You’ve been sick but are feeling better and ready to start eating again. Congratulations! That’s already quite something. But… what are the best foods to recover from an upset stomach and give your body what it needs? 

On part 1  how to recover from food poisoning or an upset stomach I addressed phases 1 and 2 including stop the vomiting and nausea and re-hydrate and prepare your stomach for the next phase. We are now going to look at how to slowly re-introduce food.

 

Phase 3: Re-introducing food

If you followed the steps in part 1 to stop the vomiting and re-hydrate your body you will most likely be able to re-introduce food on day 2. It’s time to start providing your sick body with the right foods so you can recover your energy and stop feeling dizzy.

Choose one of the following two as your first food:

  • 1/2 ripe banana, mashed. No recipe for this, simply mash half a banana with a fork. Don’t use a green banana as it’s harder to digest. Bananas have a lot of potassium and are great to help you recover micronutrients after being sick.
  • 1/2 cup home-made apple compote or apple sauce.

Sugar-free apple compote recipe:

Quantity below will make two large servings. You can make more as I’m sure you’ll end up eating it over the next day or so.

Ingredients:

  • 3 ripe apples. My favourite ones are golden delicious or gala, but any type works for this. If possible, choose organic apples.

Instructions:

  1. Peel and chop the apples removing any seeds along the way.
  2. Put in a small saucepan and cover with water.
  3. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Leave it to simmer for 20 minutes or until the apples are soft and fully cook through.

I like it compote style (chunky) so I normally leave it as it is. But if you prefer apple sauce simply puree the cooked apples (water included) with a hand mixer or blender.

Again, wait a couple of hours to digest before you try anything else. If you tolerated the food, you can move to next step.

Phase 4: Re-introducing solid food

At this point you can eat solid food but choose bland, fat-free foods (and I mean naturally fat-free, not any sort of store-bought food labeled as fat-free!).

My suggestion is to start with the chicken and carrots you cooked for the chicken broth during phase 2. Other good options are:

  • White fish like cod, hake or pollock, poached, steamed or boiled, served with boiled potatoes.
  • Poached chicken breast served with white rice.

After your first proper meal you’ll notice a great difference. The protein and carbs will help your muscles recover from the starvation mode and you´ll get some strength back to at least move around the house. I know it sounds silly, but most likely you spent the prior 24-48 hours in bed (or the bathroom) so this really feels great!

Phase 4 tips:

– Keep eating this combo of lean protein + root vegetables for one or two more days.

– You can keep drinking broth and snacking on apple compote and mashed bananas too.

– Avoid dairy and acidic foods like coffee or citrus fruits. If you need a caffeine kick stick to tea or yerba mate.

– At this point you should be able to start drinking water too. If you want more taste you can add a dash of honey on your tea or drink some coconut water. 

Once you feel ready start adding grilled meats, prawns, boiled eggs and cooked ham. For carbs you can now mix in some baked sweet potatoes or butternut squash.

After day 5 or 6 you should be good enough to start eating normally!