What should you know about food for nausea and upset stomach?

An upset stomach can combine nausea with cramps, bloating, loose stools, reflux, or vomiting. Food Poisoning and Gastroenteritis can irritate the digestive tract, while Gastritis, Acid Reflux, or Gallstones may cause a different pattern of upper abdominal symptoms. Heat Exhaustion and Hepatitis A can also present with nausea. The combination of symptoms, their timing, and your ability to drink are more useful than one food reaction for deciding what to do.

Start with frequent small sips of water or oral rehydration fluid. When ready, try crackers, toast, rice, potatoes, bananas, broth, or plain yoghurt if it suits you. Choose cool foods if cooking smells are unpleasant. Avoid alcohol, greasy meals, very spicy foods, and large servings until the stomach feels calmer. Rest upright after eating, wash hands carefully if diarrhoea or vomiting is present, and return to normal meals in stages rather than overeating after a missed meal.

Contact a clinician if symptoms do not settle, recur frequently, or make drinking difficult. Urgent assessment is needed for severe or localised abdominal pain, blood in vomit or stool, black stool, fainting, confusion, a high fever, or signs of dehydration such as very little urine. Get advice sooner for pregnancy, diabetes, frailty, or a weakened immune system.

Ask whether your symptom combination suggests infection, reflux, or another digestive problem; which fluids and foods to use; and whether any medicine should be paused or changed.