Digestive Health Diarrhea Diarrhea Guide Diarrhea Guide Symptoms Causes Diagnosis Treatment Nutrition Foods for a Post-Diarrhea Diet How to Maintain Good Nutrition While Recovering By Barbara Bolen, PhD twitter Barbara Bolen, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and health coach. She has written multiple books focused on living with irritable bowel syndrome. Learn about our editorial process Barbara Bolen, PhD Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Kashif J. Piracha, MD on November 19, 2020 facebook twitter linkedin Kashif J. Piracha, MD, is a board-certified physician with over 14 years of experience treating patients in acute care hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. Learn about our Medical Review Board Kashif J. Piracha, MD on November 19, 2020 Print Verywell / Zorica Lakonic Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Dietary Principles Breakfast Foods Lunch and Dinner Foods Hydration Tips Next in Diarrhea Guide The Symptoms of Diarrhea That Should Send You to a Doctor Recovering from diarrhea requires a careful selection of what you do or don't eat. However, no one can live on the BRAT diet indefinitely. Whether you are just getting over a bout of gastroenteritis or suffer from diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D), at some point you will need to expand your diet to ensure the proper intake of nutrients. Laura Porter / Verywell While the BRAT diet—consisting of banana, rice, applesauce, and toast—has long been considered an effective home remedy for diarrhea, recent research suggests that it may not be appropriate for all people, especially children. Moreover, limiting a diet to these four foods can severely quickly deprive a person of much-needed energy, fat, protein, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B12, and calcium. Dietary Principles Once you've gone through the acute symptoms of diarrhea, many people will advise you to avoid fiber because it can contribute to watery stools. But, this is not necessarily true. It depends largely on the type of dietary fiber you consume: Soluble fiber can be dissolved in water and readily ferment in the colon. These types of fiber can be prebiotic, adding to healthy bacteria in the stomach, while delaying the speed by which stools pass through and exit the body. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in the body but rather absorbs water as it passes through the digestive tract, softening and loosing stools in the process. As such, you will need to focus on foods with soluble fiber to aid in the recovery of your intestinal flora while building more solid stools. Some gastroenterologists will also recommend a low-FODMAP diet for people with IBS. The diet involves the restriction of certain carbohydrate-containing foods described by the acronym FODMAP (fermentable oligo-, di-, monosaccharides, and polyols). Unlike the BRAT diet, the FODMAP diet can be maintained on a long-term basis, ideally under the supervision of a dietitian to ensure that adequate nutrition is being consumed. Learn How the Low-FODMAP Diet Can Help IBS Breakfast Foods While bananas, applesauce, and toast can continue to fit into the dietary routine, you will want to add some protein and probiotic foods as well (such as yogurt). Safe breakfast items include: Crisp rice cereal Eggs boiled or scrambled with a minimum of butter or oil Oatmeal, cream of wheat, farina, or rice porridge Plain, low-fat yogurt with live bacterial culture Pancakes or waffles without syrup (check to ensure the product or mix does not contain fully or even partially hydrogenated oils) Unflavored rice cakes For the moment, you will want to skip anything but a small portion of non-fat milk with your cereal. With the exception of yogurt, dairy tends to contribute to diarrhea symptoms rather than resolve them. Similarly, with the exception of bananas, avoid eating fruit. This includes fresh apples. Lunch and Dinner Foods Lunch and dinner would focus on the increased intake of protein, the avoidance of excessive fats, and the addition of certain carbohydrates to help bind watery stools. Safe food options include: Canned tuna packed in water (not oil) A small portion of lean chicken, turkey, or pork Chicken broth Crackers Salty pretzels Plain pasta or noodles Sandwich with lean lunch meat (avoid whole-grain bread) Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or winter squash A small portion of carrots, green beans, mushrooms, beets, asparagus tips, or peeled zucchini A vegetable soup made with the ingredients listed above While white rice is beneficial to treating diarrhea, avoid barley, brown rice, bulgar, millet, or similar whole grains which can make diarrhea worse. Hydration Tips Diarrhea causes the rapid depletion of water and electrolytes from the system. To compensate for this, you will need to replace fluids on an ongoing basis even if you are finding it hard to keep them down. If you have a loose bowel movement, drink at least 1 cup of fluid immediately after. While water is best, some people will choose sugar-free sports drink to help replace lost electrolytes. Thereafter, as your stomach gets stronger, you will need to increase your intake to between eight and 10 glasses for clear fluid (ideally water) per day. While non-caffeinated, herbal teas are great for soothing stomachs, avoid any caffeinated drink including coffee, tea, or soda. Similarly, while carbonated water may help reduce queasiness, avoid fizzy sodas or sugary drinks that can make diarrhea worse. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Gas pain? Stool issues? Sign up for the best tips to take care of your stomach. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Gastroenteritis in Children: Treating Dehydration. American Family Physician. Jun 1, 2012. Mcrorie JW, Mckeown NM. Understanding the Physics of Functional Fibers in the Gastrointestinal Tract: An Evidence-Based Approach to Resolving Enduring Misconceptions about Insoluble and Soluble Fiber. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2017;117(2):251-264. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2016.09.021 Treatment for Diarrhea. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Nov 1, 2016. Additional Reading Nanayakkara, W.; Skidmore, P.; O’Brien, L. et al. "Efficacy of the Low FODMAP Diet for Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome." Clin Exper Gastroenterol. 2016; 9:131-42. DOI: 10.2147/CEG.S86798. Churgay, C. and Aftab, Z. "Gastroenteritis in Children: Part II. Prevention and Management." Am Fam Physician. 2012 Jun 1;85(11):1066-1070. PMID: 22962878. Shiller, L. and Sellin, J. (2016) "Chapter 16: Diarrhea." Sleisenger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease (10th Edition). 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