The fastest relief for an upset stomach with diarrhea comes from staying hydrated, eating bland foods, and letting your gut rest. Most cases resolve on their own within one to two days, but what you eat, drink, and take during that window makes a real difference in how quickly you bounce back.
Fluids First: Preventing Dehydration
Diarrhea pulls water and salt out of your body fast, and dehydration is the main risk of any stomach illness. Plain water helps, but it doesn’t replace the sodium and potassium you’re losing. An effective homemade rehydration drink is simple: 4 cups of water, half a teaspoon of table salt, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. The sugar isn’t for taste. It helps your intestines absorb the sodium and water more efficiently.
If that sounds unappealing, chicken broth with a couple tablespoons of sugar stirred in works on the same principle. Diluted cranberry juice (three-quarters cup juice to three and a quarter cups water with half a teaspoon of salt) is another option. Sports drinks like Gatorade G2 can work too, though they typically need extra salt, about half a teaspoon per 32-ounce bottle, to match what your body actually needs.
Sip steadily rather than gulping large amounts, especially if nausea is part of the picture. Small, frequent sips are less likely to trigger vomiting.
What to Eat (and What to Skip)
The old advice to eat only bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast (the BRAT diet) is fine for the first day or two, but it’s more restrictive than necessary. Brothy soups, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, crackers, and plain dry cereals are all easy on a recovering gut. Once your stomach starts settling, adding cooked carrots, sweet potatoes without skin, avocado, skinless chicken, fish, or eggs gives you the protein and nutrients your body needs to actually recover. Sticking to only bananas and toast for days on end can leave you short on calories and slow healing down.
What you avoid matters just as much. Several common foods and drinks actively make diarrhea worse:
- Caffeine (coffee, tea, cola) speeds up intestinal contractions.
- Dairy products containing lactose can be hard to digest even if you’re not normally lactose intolerant. This sensitivity can linger for a month or more after a bout of diarrhea.
- High-fat and fried foods are difficult for an inflamed gut to process.
- Fructose and simple sugars in fruit juices, candy, and sweetened drinks pull water into the intestines and worsen loose stools.
- Sugar alcohols (found in sugar-free gum and candies) have a well-known laxative effect.
- Alcohol irritates the stomach lining and contributes to dehydration.
Over-the-Counter Medications
Two common pharmacy options target diarrhea in different ways. Loperamide (Imodium) slows the contractions of your intestines, giving your body more time to absorb water from stool. It’s effective for reducing the number of trips to the bathroom and works relatively quickly. Bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) takes a broader approach, calming stomach upset, reducing inflammation in the gut lining, and having a mild effect against bacteria. It can help with both nausea and diarrhea, though it’s generally less potent for diarrhea alone than loperamide.
One important note: if you suspect a bacterial infection (bloody stool, high fever), loperamide can actually be counterproductive because it traps the pathogen inside your intestines longer. In those situations, bismuth subsalicylate is the safer choice, or skip both and focus on fluids until you can get medical advice.
Ginger for Nausea
If nausea is a major part of your symptoms, ginger has solid clinical backing. Doses of around 500 mg to 1 gram per day, split into two or three portions, consistently reduce nausea and vomiting across multiple types of studies. That translates to a few thin slices of fresh ginger steeped in hot water, or a standardized ginger supplement capsule. Ginger chews and ginger tea can help, though the dose is harder to control. There’s no strong evidence that higher doses (above 1 gram daily) work better than moderate ones.
Probiotics Can Shorten Recovery
Probiotics won’t stop diarrhea immediately, but they can meaningfully shorten how long it lasts. In a large clinical trial, people taking a multi-strain probiotic during antibiotic treatment developed diarrhea only 9% of the time, compared to 25% in the placebo group. Among those who did get diarrhea, the probiotic group recovered about a full day faster (2.6 days versus 3.7 days on average), and nearly 70% of them were better within two days.
The strains with the most evidence behind them include Lactobacillus species, Bifidobacterium species, and a yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii. Look for products that list specific strain names and contain at least 10 billion CFU per dose. Taking them a couple hours apart from any antibiotics (if you’re on them) helps the probiotics survive long enough to be useful.
How Long This Should Last
Viral gastroenteritis, the most common cause, typically lasts about two days. Food poisoning tends to be even shorter, often clearing within 24 hours or less. If you’re still feeling rough after 48 hours, that’s a signal worth paying attention to.
Signs That Need Medical Attention
Most stomach bugs are miserable but harmless. A few specific symptoms change that picture. Watch for dark-colored urine or urinating much less than usual, which are early dehydration signals. Extreme thirst, dizziness when standing, and feeling unusually exhausted are also signs your fluid loss is outpacing what you’re replacing. One simple check: pinch the skin on the back of your hand and release. If it doesn’t flatten back immediately, you’re significantly dehydrated.
Seek medical care if you notice blood or black, tarry stools. The same goes for severe abdominal pain, a high fever, frequent vomiting that prevents you from keeping fluids down, or six or more loose stools per day. Diarrhea lasting more than two days in adults, or more than one day in children, also warrants a call. For infants under 12 months, any fever with diarrhea is reason to contact a doctor promptly.