Bland, easy-to-digest foods like bananas, plain rice, toast, and broth are the best choices when your stomach is upset. The goal is to give your digestive system the least amount of work possible while still providing calories and fluids. What you eat matters, but so does when and how much, especially if you’ve been vomiting.
Start With Fluids, Not Food
If you’ve been throwing up, eating right away can trigger another round. Give your stomach a break of a few hours first. Start by sucking on ice chips or taking small sips of water every 15 minutes. Once you can keep water down, move to other clear fluids: clear broth, diluted electrolyte drinks, ice pops, or gelatin. These provide some calories and, more importantly, replace the fluids and minerals you’re losing.
Dehydration is the biggest short-term risk from vomiting and diarrhea, not hunger. Your body can go without food for a day or two, but losing too much fluid gets dangerous fast. Electrolyte drinks work best when they contain roughly equal parts sodium and glucose, which helps your gut absorb water more efficiently. Many commercial sports drinks are too high in sugar, so look for oral rehydration solutions at the pharmacy or dilute sports drinks with water.
The Best Foods for a Sensitive Stomach
Once you’ve kept liquids down for a few hours, you can start eating small amounts. The classic recommendation is the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. These foods are low in fiber, low in fat, and unlikely to irritate your stomach. But you don’t need to limit yourself to just those four. Brothy soups, plain oatmeal, boiled potatoes, crackers, and unsweetened dry cereal are all similarly gentle and easy to digest.
Eat small portions slowly rather than sitting down to a full meal. If you’re hungry enough, eat more frequently throughout the day. Rushing into a large plate of food when your stomach is still recovering often backfires.
A few principles to keep in mind when choosing what to eat:
- Low fat: Fatty and fried foods slow digestion and can make nausea worse.
- Low fiber: Raw vegetables, whole grains, and beans are normally healthy, but they’re harder to break down when your gut is inflamed.
- Mild flavor: Spicy, acidic, or heavily seasoned foods can irritate an already sensitive stomach lining.
- Room temperature or warm: Very hot or very cold foods can sometimes trigger cramping.
What to Add as You Recover
Sticking to crackers and rice for more than a day or two leaves you short on protein and important nutrients. As your stomach settles, start adding back more substantial foods: cooked squash (butternut or pumpkin), cooked carrots, sweet potatoes without the skin, avocado, skinless chicken or turkey, fish, and eggs. These are all nutrient-dense but still relatively easy on digestion.
Most people with a stomach bug or food poisoning feel noticeably better within 24 to 48 hours. If you’re improving, you can usually return to your normal diet within a few days. Let your appetite guide you. There’s no need to force yourself through a rigid progression if you feel ready for regular meals sooner.
Drinks That Help (and Ones That Don’t)
Peppermint tea is a popular choice, and there’s a reason it works for some people. Peppermint relaxes the smooth muscle in your digestive tract, which can ease cramping and bloating. However, that same muscle-relaxing effect loosens the valve between your stomach and esophagus. If your upset stomach involves acid reflux or heartburn, peppermint can actually make things worse.
Ginger tea or ginger ale (made with real ginger) is another go-to for nausea. Flat ginger ale is a classic home remedy, though many commercial brands contain very little actual ginger. Ginger chews or freshly grated ginger steeped in hot water tend to deliver more of the active compounds.
Avoid alcohol, coffee, and carbonated drinks while your stomach is recovering. Caffeine stimulates acid production, alcohol irritates the stomach lining, and carbonation can increase bloating and gas. Dairy is also worth skipping temporarily. Diarrhea can temporarily reduce your ability to digest lactose, making milk and ice cream likely to cause more cramping.
Probiotics for Recovery
If your upset stomach is caused by an infection (stomach flu, food poisoning, traveler’s diarrhea), probiotics may help shorten the duration. A European pediatric gastroenterology group recommends specific probiotic strains for infectious diarrhea, with a typical course of 5 to 10 days. You can get probiotics through supplements or through foods like plain yogurt (once you’re tolerating dairy again), kefir, or fermented foods. They’re not a cure, but they can help restore the balance of bacteria in your gut after it’s been disrupted.
Signs Your Stomach Needs More Than Food
Most upset stomachs resolve on their own with rest, fluids, and bland food. But certain symptoms signal something more serious. Seek medical attention if your stomach pain comes with a persistent fever, vomiting that won’t stop, blood in your stool or vomit, swelling or tenderness in your abdomen, yellowing of your skin or eyes, or shortness of breath. Severe pain that doesn’t improve, or pain that gets steadily worse rather than coming and going, also warrants a call to your doctor.