31+ Easy & Healthy Brat Diet Recipes

The BRAT diet may have become fashionable for rapid weight loss. But it was already a treatment, now obsolete, that was recommended back in the eighties to treat diarrhea, nausea, or acute gastroenteritis, especially in children, but also in adults and pregnant women.

The BRAT diet recommends limiting yourself to four foods: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. In fact, the acronym BRAT comes from these foods: banana, rice, applesauce, toast. The original goal of the BRAT diet was to give a stomach upset by a virus time to recover for about 24‑48 hours.

However, since the four foods in the BRAT diet are low in fiber, fat, and protein, organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics stopped recommending it for children, considering it too restrictive and lacking the necessary nutrients for a child’s gastrointestinal tract to recover.

The Spanish Association of Pediatrics echoed this sentiment in its 2007 Practical Manual of Nutrition in Pediatrics, describing it as an “unnecessarily restrictive, low‑calorie, and mineral‑deficient dietary pattern.”

Brat, Just Another Miracle Diet

Mónica Herrero, a registered dietitian‑nutritionist with the General Council of Official Colleges of Dietitians‑Nutritionists and vice president of the Professional College of Dietitians‑Nutritionists of Aragon, explains to CuídatePlus that, when misused, the BRAT diet is just another fad diet, in this case composed of foods that, among others, we would eat after suffering from gastroenteritis—the so‑called ‘bland diet’.

“Every so often, a new one appears, with different main ingredients, but they’re all cut from the same cloth and promise rapid weight loss with hardly any effort. They lead to a nutrient imbalance, focusing on specific foods and discarding the rest.”

So, opting for just four foods and sticking to it over time might help us lose weight quickly, “but not all of that weight loss will be fat; a high percentage will be water and muscle, so as soon as we stop the diet, our body will quickly regain what we’ve lost, almost the same or even more than when we lost it,” Herrero points out.

But miracle diets can also be harmful to health, as they affect cholesterol and triglyceride levels and, in the long term, can affect the performance of organs such as the liver or kidneys.

How to Spot a Fad Diet?

The Review, Study, and Positioning Group of the General Council of Official Colleges of Dietitians and Nutritionists proposes some rules to help us distinguish between fad diets and non‑fake diets. Experts recommend being wary when a diet:

Warning Sign
Promise fast results
Promise magical results
They prohibit the consumption of a food or a group of foods
They contain lists of foods that they define as good or bad
They exaggerate the scientific reality of a nutrient/food

Diet for Gastroenteritis

The BRAT diet, therefore, is not a good choice for weight loss, and it doesn’t seem to be helpful for managing gastroenteritis either.

In the latter case, the most important thing is to prevent dehydration —by providing fluids and minerals with the help of oral rehydration solutions—which can be caused by vomiting, diarrhea, and even fever.

Here Are Some Tips to Follow if You Have Gastroenteritis:

Tip
Do not drink sodas, homemade electrolyte solutions, or sports drinks.
Children should continue their normal diet if there is no dehydration.
In infants, breastfeeding or formula feeding should continue.
Avoid foods and drinks high in sugar.
Avoid consuming very fatty foods. Steaming, baking, or grilling are recommended.
You can eat pasta, rice, lean meats, peeled fruit, mild vegetables, eggs, yogurt…

Who are Basal Diets For?

Basic diets are commonly used in hospitals, educational centers, nursing homes… “to have a diet that maintains the health of the individual without a special objective (weight loss, increase in muscle mass…) beyond maintaining a good state of physical and psychological health,” Fernández points out.

It is developed by adapting the diet to the characteristics of the individual or group (elderly, schoolchildren, hospital patients) as well as to the activity level. “A child who runs around school all day doesn’t burn the same number of calories as a hospitalized patient who is lying in bed,” the expert points out.

Calories and Foods in the Basic Diet

A basic diet generally provides between 2,200 and 3,000 kilocalories per day, depending on age, physical condition, and the estimated calorie expenditure of the individual or group. It should be based primarily on plant‑based foods: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. It is supplemented with meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products, according to the preferences and tastes of the student, resident, or patient.

The proportion of basic nutrients is also adapted to the specific needs of each individual. In general, it is considered that carbohydrates should provide at least 55‑60% of the total caloric intake, fats should not exceed 30% of total calories consumed, and proteins should make up the remaining 15% of the diet.

The drink of choice should be water, and this basic menu excludes ultra‑processed foods in all their forms: pre‑cooked food, industrial pastries, soft drinks, smoothies, etc.

A good scheme for creating a balanced basic diet that contains each type of food in the right proportion is what is known as the Harvard plate, which consists of dividing what you are going to eat at dinner or lunch into four parts: two parts (that is, half) are occupied by vegetables, a quarter by proteins and the remaining 25% by carbohydrates.

Example of a basic menu

Breakfast: Coffee with milk. Wholemeal toast with tomato and olive oil.
Mid‑morning: Natural yogurt with whole grain cereal.
Lunch: Stewed lentils with vegetables and potatoes. Grilled chicken breast. Kiwi.
Snack: Apple and a handful of nuts.
Dinner: Vegetable stew. French omelet. Banana.