When your stomach is upset, bland, low-fiber foods like plain white rice, bananas, toast, broth, and applesauce are your safest options. These are easy to digest and unlikely to make nausea or diarrhea worse. But you don’t need to limit yourself to just those few items. The goal is to eat what you can tolerate and gradually expand from there so your body gets the nutrients it needs to recover.
Start With Liquids, Then Ease Into Food
If you’ve been vomiting, give your stomach a break for a few hours before eating anything solid. During that window, take small sips of water, clear broth, or an electrolyte drink to stay hydrated. Once you’ve kept liquids down for a few hours without another episode, your appetite will likely start returning on its own.
At that point, start with small portions of something bland. There’s no magic number of hours to wait. The signal is simple: if you can keep fluids down and you feel hungry, you’re ready to try food.
The Best Foods for an Upset Stomach
The classic recommendation is the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. These foods are bland, low in fiber, and easy to digest. But each one also does something specific. Bananas and applesauce contain pectin, a type of soluble fiber that binds excess water in your gut and helps firm up loose stools. Bananas also replace potassium, a mineral you lose quickly during diarrhea or vomiting. Plain white rice is starchy and converts to soluble fiber during digestion, making it gentle on an irritated stomach. Toast made from white bread provides simple carbohydrates without much flavor or fat to trigger nausea.
Beyond those four, plenty of other foods work well:
- Plain crackers or pretzels provide salt and simple carbs
- Clear broth or soup replaces fluids and electrolytes
- Boiled or baked potatoes (without butter or heavy toppings)
- Plain oatmeal made with water
- Steamed chicken breast for protein once you’re tolerating bland carbs
- Melons and bananas, which are alkaline and less likely to cause reflux than acidic fruits
The theme is straightforward: stick with foods that are soft, mild, low in fat, and lightly seasoned. If something sounds appealing and doesn’t have a strong flavor or heavy fat content, it’s probably fine to try.
Why White Rice Beats Brown Rice Right Now
Brown rice is the healthier choice on a normal day because it contains the bran and germ layers, which add fiber, magnesium, and B vitamins. But that extra fiber is exactly what makes it harder to digest when your gut is already struggling. White rice has been stripped down to the starchy endosperm, which is why it’s gentler during a flare-up. The same logic applies across the board: choose white bread over whole wheat, regular pasta over whole grain, and peeled fruits over ones with tough skins. You can switch back to the high-fiber versions once your stomach settles.
Ginger and Peppermint for Nausea
Ginger has a long reputation as a nausea remedy, and many people find ginger tea, ginger chews, or flat ginger ale soothing. The science is mixed on exactly how it works. Some researchers believe ginger acts on the digestive tract rather than the brain’s nausea center, and one study found that ginger partially reduced abnormal stomach electrical rhythms during motion sickness. It didn’t eliminate symptoms in that context, but plenty of people report subjective relief. If ginger tea or ginger candies help you, there’s no downside to using them.
Peppermint is another option worth trying. It acts as a natural muscle relaxant for the digestive tract, which can ease stomach cramps and bloating. Peppermint tea is the simplest way to get the effect. If your upset stomach involves cramping or a “knotted” feeling, peppermint may help more than ginger.
Foods to Avoid Until You Feel Better
Some foods are almost guaranteed to make things worse. Fatty and greasy foods slow down digestion, keeping food in your stomach longer and increasing the chance of nausea. Fried foods, creamy sauces, and rich desserts all fall into this category.
Spicy foods are another clear problem. Capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers hot, activates pain receptors in your gut lining. In large amounts it can increase stomach acid production, damage the intestinal barrier, and trigger inflammation. When your stomach is already irritated, even a moderate amount of spice can cause heartburn, cramping, or diarrhea.
Other foods to skip for now:
- Dairy products like milk, cheese, and ice cream, which can be difficult to digest and may worsen diarrhea
- Citrus fruits and tomatoes, which are acidic and more likely to cause reflux
- Coffee and alcohol, both of which irritate the stomach lining and can worsen dehydration
- Raw vegetables and high-fiber foods like beans, which require more digestive effort
- Carbonated drinks, which can increase bloating and gas
Don’t Stay on a Restricted Diet Too Long
The BRAT diet was once the standard recommendation for anyone with stomach trouble, but doctors no longer advise following it strictly. The American Academy of Pediatrics has moved away from recommending it for children because it’s too restrictive and doesn’t provide enough nutrients. Following a bland-only diet for more than 24 hours can actually slow recovery by depriving your body of the protein, fat, and vitamins it needs to heal.
The current guidance is simpler: eat as tolerated. Start bland if that’s all you can manage, but as soon as you’re feeling well enough to eat more, do it. Add lean protein, cooked vegetables, and other balanced foods back into your meals. Your body recovers faster with proper nutrition than it does on white rice alone.
Probiotics Can Shorten Recovery
If your upset stomach involves diarrhea, probiotics may help you recover faster. A large meta-analysis of clinical trials found that certain probiotic strains shortened the duration of diarrhea by roughly one to two days compared to no treatment. The strain with the strongest evidence was Saccharomyces boulardii, a beneficial yeast, which reduced diarrhea duration by about a day and a quarter on average. Bifidobacterium lactis and Lactobacillus reuteri also showed benefits.
You can get probiotics through supplements or through foods like plain yogurt (once dairy feels tolerable), kefir, or fermented foods. If you’re choosing a supplement, look for one that lists specific strains on the label rather than just a generic “probiotic blend.”
Hydration Matters More Than Food
The biggest risk from an upset stomach isn’t missing a meal. It’s dehydration. Vomiting and diarrhea both drain fluids and electrolytes rapidly, and replacing those losses is more urgent than eating solid food. Water is fine for mild cases, but if you’ve had significant vomiting or diarrhea, an oral rehydration solution or electrolyte drink does a better job of replacing sodium and potassium.
Sip slowly rather than gulping. Drinking too much too fast can stretch your stomach and trigger another round of nausea. Small, frequent sips every few minutes are more effective than trying to drink a full glass at once.