What is Diarrhoea and What Dietary Modifications Should You Make?
Diarrhoea is nothing but a form of digestive disorder, which can arise due to various factors such as parasitic or viral infections, allergies, food poisoning, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, etc. Based on the nature of its cause, diarrhoea can be classified into acute or chronic. Regardless of being occasional or persistent, diarrhoea is inevitably linked to diet. Hence, it is very important to watch what and how much you eat when you’re affected by diarrhoea. Let’s know more about how certain foods can help you manage your diarrhoea and overcome the disorder quickly and effectively.
Let’s understand what is diarrhoea in the first place. A common stomach problem, diarrhoea is when you pass loose stools more often. At first, the condition begins by showing signs of minor signs such as abdominal cramps and pains, vomiting, and nausea along with severe urgency to go to the toilet.
Subsequently, with continuous passing of stools, diarrhoea causes your body to run out of its fluids. It leads to dehydration. In order to restore the loss of body fluids, you should follow a diarrhoea-friendly diet. The diet should not only be supplied with adequate fluids but also improves and balances your gut health to get you back on track.
BRAT DietLeading doctors, physicians, and caregivers advise to go for the BRAT diet while recovering from diarrhoea. A BRAT diet consisting of bananas, rice, apples, and toast, is proven to be very effective in diarrhoea management. Additionally, opt for simple and bland foods over spicy, junk, and complex foods, as they can further irritate bowel movements. Other special food for diarrhoea include boiled and skinned potatoes, baked chicken (with or without skin and fat), unseasoned crackers, oatmeal, cream of wheat, and cereals porridge.
Specialists further suggest that the best way to adopt a diarrhoea-friendly diet is to breakdown your meals and have them throughout the day. Proportioning your meals for the day can help keep your digestive system from becoming overloaded.
Stay hydratedApart from everything else, liquids must have a special spot in your diet. Make it a habit to drink an extra glass of water after every toilet visit. By doing so, it not only helps prevent further loss of body fluids but also flushes out toxins and other harmful substances from the body.
Other ways to increase liquid intake in the body is by opting for soup broths, coconut water, electrolyte water, and trusted sports drinks.
ProbioticsWhen it comes to an ideal food for diarrhoea, doctors advise the inclusion of probiotics in your diet. They are not only a healthy addition to your diet but also help enrich your immune system. Probiotic foods are nothing but fermented foods comprising of good bacteria, which help in restoring gut health, improves digestion and corrects diarrhoea symptoms. Yogurt, kefir, idli, dosa, etc. are some of the best examples of probiotics.
However, be extra careful in choosing your probiotic supplements, as some of them may irritate the digestive system. Doctors and other medical specialists recommend Enterogermina as one of the best treatments for diarrhoea. A leading probiotic drink, Enterogermina fights bad bacteria and promotes the growth of good bacteria in the gut. Hence, it is very helpful for those affected by acute or chronic diarrhoea.