Although a bland diet is too restrictive to meet your long-term nutritional needs, a diet of soft, low-residue foods can keep you nourished and hydrated during a flareup of chronic diarrhea. Bland diets are high in starches that bind watery stools and decrease your loss of nutrients and fluids. After your diarrhea has resolved, your health care provider can advance you back to a low-fiber diet or a regular diet.
Condition
When you're experiencing diarrhea, you might have four or more loose, watery stools daily. As the symptom of a gastrointestinal infection or a medication reaction, diarrhea often resolves without treatment within one or two days. Chronic diarrhea can continue for months or years and requires medication or dietary interventions to control loose stools. People with Crohn's disease, colitis, celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome might have persistent episodes of diarrhea that put them at risk for dehydration and nutritional deficits, according to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, or NDDIC.
Benefits
The gastrointestinal disorders that cause chronic diarrhea often result in a sensitivity to spicy foods or foods that are high in fiber, especially insoluble fiber. Your body can't digest insoluble fiber, which you get in foods such as whole grains, raw vegetables, corn and nuts. When you're having a flareup of diarrhea, your digestive tract might be especially sensitive to high-fiber foods. A bland, low-residue diet replaces spicy and high-fiber foods with soft, mild foods that contain little or no fiber. By limiting the amount of undigested matter that passes through your colon, a bland, low-residue diet decreases the number of stools you have per day.
Recommendations
While you're having diarrhea, your medical provider might restrict you to breads or crackers made with refined flour, clear juices, broth, canned fruits and vegetables, soft meats and puddings or gelatin. Breads and cereals should have no more than 1 g of fiber per serving. Limiting milk and other dairy foods to no more than two cups per day might help resolve diarrhea associated with an intolerance to dairy products.
Exclusions
Spicy or pickled foods, fatty foods, processed meats, raw fruits and vegetables and whole-grain foods are excluded on bland, low-residue diets. Many of these foods provoke diarrhea in people with irritable bowel syndrome or other chronic gastrointestinal disorders. After your diarrhea subsides, your medical provider might advise you to reintroduce some of these foods into your diet so that you can benefit from their fiber and other nutrients.
Fluid and Electrolyte Replacement
Fluid and electrolyte replacement are vital during bouts of diarrhea, says the NDDIC. Beverages such as room-temperature water, clear juice, broth and electrolyte replacement drinks will help you maintain your fluid balance. Bananas and potatoes are bland, starchy foods that offer potassium, an electrolyte you can lose when you have diarrhea.
Long-Term Treatment
A bland, low-residue diet is only a short-term solution to diarrhea, says MayoClinic.com. To prevent repeated episodes, your provider might recommend anti-diarrhea medications, fiber supplements or a diet that's rich in soluble fiber. Soluble fiber, which dissolves into a viscous substance in your digestive tract, can add bulk to your stools and reduce further flareups of diarrhea. Dried beans, oats, apples and citrus fruits offer this form of fiber.
