Increasing the amount of starchy foods – such as banana, bread, plain crackers or rice may help. Adding live culture yogurts or other probiotic products to your list – taking probiotics (by themselves or mixed with other food/fluids) has been shown to help reduce the duration of a bout of diarrhoea.
Stomach flu can make eating and drinking less appealing. However, it is most important for a person to keep drinking fluids to help prevent dehydration. When ready for food, a person should eat bland foods such as bread, bananas, applesauce, and cooked starches.
Foods to eat include clear broths, crackers, toast, gelatin, bananas, rice and chicken. Avoid certain foods until you feel better. These foods include dairy products, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, processed foods, and fatty, spicy or highly seasoned foods.
Eating When you Have Diarrhea
If you have very severe diarrhea, you may need to stop eating or drinking dairy products for a few days. Eat bread products made from refined, white flour. Pasta, white rice, and cereals such as cream of wheat, farina, oatmeal, and cornflakes are OK.
You might find that you can eat bland, easy-to-digest foods at first, such as soda crackers, soup, oats, noodles, bananas and rice. Stop eating if your nausea returns. Avoid certain foods and substances until you feel better. These include caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and fatty or highly seasoned foods.
Most people will recover with rest and drinking a lot of fluid. If you have gastro: rest at home and do not go to work. Children should not attend childcare or school until 48 hours after they no longer have symptoms (diarrhoea and vomiting).
Toast. Toast is easier to digest than bread as the toasting process breaks down some of the carbohydrates. Toast can help decrease nausea and reduce heartburn, but not all toast is the same. Whole wheat bread is more healthful than white bread but is high in fiber and can be difficult for some people to eat.
Bland foods can also help your stomach feel better and many people like to make milk toast to ease an upset stomach. The bread helps to absorb acid and the milk will coat your stomach.
Gradually introduce bland, easy-to-digest foods, such as toast, rice, bananas and potatoes. Avoid giving your child full-fat dairy products, such as whole milk and ice cream, and sugary foods, such as sodas and candy. These can make diarrhea worse.
CDC recommends using bleach to kill it, including chlorine bleach or hydrogen peroxide. That's why health departments often require restaurants to use bleach to clean countertops and kitchen surfaces. It's also able to survive being dried out.
Although you typically feel better after a day or two, you're contagious for a few days after you recover. The virus can remain in your stool for up to two weeks or more after recovery. Children should stay home from school or child care for at least 48 hours after the last time they vomit or have diarrhea.
It is not recommended that you stop eating. It will not reduce the symptoms of gastroenteritis, does not provide enough calories and can delay healing. You can eat small portions of the recommended foods for gastroenteritis that you can tolerate.
Some people with chronic stomach discomfort are more sensitive to certain foods like dairy, spicy foods, soda, fried foods or alcohol. These foods can relax the muscle that keeps food from traveling backward, increase stomach acid production or keep the stomach full for too long.
Choose whole grain toast if you can, but even a slice of white bread won't hurt you if your stomach is still feeling super sensitive. Be gentle with your stomach as you recover from a stomach virus, but don't deprive your body of what it needs to get healthy once more!
Foods high in starch — such as saltines, bread, and toast — help absorb gastric acid and settle a queasy stomach. "The bland nature of a cracker helps to satisfy hunger (excessive hunger can exacerbate nausea) without the strong smells or tastes that may increase nausea," says Palinski-Wade.
There are actually specific foods that can help treat diarrhea and settle an upset stomach, and they make up what's called the BRAT diet. This acronym stands for four foods: bananas, rice (white, as it is easier to digest), applesauce and toast.
Milk, Butter, Ice Cream, and Cheese Even if the diarrhea isn't caused by lactose intolerance — a difficulty processing lactose, a sugar found in dairy products — stay away from these foods when you have diarrhea. You may be temporarily sensitive to dairy products, even if you usually have no problem with them.
Several decades ago, doctors advised drinking milk to ease an upset stomach. However, this advice is no longer commonly given. In the years since, research has established that drinking milk, though it provides temporary relief to an upset stomach, actually makes the problem worse in the long run.
Easy to digest and prepare, plain scrambled eggs are a good food to eat with an upset stomach, Gans says. They provide protein and carbs. “You can throw them on dry toast,” she says.
Gastroenteritis symptoms usually last for 1 to 2 days, but occasionally they may persist for as long as 10 days.
People usually develop symptoms 12–48 hours after exposure to the virus. Many people only experience these symptoms for 24 hours, but it is not uncommon for 24-hour stomach bugs to last longer than 1 day. In adults, a case of viral gastroenteritis typically lasts 1–3 days.