If you experience gastric distress, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, eating most foods in the first 24 hours after your symptoms begin to improve may extend the illness. The BRAT diet, which stands for bananas, rice, applesauce and toast, allows you to slowly reintroduce bland, solid foods. Bread pudding -- made with sliced crust-less bread, banana puree, applesauce, cinnamon, fennel and ginger -- settles the stomach and restores lost vitamins and minerals.
Traditional Preparation
Bread pudding usually consists of slices or cubes of stale bread, soaked in a mixture of milk and egg, with a little cinnamon, sugar and butter, and sometimes a dash of vanilla and some rum or sherry. During baking, the egg, milk and bread stiffen into a moist dessert. Typically topped with caramel or a pudding-like vanilla sauce, bread pudding tastes best when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
BRAT Diet
Once diarrhea or gastritis symptoms have eased for 24 hours and you can tolerate clear liquids without additional vomiting or distress, you should eat sliced or mashed banana, recommends the FamilyDoctor.org website. Bananas restore the potassium lost during gastric illnesses. Doctors advise adding rice next, followed by applesauce, then toast. In the BRAT version of bread pudding, one cup each of bananas and applesauce replace the eggs in the traditional recipe, while a quart of rice milk replaces the milk or cream used to soak the bread.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon's historic medicinal uses include relief of vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and abdominal gas, used as much for its pleasant aroma and flavor as for its calming effects on the stomach and intestinal tract. Once more precious than gold, cinnamon, along with sugar and ginger, often appear in foods for calming the stomach. Use about 1 tbsp. of cinnamon per loaf of crust-less white bread when making bread pudding to relieve an upset stomach.
Fennel
Fennel relieves indigestion, flatulence, diarrhea and colic, among other historic medicinal uses. Fennel's antacid properties and licorice flavor stimulate appetite without irritating the stomach and bowels. Use 1 tsp. of ground fennel per loaf of sliced bread.
Ginger
Ginger increases saliva and digestive fluids and relieves indigestion, gas pains, diarrhea and stomach cramping. Its pleasant scent evokes fall and winter, when pumpkin pies, gingerbread and curries grace the table as comfort and celebration foods. Add 1 or 2 tsp. of ginger per loaf of sliced bread to give the pudding a warm, spicy flavor.
