What is the brat diet


The brat diet is a bland diet that consists in low fiber and easy digest food used to threat gastrointestinal distress such as diarrhea.

But, what does brat diet mean? BRAT  stands for:

  • Bananas
  • Rice (or other starchy food)
  • Applesauce
  • ToastPlantains and bananas

Bananas are high in potassium and help replace nutrients but we can eat cooked plantains instead as they are similar to bananas but contain more Vitamin A, C, zinc, magnesium and potassium.

Stomach disorder may be caused by virus, bacteria or simply some food intolerance. The most common sympthoms are vomiting and diarrhea. For this is important to take care of visiting a doctor if symptoms are getting worse. Those would be if not urinated in 12 hours, saw any blood or mucous in the diarrhea or it lasts longer than 3 days.

If we are suffering stomach upset it would be recommendable to introduce the brat diet. It could be simply a contaminated food that will stay us feeling bad for a couple of days. This would help to avoid further heavier distress. It is important that it should be added instead of replace normal tolerated food. We mA jar and a glass of wateray feel our distress is being worsened by some food so we will avoid it until we get better.

The most important and what every medical professional would advise at first when suffering diarrhea is drink a lot of water, at least 8 to 10 glasses every day to avoid dehydration.

Accompanying the braty diet may be desirable eat small meals instead of 3 big meals. Sports drinks may help those with mild diarrhea as they are formulated to replace electrolytes lost during exercise.
You should avoid certain kinds of foods, including fried foods and greasy foods. Anyway, these kind of food should be avoid in whatever diet. Avoid as well fruits and vegetables that can cause gas, such as broccoli, peppers, beans, peas, berries, prunes, chickpeas, green leafy vegetables, and corn.

As stools become more formed we can slowly begin adding other types of food, high fiber food should be added last.

Visit for proffesional information about gastrointeritis.

Cooking for brat diet

Prepare white rice

Rice helps to improve the rate of rehydration and decrease the length of illness. The best way to eat rice for brat diet is it just simply white rice. You can prepare it in boiling water until soft enough to eat.

Homemade applesauce

Use 7 to 10, depending of the size, good for cooking apples such as Golden. Peel them off, cut the core out and dice into small cubes. Put in a large pot and partial cover with water just to the first layer of apple pieces. For normal stomcah conditions you would add 1 to 2 teapots of lemon juice, depending on the taste you want, but for brat diet you might avoid it.

A bowl of homemade applesauce

A bowl of homemade applesauce

The sweetness level vary depending on the variety of the apples and how late in the season they were picked. You might add up to 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar. You might want to add just half of the sugar first and add more later if taste not sweet enough. Regrettably, sugar is not desirable on brat diet so we would avoid it. Anyway we recommend using natural sweet apples instead of adding sugar.

Add 3 inches of cinnamon stick and 2 to 4 strips of lemon peel, zest only. Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes until the apples are cooked, they will get dark golden brown and almost all the water is cooked off.

Remove the pot from the heat and remove the lemon peels and the cinnamon stick. Mash the cooked apples, you can use a potato masher or a blender depending the texture you like. Adjust taste with more sugar and lemon juice if necessary.

This applesauce is delicious either hot or chilled and it last at least a year in the freezer so do not worry on cooking too much. It is delicious even not on brat diet. You can use it as garnish of several meat dishes.

Cooked plantains

Baked plantains

Baked plantains

Cooking plantains for the brat dietis as simple as this. When chosin plantains get them with black spots but not 100 perecent black. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With a sharp knife, slice the ends off of each plantain and then vertically score one side of each from tip to tip. Do not open the plantain; just slit it to allow steam to escape. Wrap each plantain tightly in aluminum foil and place them on a baking sheet. Put the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake the plantains for 40 minutes. Carefully unwrap the plantains, remove the peel, slice them, and place them in a serving dish. Serve immediatly.

Preparing toasts for brat diet

Toast is easily digested, low fiber food that will help. You should feel free to spread jam if you can stomach it. Avoid butter and peanut butter. We recomment using slices of turkey as it is low fat meat.

What else can I have?

Consume yoghurt. The probiotics in yoghurt reduce the length and intensity of diarrhea.

Eat a little dark chocolate. Yes, it is a delicious way to threat stomach illness. Research shows that ingredients in cocoa target and disable the protein that causes the intestine to secrete water. A little chocolate can therefore help solidify your stool. Be careful if making cocoa as the milk is hard on upset stomachs, use the less as possible.

Sport drinks formulated to replace electrolytes on sports.

What should I avoid on brat diet?

Fatty and greasy foods, especially fried food.

Dairy products other than yogurt.

Raw or dried fruits and vegetables, and full-strength fruit juice.

Caffeine and alcohol as they are diuretics and would help dehydration.

Desserts and candy, sugary foods are hard to digest.

Alcohol bottles with forbidden signal over

No alcohol