When you’re nauseous, bland, low-fat foods at cool or room temperature are your best options. Think plain crackers, bananas, broth, rice, toast, and applesauce. These foods are easy on the stomach because they’re soft, low in fiber, and unlikely to trigger further waves of nausea. What you eat matters, but so does how much and when: small, frequent bites work far better than full meals.
Best Foods When You Feel Nauseous
The goal is to give your stomach something gentle to work with. Foods that are soft, mild in flavor, and low in fat digest quickly without making your symptoms worse. A solid starting list includes:
- Crackers and toast made with refined white flour
- Bananas, applesauce, and melons
- Plain white rice or oatmeal
- Broth and clear soups
- Boiled or baked potatoes (without heavy toppings)
- Eggs (scrambled or boiled)
- Plain pasta
- Popsicles and gelatin
- Weak tea
Once your stomach settles a bit, you can branch out to cooked vegetables like carrots or butternut squash, skinless chicken or turkey, fish, avocado, and creamy peanut butter. These are still easy to digest but provide the protein and nutrients your body needs to recover. Harvard Health notes there’s no reason to limit yourself to just four or five “safe” foods for more than a day or two.
The BRAT Diet: Helpful but Limited
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s a fine starting point for the first day or two of a stomach bug or food poisoning, but it’s nutritionally incomplete. There are no clinical studies comparing it against other approaches, and most dietitians now recommend expanding beyond those four foods as soon as you can tolerate more variety. Brothy soups, plain oatmeal, cooked squash, and lean proteins are just as easy on the stomach and give you far more to work with nutritionally.
How to Time Your Eating After Vomiting
If you’ve been actively vomiting, jumping straight to solid food will likely backfire. A gradual approach works best:
- First few hours: Stick to ice chips or a popsicle. Avoid chewing or swallowing anything substantial.
- After about 6 hours: If ice chips stay down, start sipping clear liquids. Water, apple juice, grape juice, or broth all work. Keep drinks flat and clear, so skip carbonated beverages.
- After 24 hours: Try bland solids like crackers, plain rice, toast, or bananas. Eat small amounts and see how your stomach responds before adding more.
The key at every stage is patience. Eating too much too fast is the most common mistake, and it usually sends you right back to square one.
Why Cold and Room-Temperature Foods Work Better
Hot food releases more aroma, and strong smells are one of the fastest triggers for nausea. Cold or room-temperature options like sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, and chilled water produce far less odor and tend to be easier to tolerate. If you’re in a kitchen where food is cooking, especially greasy food, the smell alone can worsen symptoms. Let someone else handle the cooking when possible, or rely on prepared foods that just need reheating.
Foods and Drinks That Make Nausea Worse
Fatty, greasy, and fried foods are the biggest offenders. Fat slows down gastric emptying, meaning food sits in your stomach longer, which intensifies that queasy feeling. High-fiber foods like raw vegetables, whole grains, and legumes can also be harder to digest when your stomach is already struggling. Other things to avoid:
- Spicy foods, which irritate the stomach lining
- Citrus fruits and tomato-based foods, especially if you have acid reflux
- Alcohol, which directly delays gastric emptying
- Strong-smelling foods of any kind
- Very sweet or rich desserts, which can overwhelm a sensitive stomach
Ginger for Nausea Relief
Ginger is one of the most well-studied natural remedies for nausea. Its active compounds work by blocking serotonin receptors in the gut, the same receptors that prescription anti-nausea medications target. In a systematic review of clinical trials, ginger supplementation of 1 gram or less per day reduced vomiting episodes by 70% compared to placebo in chemotherapy patients. You don’t need to be on chemo to benefit, though. Ginger tea, ginger chews, ginger ale made with real ginger, and even thin slices of fresh ginger can help settle your stomach. A teaspoon of freshly grated ginger steeped in hot water for five minutes makes a simple, effective tea.
Peppermint as a Stomach Soother
Peppermint works differently from ginger. Its active compound, menthol, relaxes the muscles in your stomach and intestines. When you’re nauseous, those muscles tend to contract and spasm, and peppermint helps calm that down. It also stimulates bile flow, which can improve digestion and reduce the likelihood of nausea after meals.
You have plenty of options for how to use it. Peppermint tea is the most common: steep a tea bag or fresh leaves for five to ten minutes. Sugar-free peppermint candies or gum work in a pinch. Even just inhaling peppermint essential oil from a diffuser or a few drops on a tissue can help. If you go the aromatherapy route, don’t apply undiluted peppermint oil directly to your skin, as it can cause irritation.
Nausea During Pregnancy
Morning sickness affects the majority of pregnant people, and the eating strategies above all apply. But pregnancy nausea also responds to vitamin B6. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends 10 to 25 mg of B6 three or four times a day for pregnancy-related nausea. You can get B6 through supplements, but also through food. Chickpeas are one of the richest sources (1.1 mg per cup), along with chicken breast, potatoes, bananas, and fortified breakfast cereals. A single banana provides about 0.4 mg.
Many pregnant people find that eating a few plain crackers before getting out of bed helps prevent the worst of the morning nausea. Keeping your stomach from being completely empty is one of the simplest and most effective strategies. Small, frequent snacks throughout the day, every two to three hours, tend to work better than three larger meals.
General Tips for Eating With Nausea
Beyond choosing the right foods, a few practical habits make a real difference. Eat small portions, even just a few bites at a time, rather than trying to finish a full plate. Sit upright while eating and for at least 30 minutes afterward, since lying down can slow digestion and worsen reflux. Sip liquids between meals rather than during them to avoid filling your stomach too quickly. If plain water feels unappealing, try adding a few fresh mint leaves or a squeeze of lemon to cold water. And if your nausea comes in waves, eat during the windows when you feel better rather than forcing food when symptoms are at their peak.