What to Eat When You Have Diarrhea?

After writing about how to get rid of fever?, how to stop nausea?, and how to relieve bloating?, here is our next article on what to eat when you have diarrhea? Suffering from diarrhea occasionally is nothing to worry about or suffering from diarrhea once in a year is not a big deal. But not taking any appropriate steps can be fatal. Eating certain food will make your diarrhea worse, but right food choices can help to ease your symptoms and will make sure that your health doesn’t get worse. In this article, you will get to know about the right food to eat when you have diarrhea. You should eat plain, simple foods to cure diarrhea, especially one to two days. “It is best to eat thicker, bland foods, bananas, plain rice, including oatmeal, and applesauce, during this time to soothe the bad stomach.

Foods to Avoid:

It is very important to ensure that what is good to eat when you have diarrhea and it is also important to know what not to eat. Certain food can trigger the diarrhea cramps and worsen the symptoms. So be careful while eating something while suffering from diarrhea.

Avoid few foods for diarrhea relief:

• Fatty foods
• Milk, butter, ice cream, and cheese.
• Alcohol and caffeine drinks.
• Sorbitol and other artificial sweeteners.
• Foods that cause excess gas.
• Foods that may be polluted.

List of Foods to Eat When You Have Diarrhea

1.) Eat Green Banana

Green Banana works as a magic to cure diarrhea. Banana is packed with pectin. Green banana and pectin are useful in the dietary management of diarrhea It is also a rich source of potassium, which helps as an electrolyte that supports the other functions of the body. So use the green banana as a remedy to eat when you have diarrhea.

2.) Eat Yogurt

Yogurt contains good bacteria called probiotics, which covers the intestines and protect them against the germs that cause disease. Yogurt contains some properties like bifidobacterium bifidum and lactobacillus acidophilus, which helps to make a proper balance of good bacteria in the digestive system. yogurt is the thing to eat when you have diarrhea.

When we take antibiotics to cure infections, it also kills the good bacteria that help to in regulating stool consistency and lead to diarrhea. The probiotics found in yogurt prevent that by redeveloping some of those microorganisms. Yogurt also contains protein which is needed very much to recover from diarrhea without losing essential nutrients. All you need to do is take a cup of plain yogurt twice a day after meals. This helps to maintain a good balance of good bacteria in your intestines.

3.) Applesauce- When You Have Diarrhea

Applesauce is a good food to eat when you have diarrhea. It works as a binding food. It holds the higher level of pectin which works to make stools hard, therefore cure diarrhea.

Ingredients:

• Cinnamon powder- 1 teaspoon
• Applesauce- ½ cup

Directions:

• Mix 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder with 1/2 cup applesauce.
• Mix it well and eat it several times a day or until diarrhea is cured.
• Cinnamon has antimicrobial, tissue-tightening and soothing  properties that helps to fight infections, tighten tissue, and hence stop diarrhea.

4.) White Rice

White rice is a good food to eat when you have diarrhea. It can also help soothe diarrhea by acting as a binding food, which makes stool bit more solid. Eat white rice and other refined grains during diarrhea rather than whole grains, which contain fiber that is harder to digest. Rice can reduce the number of stools and boost the rehydration during diarrhea, and eat green bananas as well as rice to decrease the number of stools and stop diarrhea sooner.

5.) Pureed Pumpkin

Pumpkin is the best food to eat when you have diarrhea. It contains high amounts of fiber, which is very important for digestive health. Pumpkin is high in vitamin A, potassium, and fiber. Eating pumpkin during diarrhea is very effective to treat diarrhea. Because pumpkin contains a soluble fiber which helps to absorb excess water in the bowel, and consequently make solid your stool.

6.) BRAT Diet

You might not have heard about BRAT diet. Let me tell you BRAT means Banana, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. These four things work as magic to cure diarrhea quickly. These 4 foods contain little acid and a little sugar. They help to ease your intestines and make your digestive system better. So brat diet is the best combination of food to eat when you have diarrhea.

How to Use BRAT:

• Add banana, rice, applesauce, and toast in your each meal.
• To make it good in taste, you can also mix rice with soups.

7.) Blueberry

Blueberry is the best options to eat when you have diarrhea. It contains tannins which work as an astringent that helps to shrinks the tissue and reducing inflammation which tends to cure diarrhea. They also contain anthocyanidins, antibacterial and antioxidant properties. Blueberries are also a good source of antioxidants.

How to Use:

• Chewing dried blueberries
• Make a tea by boiling crushed and dried blueberries for about 10 minutes.

8.) Baked Chicken

Baked chicken is easy to digest due to its bland nature and is a good source of protein. This provides some nutrients to your body which are flushed because of diarrhea. So baked chicken is good to eat when you have diarrhea.

9.) Peppermint Tea

Peppermint has an easing effect on the gastrointestinal system. It calm down and relaxes the muscles along with the intestinal system, therefore, reducing cramps. Peppermint is also very effective in reducing intestinal gas.

• Boil one cup of water.
• Take some mint leaves and put in boiled water
• Allow it to steep for a few minutes.
• Drink this tea 2 to 3 times a day. This peppermint tea is helpful to treat diarrhea.

10.) Chamomile Tea

Chamomile tea has antispasmodic properties that can give you soothing relief from diarrhea. It gives the relieving effect to your digestive system to treat diarrhea. It also reduces the intestinal inflammation. Chamomile is one of the most effective way to get rid of diarrhea fast without medications.

• Put 1 tsp of chamomile leaves and 1 tsp of peppermint leaves in a cup of water.
• Boil this mixture for ten minutes and then strain it.
• Drink this chamomile tea few times a day.
• You can also take green tea to treat your digestive system.

11.) Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is the best home remedy for diarrhea. It contains antibacterial and soothing properties due to which it fights against bacteria that cause stomach infections like diarrhea. It is an effective remedy to treat diarrhea. All you need to do is add 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar to a glass of water and drink this at least two times a day until you get relief from diarrhea.

12.) Eat Ginger

Ginger is not only used to treat cold or sore throat problems but also used for stomach infections. Ginger is one the best home remedies to treat stomach ache that is caused due to food poisoning and can help to treat abdominal pain and cramps.

How to Use:

• Take a small piece of ginger and 1 tsp of honey to it.
• Eat the mixture to improve digestion and release the gastric juices. Do not drink water after eating this.

Or

• You can also prepare ginger tea to cure diarrhea.
• Boil one cup of water and add one small piece of ginger to it.
• Strain the ginger tea and add a little honey.
• Drink it to get quick relief from diarrhea fast.

13.) Eat Mashed Potatoes

Potatoes are high in potassium and hence is a good food when you are suffering from diarrhea. The skin of potato has a lot of nutrition but that is not good if you are suffering from diarrhea. You should eat peeled mashed potatoes. You can boil potatoes and add a little salt for flavor. Avoid frying potatoes in butter or gravy as this can cause trouble to your sensitive digestive system. Having it with butter can also increase intestinal cramping.

14.) Eat a Lot Of Vegetables

Vegetables provide important nutrition that your body looses when suffering from diarrhea. But remember, whichever vegetable you eat, you need to peel of the skin so that it becomes easy for you to digest it. You can eat beets, green beans, carrots, acorn squash etc. You will be surprised to know that carrots become more tasty when you steam it. Avoid vegetables like broccoli, pepper, peas, corns, and green leafy vegetables because they cause gas and are hard to digest.

15.) Oatmeal

Oatmeal is one of the most comforting food choices when you are suffering from diarrhea. It is full of soluble fiber which is necessary to add bulk to your stool when you are suffering from diarrhea. Avoid honey and sugar that you normally have with oatmeal. Instead, you can add some bananas to add sweetness and to add the benefits of banana.

Foods to Avoid When you Have Diarrhea:

It is as important as it is to know what to eat when you have diarrhea, it is equally essential to know what not to eat. Some foods can travel through your intestines very quickly and worsen your condition, or aggravate diarrhea in other ways. Below are the list of foods to Avoid when you have diarrhea:

• Fatty foods:  These include fast foods and foods that are oily or covered in gravy, which can make diarrhea worse.
• Milk, Butter, Ice cream, and Cheese: Even if your diarrhea isn’t due to by lactose intolerance (difficulty processing the sugar lactose, found in dairy products), avoid these foods during diarrhea. You may be temporarily unstable to dairy products, even if you regularly have no problem with them. Probiotic-rich yogurt may be the one exception in this category.
• Alcohol and Caffeine Drinks:  When you have diarrhea, you should avoid foods and beverages that lead to you to lose fluids. Alcohol and caffeine can serve as diuretics, but they are dehydrating and should be avoided.
• Sorbitol and Other Artificial Sweeteners:  Some people find that artificial sweeteners have a laxative impact on their digestive system. If you have diarrhea, it is best to avoid sugarless gum and candy, diet soft drinks, and sugar replacements.
• Foods that Cause Excess Gas:  It’s important that you eat ample amounts of fruits and vegetables every day. However, when diarrhea hits, you want to avoid things that are likely to boost intestinal gas, such as cabbage, broccoli, beans, and cauliflower, till you’re feeling better.
• Foods that May be Tainted: Stay away from foods that have been out of the fridge for too long or poorly stored. Raw meat or fish can be uncertain, too. Follow the old idiom, “when in doubt, throw it out,” and you may save yourself some stomach problems.