The 9 Best Home Remedies for Diarrhea (for When You Just Can’t. Stop. Pooping.)

Hint: It may be time to break out your teapot.Let’s face it: Diarrhea straight up stinks (pun intended). That “uh-oh” urgency to run to the bathroom, especially multiple times per day, can get pretty annoying (and even painful at times). Thankfully, there are lots of different home remedies for diarrhea that you can implement ASAP to get relief.

“Acute diarrhea can be due to many root causes, from lactose intolerance, to an infection, or even food poisoning,” says Elena Ivanina, DO, MPH, a gastroenterologist and founder of the Center for Integrative Gut Health in New York City. While it’s important to get to the bottom of your diarrhea (especially if it’s more than a one-off event like a stomach bug), your primary focus at the moment is probably just curbing the flow of liquid stool so you can feel…a little less like death.

And with that, here are some at-home remedies to stop diarrhea, plus when to see the doctor if you just can’t stop pooping.

1. Eat easy-to-digest foods

Not everyone has an appetite when they have diarrhea. But if you’re up for it, eating soft and bland foods is usually your best bet. This could be things like the following, per the International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD):

• Toast
• White rice
• Bananas
• Applesauce
• Plain white pasta
• Yogurt
• Eggs

“These foods are mild and easy to digest, making them great choices for calming the intestines,” says Danielle VenHuizen, RD, a Seattle, Washington-based dietitian specializing in gut health.

You can also try eating more foods with soluble fiber. Unlike other types (i.e., insoluble fiber), it has “the ability to absorb water and bulk up stool, which slows transit time [through the gut],” says VenHuizen. “I like to think of it as the soft, soothing type of fiber.”

Some foods high in soluble fiber include the following, per VenHuizen:

• Oats
• Peas
• Peeled apples
• Peeled

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