5 Types of Easy-to-Digest Foods

If you've ever experienced severe food poisoning, you may know that choosing simple, easy-to-digest foods, like plain biscuits, can help alleviate symptoms of digestive discomfort.

The easiest-to-digest foods are often low in dietary fiber and fat. They also have mild flavors, which means they usually lack sourness and are not spicy. Soft foods or those that are easy to chew and swallow are also more digestible than dry, chewy, or hard foods.

Easy-to-digest foods allow your gastrointestinal system to rest a bit. Digestion requires energy, including mechanical energy, such as chewing in the mouth, and chemical energy, such as the work done by stomach acid and small intestinal digestive enzymes.

When you feel unwell, experience indigestion, or other gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, choosing easy-to-digest foods can help your gastrointestinal tract recover.

Essentially, it reduces your body's workload during the digestive process.

Below are five groups of easy-to-digest foods to focus on when your stomach or intestines feel unwell.

White Flour Products
Most people can increase their fiber intake, but if you're dealing with gastrointestinal discomfort, it's recommended to temporarily choose foods with lower fiber content.

Fiber is a type of indigestible carbohydrate that passes through the digestive tract without being broken down.

High-fiber foods like whole grains can increase the amount of undigested food passing through the gastrointestinal tract and accelerate bowel movements, which can be more harmful than beneficial if you experience symptoms such as bloating and diarrhea.

Refined grain products such as white rice, white bread, and white pasta have had their fiber content removed.

When you feel digestive discomfort, temporarily choosing these low-fiber foods can allow your intestines to rest.

Which Foods Cause Bloating?
Peeled, canned, or stewed fruits
Some fresh fruits are particularly high in fiber, making them harder to digest. Most of the dietary fiber in fruits is found in the skin and seeds.

For example, raspberries are one of the fruits with the highest fiber content due to their large seeds.

If you're suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea, choosing fruits with lower fiber content, like ripe bananas or melons, may be helpful.

When you're working on resolving digestive issues, it's also recommended to peel fruits like apples and pears.

Softer fruits, such as stewed plums or canned peaches, are also good choices. If you buy canned fruits, look for products packed in water instead of syrup to reduce added sugars.

Cooked Vegetables
Like fresh fruits, raw vegetables are harder to digest than cooked ones.

When vegetables are cooked, their plant cell walls become softer, and their components (such as starch) become easier for the body's digestive enzymes to absorb.

Therefore, they are gentler on the digestive system.

Easy-to-digest vegetables include cooked:

Zucchini and pumpkin (seeded)
Spinach
Potatoes (peeled)
Mung beans
Beetroot
Carrots
Soft Proteins
While animal proteins are not high in fiber, they can still be hard to digest if they are tough, chewy, or high in fat.

Choose soft, easy-to-chew proteins with little to moderate dietary fat. For example, scrambled eggs and ground lean meat.

Plant proteins, such as smooth nut butters and soft stir-fried tofu, are also usually well-tolerated nutritional choices.

What about dairy products?
The answer to dairy products and digestion is: it depends. If you have mild lactose intolerance, consuming dairy products may exacerbate your digestive discomfort.

However, some people may benefit from the probiotics in fermented dairy products like yogurt or kefir. Additionally, these high-protein ingredients have a soft texture and are easy to swallow.

If you can tolerate dairy products, choose low-fat dairy products when digestive function is impaired. Compared to full-fat dairy products, low-fat ones are often easier to digest.

Soups, Smoothies, and Purees
How food is prepared can affect its digestion rate. Although texture modification strategies like blending don't change the fiber content of food, they can help reduce the size of fiber particles in plant-based foods, making them gentler on the digestive system.

Compare raw cabbage with cooked cabbage. Raw cabbage is large and hard, while cooked and blended cabbage in soup is soft. This texture change may help improve digestion rates.

Similarly, fiber-rich fruits (like berries) can be blended into smoothies. Blending the seeds of berries with a blender won't reduce their fiber content but can help initiate the mechanical digestion process that usually starts in the mouth.

Juicing and Blending

Which foods are the hardest to digest?
The answer may depend on the underlying cause of your symptoms. For example, peppermint tea may affect people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) but may help those with mild stomach discomfort or nausea.

Not all the foods listed below will necessarily exacerbate your symptoms. The foods you cannot tolerate vary from person to person, depending on the initial cause of your gastrointestinal symptoms.

Common hard-to-digest foods include:

High-fiber and/or raw vegetables, such as raw broccoli or cauliflower, artichokes, garlic, and onions
Foods with tough fiber or coarse stems, skins, and seeds, such as kale, asparagus, and pomegranates
Beans, including lentils, chickpeas, and lentils
Whole nuts and seeds
Popcorn
Acidic foods, such as citrus fruits and tomato products
Spicy foods
Alcohol
Caffeinated beverages, such as coffee and black tea
High-fat and fried foods
Processed meats, such as sausages and hot dogs
Dried meats, like beef jerky
Dried fruits
Artificial sweeteners
Who May Need Easy-to-Digest Foods?
There are many reasons why you may need to eat easy-to-digest foods.

Gastrointestinal surgeries often require a gradual reduction in diet, starting with clear liquids, followed by purees and other easy-to-digest foods, before returning to a normal diet.

Eating easy-to-digest foods can reduce stress on the digestive system and promote postoperative healing.

Sometimes, emphasizing light, easy-to-digest foods can be helpful when severe bloating, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea occur.

People diagnosed with any of the following conditions may also benefit from temporarily choosing easy-to-digest foods:

Diverticulitis, an inflammation of the small intestine
Active gastritis, an inflammation of the stomach
Peptic ulcer disease
Gastroparesis, or slowed gastric emptying
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) flares
Cancer requiring radiotherapy to the pelvis or lower abdomen

Eating only easy-to-digest foods can feel quite restrictive. If you consistently experience digestive discomfort, it's important to consult a gastroenterologist to identify the underlying cause of your symptoms. Consulting with a registered dietitian can also help you find a well-rounded and well-tolerated diet.