Step by step guide to recover from an upset stomach. It may sound simple but this traditional remedy got me back on with my life in just a few hours. Guessing grandma’s are always right when it comes to health tips and natural remedies.

Last Christmas I got really sick. If I’ve got a weak spot it’s definitely food, especially sea food. I guess eating a dozen oysters in a day it’s a bit like playing Russian-roulette… and I lost.

I happened to be visiting my grandma quite early on Christmas Eve when one of her friends came by to give her a present: two dozen of freshly picked oysters! (I know, wish I had friends like that!).

Turns out, most of my family don’t eat them so my dad and I decided go ahead and eat them all for lunch (yes, all of them, in one go…).

I don’t want to go into details but you can imagine what happened the following day. I don’t remember being that sick ever, and of course my dad was feeling fine (eye roll…)

I called my grandma to tell her about the oysters, in case she was given more, and she told me exactly what to do to stop the vomiting and ahem… everything else!

Phase 1: Recovering from upset stomach:

Sugary chamomile recipe

Note: I don’t normally eat refined sugar, but it was not the time to experiment with honey or go to the shop to find raw cane sugar, so I just went all in with what I had at hand. Pure simple white sugar, dissolved in chamomile tea.

Ingredients:

  • 1 bag – chamomile tea
  • 1 cup – boiling water
  • 2 tbsp – white sugar

Instructions:

  1. Brew the chamomile, stir in half a tablespoon of sugar and continue to add in as much sugar as you can half a tablespoon at a time, until you see that some grains don’t get dissolved.
  2. Wait for the drink to cool down

Drink it teaspoon by teaspoon. This is important! Have the first teaspoon and wait for 20 min. If you feel fine, have another teaspoon and wait again.

If you don’t feel sick after the first two teaspoons have two or three the following time and wait again. Keep adding a bit more until you get tired of spooning that sugary drink. For me it was half way through. If you are expecting it to be nice…, don’t!

Phase 1 tips:
– As much as you may think something hot might sit you well, an upset stomach doesn’t want hot or cold liquids, so go with room temperature.
– Do not try to drink it all at once if you don’t want to have to run back to the toilet…

Wait a couple of hours from the last chamomile with sugar before moving to the next phase.

Phase 2: Recovering from upset stomach:

Bone broth or home-made chicken broth

If you have bone broth at home, yay!! You’ve probably never been so happy to have bought or made bone broth before. If you don’t and don’t have anyone that can buy it for you or it’s hard to find, just make chicken broth.

Home-made chicken broth recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken leg (skinned it’s better), or  2 thighs or drumsticks. You want the bones but not the skin, so wings are not ideal for this.
  • 2 medium – carrots
  • 1 tsp – salt

Instructions:

  1. Pour water in a saucepan and add all the ingredients. Bring it to boil before reducing the heat.
  2. Let it cook for 20 minutes.
  3. Remove the chicken and carrots and reserve. Serve only the broth.

Wait for the chicken broth to cool down. If you are using bone broth you can warm it up slightly, but again, you don’t want the liquid to be hot hot.

Pour half a cup and drink it tablespoon by tablespoon, like you did with the chamomile. Just using a bigger spoon this time.

Phase 2 tips:
– Bone broth, even when made in a pressure cooker, takes quite a bit of time and effort to make. So better to go with the regular chicken broth to start feeling better soon.

  • You don’t want your broth to be fatty. There’s nothing wrong with fat but it’s not the best option when you are dealing with an upset stomach as it takes longer time to digest.

  • You may be tempted to drink water. Don’t! Broth contains minerals and micronutrients that will not only feed your aching body but will also help the liquid stay inside. Water will most likely come out again very quickly…

Wait a couple of hours to make sure your body is liking the broth. After that, keep drinking broth for the rest of the day.

You’ll be able to start re-introducing food on day 2 if you followed the first steps.

To find out how to start eating again and what foods you should be eating check part 2 of my how to recover from an upset stomach step by step guide:

Part II: Re-introducing food after being sick