Bland, easy-to-digest foods like bananas, white rice, applesauce, and plain toast are the safest choices when your stomach hurts. But you don’t need to limit yourself to just those four items. Brothy soups, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, crackers, and unsweetened dry cereals are equally gentle on your digestive system and give you more variety to work with.
The BRAT Diet: A Starting Point, Not a Rulebook
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice (white), applesauce, and toast (white). It’s been the go-to recommendation for upset stomachs for decades, and those foods genuinely are easy on your gut. They’re low in fiber, low in fat, and unlikely to trigger more cramping or nausea. Bananas also have the advantage of being mildly alkaline, which means they won’t aggravate acid-related stomach pain.
That said, there’s no clinical evidence that the BRAT diet works better than other bland foods. Harvard Health notes it’s fine for a day or two but unnecessarily restrictive beyond that. Those four foods alone don’t provide enough protein or nutrients to help your body recover. Once your stomach starts to settle, you can expand to cooked squash, carrots, sweet potatoes without skin, avocado, skinless chicken or turkey, fish, and eggs. These are all bland and easy to digest but offer the protein and vitamins your body needs to bounce back.
Ginger and Peppermint Actually Work
Ginger is one of the few natural remedies with real clinical backing for stomach pain, particularly nausea. In studies on pregnancy-related nausea, eating less than 1 gram of ginger daily for four days reduced nausea and vomiting fivefold. You don’t need much. A small piece of fresh ginger steeped in hot water, ginger chews, or even flat ginger ale (the carbonation itself can irritate your stomach) can help settle things down.
Peppermint works through a different mechanism. The menthol in peppermint relaxes the smooth muscle lining your intestines by blocking calcium from flowing into those muscle cells. This antispasmodic effect is why peppermint tea often brings relief from cramping and gas. Peppermint also helps your body eliminate intestinal gas, which is a common source of stomach discomfort people mistake for something more serious. A cup of peppermint tea between meals is the simplest way to get this benefit.
Chamomile Tea for Cramping and Spasms
Chamomile has been used for centuries as a digestive remedy, and modern research supports it. In a randomized trial of patients with irritable bowel syndrome, chamomile extract taken twice daily significantly reduced gastrointestinal symptoms within two weeks, with further improvement at four weeks. Chamomile acts as both a muscle relaxant and a mild antiseptic in the digestive tract, making it useful for spasms, gas, and general stomach irritation. A warm cup of chamomile tea is one of the gentlest things you can put in your stomach when it’s upset.
Hydration Matters More Than Food
When your stomach hurts, what you drink often matters more than what you eat. Vomiting and diarrhea deplete fluids and electrolytes fast. Sometimes the best first step is to let your stomach rest and focus on sipping an electrolyte drink or sports drink rather than forcing food down. Small, frequent sips work better than gulping a full glass, which can trigger more nausea.
Clear broth is another solid option. It provides fluid, sodium, and a small amount of calories without asking much of your digestive system. Once you can keep liquids down comfortably, that’s your signal to start introducing solid food.
What to Avoid Until You Feel Better
Some foods actively make stomach pain worse. High-fat foods like beef, pork, lamb, butter, and whole milk sit in your stomach longer, slow digestion, and can increase acid production. If your stomach ache involves any burning or reflux, fatty foods are the fastest way to make it worse.
Caffeine and alcohol both irritate the stomach lining and can increase acid secretion. Spicy foods, citrus fruits, and tomato-based products are also common triggers. Even if these are part of your normal diet, they’re worth skipping until your stomach has fully settled. Carbonated drinks can introduce gas and bloating, adding another layer of discomfort on top of whatever’s already going on.
When to Add Probiotics Back In
Once the worst has passed, especially after a bout of food poisoning or stomach flu, probiotic-rich foods can help restore the balance of bacteria in your gut. Yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, and kombucha all contain live beneficial bacteria. The key is choosing unpasteurized versions of fermented vegetables, since pasteurization kills the live cultures that make them useful.
Introduce these foods slowly. If you’re not used to eating fermented foods, adding too many at once can cause gas, bloating, or even diarrhea, which is the opposite of what you’re going for. Start with one or two servings a day and see how your stomach responds. Plain yogurt or a small cup of miso soup are the gentlest entry points. Kombucha, while popular, can cause digestive issues in some people because of its sugar content and active fermentation, so save it for when your stomach is closer to normal.
How Quickly You Can Return to Normal Eating
Most people assume they need to follow a strict progression from clear liquids to bland foods to regular meals over several days. The reality is simpler than that. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases states that once your appetite returns, you can go back to eating your normal diet, even if you still have some diarrhea. Research shows that following a restricted diet does not actually help treat viral gastroenteritis.
The practical approach: if you’re actively nauseous or vomiting, stick to small sips of electrolyte drinks. Once you can keep those down, try bland solids like crackers, toast, or rice. When eating those feels comfortable and your appetite starts returning on its own, that’s your body telling you it’s ready for more substantial food. There’s no need to wait a set number of hours or days. Let your appetite guide you, and lean on the gentler options listed above for your first few real meals.