How to Follow the BRAT Diet: Tips and Guidelines (2025)

FAQs

How to Follow the BRAT Diet: Tips and Guidelines? ›

Begin to add bland foods like bananas, rice, applesauce, crackers, cooked cereals (Farina, Cream of Wheat), toast and jelly. Progress to a “regular” diet by adding such things as soft cooked eggs, sherbert, stewed fruits, cooked vegetables, white meat of chicken or turkey. Avoid milk and dairy products for three days.

However, many health professionals no longer recommend it due to the risk of nutrient and calorie deficiencies. The foods in the BRAT diet are low in protein, fat, and fiber, which makes them easy to digest for most people.

The following day, begin to incorporate foods from the BRAT diet and other bland foods, like crackers, oatmeal, grits or porridge. By day three, you can re-introduce soft foods, like soft-cooked eggs, sherbet, cooked vegetables, white meat chicken or fruit, says Beal.

The BRAT diet is a self-care approach to eating when you have nausea or diarrhea, but it is not a treatment or cure. If you find it helpful to follow the BRAT diet, you should only use it for a day or two.

Beverages should be clear liquids ( Sprite, 7-Up, Tea, Ginger Ale ). NO DAIRY PRODUCTS. Follow this diet until diarrhea subsides for 24 hours. You may then gradually add soft, bland foods ( Scrambled eggs, noodles, mashed potatoes ) as tolerated.

The use of cereals, rice and milk as a stop-gap eating plan for stomach upset has been validated as a more effective remedy to manage diarrhea than the BRAT diet by recent research in hospitals in South America and Asia.

Eating bland foods can help diarrhea clear quicker and prevent stomach upset and irritation. This can include bananas, plain white rice, applesauce, toast, boiled potatoes, unseasoned crackers, and oatmeal.

Clear Liquid/ Bland Diet

Both children and adults need to drink plenty of fluids while they're sick to prevent dehydration. Water is good, but adding broth, a sports drink, or a rehydration solution such as Pedialyte can help replace lost electrolytes. Broth or broth-based soups (chicken noodle, vegetable, etc.)

Toast is another easily digested, low fiber food that will help to firm up your stool. For added nutrition, you should feel free to spread jam on your toast if you can stomach it. You will probably want to avoid butter and peanut butter, as they are high in fat, which is hard on your stomach.

Eat BRAT diet foods

Soups: clear broth, such as chicken, vegetable or beef. Liquids: cranberry, apple and grape juice, tea (without caffeine), water. Snacks: canned peaches, pears, sweet potatoes, crackers, cream of wheat, eggs, gelatin, oatmeal, creamy peanut butter.

Can you have coffee on a BRAT diet? ›

Foods to avoid on the BRAT diet include dairy, alcohol, fried foods, pork, salmon, sardines, raw veggies, citrus fruit like lemons and limes, tomatoes, extremely hot or cold beverages, coffee and caffeinated beverages like soda, and added sugars and sweets.

There's often no specific medical treatment for viral gastroenteritis. Antibiotics aren't effective against viruses. Treatment first involves self-care measures, such as staying hydrated.

Diarrhoea is passing looser, watery or more frequent poo (stools) than is normal for you. It affects most people from time to time and is usually nothing to worry about. It can be distressing and unpleasant. It normally clears up in a few days to a week.

You may have heard of the BRAT diet which stands for Bananas, Rice, Apples, and Toast. The BRAT diet was often recommended for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but is no longer because of how restrictive it is.

Avoid milk and dairy products for three days. Avoid fried, fatty, greasy and spicy foods. Avoid pork, veal, salmon and sardines.

The BRAT diet consists of foods low in fiber that are gentle on the stomach, like bananas, rice, applesauce, toast, crackers and chicken broth. Non-bland foods should be avoided.

"The BRAT diet should never be followed for weight loss as its extremely low in protein, fiber, healthy fats, vitamin and minerals," urges Kristen Smith, MS, RDN, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and registered dietitian at Piedmont Health.

Applesauce is a better choice than raw apples as the fruit's skin contains insoluble fiber. Applesauce also has pectin that can help bind stools.

Progress to a “regular” diet by adding such things as soft cooked eggs, sherbert, stewed fruits, cooked vegetables, white meat of chicken or turkey. Avoid milk and dairy products for three days. Avoid fried, fatty, greasy and spicy foods. Avoid pork, veal, salmon and sardines.