Coping with nausea

January 2007     View PDF     En español

Help from food

Consider the following tips to help manage nausea. These suggestions have worked for others.

• Leave dry crackers by your bed. Before getting out of bed in the morning, eat a few and sit in bed for a few minutes.
• Sip cool, not cold, carbonated drinks, like ginger-ale, 7-Up, Sprite or cola.
• Try some peppermint, chamomile or ginger tea—they may calm the stomach.
• Avoid hot, spicy, strong-smelling and greasy foods that might upset your stomach.
• Eat foods at room temperature or cooler; hot foods may add to nausea.
• Try using capsules of gingerroot powder, available at health food stores. Ginger may reduce symptoms associated with motion sickness, like dizziness, nausea and vomiting.
• Fresh ginger, lightly cooked or juiced with fruits or vegetables like carrots or apples, is great to add to the diet, and may be as effective as dried ginger.
• Try the BRAT Diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast).
• Prevent dehydration during bouts of nausea by drinking small amounts of clear and cool beverages every fifteen minutes or so. Then gradually work your way back up to normal eating by taking small sips of water every several minutes. Increase the intake until you can tolerate a small meal.
• If you vomit, replace fluids with broth, carbonated beverages, juice, Jell-O or Popsicles.