[Sca-cooks] Re: BRAT diet

[Ron and Laurene Wells]

I have 3 sons and a baby on the way, and I've had to follow this diet for
my children several times.  The T is for Toast not for Tea.  Generally
Dr.'s recommend whole wheat toast.  Then ample liquids are nearly ALWAYS
recommended in addition to this diet, where you would be welcome to include
tea (generally I believe they recommend a caffeine-free or herbal tea,
especially if loose stools are part of the reason the patient is put on
this diet, because caffeine is a diuretic and can cause further
dehydration).  So, I am not saying one should not give tea when a patient
is on this diet.  On the contrary, I'm just saying that all the letters
stand for food items, not liquids.

I don't know (remember) the specific reason why bananas are among that
list.  Too many bananas can cause constipation, so it well may be that they
are to help reduce loose stools.  They are easy to digest for one thing,
they are one of baby's first foods.  You'll notice all the foods in that
diet can be fed to a 6 month old baby.  They are not hard on the digestive
tract.  I believe applesauce is preferable to fresh apples because the
tough peels have been removed and it has been cooked, which improves the
digestibility of the apples.  And no apple juice is listed, because you can
get WAY too many apples from drinking just the juice, and that can cause
loose stools also.  Rice is very easy for the stomach to digest.  Whole
Wheat toast is less easy, but provides some fiber.  Sooo... there you have
my Mom experience from this diet.  I know it is not fun to try and keep
small children out of the snacks when they are supposed to only be eating
foods from this bland list of choices for a week or longer!!  :)

-Laurene

At 07:41 AM 5/4/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Message: 7
>Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 23:39:27 -0500
>From: Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net>
>To: SCA-Cooks maillist <SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org>
>Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: SC - bananas and bowels
>Reply-To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>
> > Doctors prescribe "BRAT" Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Tea for those
> suffering from diarrhea and electrolyte imbalance..
> >
> > Andrea (retired nurse)
>
>However Andrea, is the banana part of this mixture meant to affect
>consistancy or just help restore the potassium level? Bananas are
>often mentioned as a good source of potassium and I would imagine
>diarrhea, like taking a diuretic, may well strip out potassium from
>the body. Potassium is apparently quite necessary for things like
>the heart.
>
>Stefan, who has to take a lot of potassium (talk about large
>capsules :-( )to make up for the diuretics he also needs to take.
>
>--