhea lasting beyond three days by roughly a third.
The strain with the most evidence is Lactobacillus GG (often sold as LGG), which was particularly effective in children with rotavirus. In one trial, children receiving LGG averaged less than one stool on day three of treatment, compared to two stools in the group that didn’t get it. Saccharomyces boulardii, a beneficial yeast available as a supplement, also performed well. In one study, it cut the risk of diarrhea lasting four or more days by nearly 60%.
You can get probiotics from plain yogurt with live active cultures, kefir, or over-the-counter supplements. Look for products that list specific strains on the label rather than just generic “probiotic blend.”
A Practical Eating Timeline
In the first 6 to 12 hours, focus on fluids: water, broth, oral rehydration drinks. Don’t force food if you’re nauseous.
- Day 1: Start with BRAT foods in small portions. Add plain crackers, boiled potatoes, or oatmeal made with water if you’re hungry. Sip fluids constantly.
- Days 2 to 3: Introduce lean proteins like plain chicken, eggs, or tofu. Add cooked carrots or other soft, peeled vegetables. Try plain yogurt if you can tolerate it.
- Days 3 to 5: Gradually return to your normal diet. Reintroduce foods one at a time so you can identify anything that triggers a setback. Save raw vegetables, high-fiber foods, coffee, and dairy for last.
If diarrhea has lasted 24 hours or more without improvement, you can’t keep fluids down, you notice blood or black color in your stool, or you develop a fever above 102°F, those are signs you need medical attention rather than dietary adjustments alone.