A well-rounded diet is crucial for maintaining a healthy gut, supplying a diverse array of foods and essential nutrients. Nevertheless, certain food items can lead to digestive discomfort, particularly for individuals managing specific health issues. This article explores foods that can be difficult to digest, what to eat instead, and when it’s time to consult a healthcare professional.
11 Foods That Can Be Challenging to Digest (And Gut-Friendly Alternatives)
The following foods are commonly known to pose digestive challenges, potentially leading to symptoms such as gas, bloating, acid reflux (heartburn), diarrhea, constipation, and nausea.
While some may induce digestive discomfort even in individuals without pre-existing health conditions, others, like foods containing gluten or lactose, are often associated with dietary sensitivities or digestive disorders.
1. Dairy Products
Some individuals experience gas, bloating, and diarrhea upon consuming dairy products, often stemming from lactose intolerance. This condition signifies the body’s inability to digest lactose, a sugar naturally present in milk and dairy items.
In a healthy digestive system, the small intestine produces lactase, an enzyme that breaks down lactose. However, some individuals produce insufficient lactase, causing lactose to remain undigested in the gut.
Consequently, this undigested lactose travels to the large intestine (colon), where bacteria break it down, leading to gas production. The large intestine also draws in more fluid to aid in the passage of undigested sugar molecules, resulting in diarrhea, gas pain, and bloating.
What to Eat Instead: Although dairy products offer essential bone-strengthening nutrients like calcium and vitamin D, many experts advise incorporating them in moderation even for those with lactose intolerance. Individuals with lactose intolerance can typically tolerate a certain amount of lactose before experiencing symptoms. Consider consuming small servings of milk (about 1 cup) with meals and observe how you feel afterward. It’s worth noting that yogurts and hard cheeses generally contain less lactose than other dairy products, making them more gut-friendly.
Low-lactose and lactose-free milk products can offer a symptom-free way to obtain calcium and vitamin D. However, Luis F. Lara, MD, professor of clinical medicine and division chief of digestive diseases at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio, notes that you might need to consume larger quantities to reach adequate vitamin D and calcium intake.
2. Fried and Other High-Fat Foods
Foods high in fat tend to linger longer in the stomach, increasing the likelihood of triggering acid reflux, where stomach contents rise into the esophagus.
Additionally, due to the body’s difficulty in breaking down fats, consuming them in large quantities can cause bloating and gas. It can also stimulate the colon to produce more fluid, resulting in loose and watery stools.
What to Eat Instead: Substitute fatty, fried foods with lean meats prepared by grilling, boiling, baking, or poaching. Moreover, incorporate nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, and fish, which offer unsaturated fats that tend to be easier on the digestive system.
3. Cruciferous Vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, kale, radish, and mustard greens, are excellent sources of fiber and an important component of a balanced diet. However, as a nondigestible carbohydrate, fiber can cause digestive problems like gas and bloating, especially when consumed in large quantities.
When you consume cruciferous vegetables, the fiber remains intact as it travels through the stomach and small intestine, reaching the colon. Once in the colon, microbes feed on the fiber, producing gas.
What to Eat Instead: Given the numerous health benefits of cruciferous veggies, most individuals shouldn’t eliminate them from their diet. Instead, consider boiling, sautéing, or roasting these vegetables to enhance their digestibility.
If you’re temporarily avoiding high-fiber foods, choose lower-fiber vegetables such as carrots, mushrooms, and cooked green beans.
4. Ultra-Processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) undergo significant changes from their natural state. They commonly contain high levels of added sugar, starch, oil, and fat to enhance palatability. UPFs also often include artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives to extend their shelf life. Common examples include fast food, salty snacks, cookies, cakes, frozen meals, and soft drinks.
Research indicates that diets high in UPFs are linked to a higher likelihood of constipation compared to diets based on unprocessed or minimally processed foods. This is because UPFs typically have less fiber than their minimally processed counterparts. Studies have found that greater UPF consumption correlates with lower daily fiber intake. Adequate fiber intake is crucial for facilitating stool movement through the digestive system and preventing constipation.
What to Eat Instead: Preparing meals from scratch whenever feasible and emphasizing whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain products can help maintain sufficient fiber intake. Scrutinize ingredient lists to ensure that food manufacturers have minimized additives or preservatives and that natural ingredients are listed first.
5. Legumes
Legumes, including beans and lentils, are known for causing flatulence and bloating. Their high-fiber content can be difficult to digest, particularly if you suddenly increase your legume intake.
Additionally, legumes contain raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs), a type of carbohydrate that is difficult to digest. When gut bacteria break down RFOs, they produce excess gases, leading to stomach pain and flatulence.
Individuals with digestive conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) tend to experience greater challenges with foods high in RFOs, such as legumes, compared to those without digestive conditions.
What to Eat Instead: If you have IBS or IBD, avoid or limit legumes with higher RFO content, such as baked beans, chickpeas, lentils, and soybeans. If you don’t have a digestive condition but experience gas and stomach pain after eating legumes, try soaking them overnight before cooking. Research indicates that soaking beans for at least 16 hours reduces the amount of RFOs and can help reduce gas.
6. Caffeinated Foods and Drinks
Caffeine, a stimulating compound in coffee and tea, can stimulate gastrointestinal motility (the movement of food through the digestive tract), accelerating the passage of contents through your system. This accelerated movement can cause diarrhea, especially if you consume more than two or three cups of coffee or tea daily.
Due to its effects on motility, caffeine can also trigger IBS symptoms like stomach pain and diarrhea. Research has demonstrated a strong correlation between high caffeine consumption and more severe IBS symptoms, particularly among females and individuals with overweight or obesity.
What to Eat Instead: If caffeine upsets your stomach or triggers IBS symptoms, consider caffeine-free versions of your favorite beverages or explore caffeine alternatives. Dr. Lara suggests protein shakes with a higher dose of amino acids as an energy boost that may substitute for caffeine.
7. Spicy Foods
If you are prone to diarrhea, indigestion, or other digestive issues, spicy foods may worsen your symptoms. This is due to the effects of capsaicin, a compound that triggers your taste buds into perceiving a rise in body temperature.
The tingling and burning sensation experienced around the mouth when consuming spicy foods extends through the digestive system, temporarily increasing metabolic rate (the amount of energy your body utilizes to function), which can cause belly pain and cramps. The spiciness also accelerates digestion, potentially leading to diarrhea. It can even stimulate pain receptors in your colon, resulting in painful bowel movements.
What to Eat Instead: Mitigating the effects of spicy foods primarily involves adjusting flavor profiles rather than eliminating entire food groups. Consider using milder herbs and spices like ginger, basil, rosemary, mint, and thyme to season your meals.
8. Certain Fruits
While fruits are generally an important part of a healthy diet, certain fruits can cause issues for people with digestive conditions.
All fruits contain fructose, a sugar that can be difficult to digest for people with IBS and other GI disorders. Dried fruits, apples, and pears have higher fructose levels than other fruits, which can cause lactose intolerance-like effects in people with IBS. Fruit juice, watermelons, and stone fruits like peaches also contain a lot of fructose.
What to Eat Instead: Fruits like bananas, blueberries, cantaloupes, grapes, oranges, and strawberries are lower in fructose and may be less likely to cause IBS symptoms.
9. Wheat, Rye, and Certain Other Grains
Some people experience digestive issues after eating grains containing gluten (a protein in wheat, rye, barley, and triticale).
In people with an autoimmune disorder known as celiac disease, for example, eating gluten causes damage to the small intestine. The symptoms of celiac disease vary and may include bloating, constipation, gas, abdominal pain, or diarrhea.
Meanwhile, people with gluten intolerance (also known as nonceliac gluten sensitivity) experience abdominal pain, bloating or gas, fatigue, diarrhea or constipation, headache, nausea and vomiting, and other symptoms after consuming gluten.
The cause of these symptoms is unclear. People may actually be sensitive to a carbohydrate present in wheat rather than gluten that the gut doesn’t absorb fully. This means the carb sits in the gut, fermenting, which can lead to gas and other symptoms. Alternatively, wheat may irritate the stomach lining of those with gluten sensitivity.
What to Eat Instead: Opt for gluten-free alternatives to popular foods like bread, pasta, crackers, and flour. Look for “gluten-free” on the label or check the ingredient list. Grains and starches that don’t contain gluten include amaranth, buckwheat, corn and cornmeal, flax, millet, and gluten-free flours such as rice, soy, corn, potato, and bean.
10. Soda
Many sodas contain high-fructose corn syrup, a refined sweetener that doesn’t absorb well in the gut and can worsen IBS symptoms like gas and bloating.
In addition, carbonated beverages like soda contain carbon dioxide, causing gas and bloating in some people.
Other soda products boast “zero calories” on the packaging but contain artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose, which can trigger gas, bloating, and diarrhea.
Many sodas also contain caffeine and may cause loose stools or diarrhea.
What to Drink Instead: Instead of soda, try sparkling water or seltzer for a bubbly beverage. However, some sparkling waters and seltzers still contain sugar, so be sure to check the nutrition label. If the bubbles cause digestive issues, stick to flat water flavored with lemon, mint, or basil.
11. Alcohol
Alcohol can cause many digestive issues, especially if you have more than one or two drinks per day.
Diarrhea is one common symptom of drinking too much alcohol. Alcohol draws water into the gut, which can have a laxative effect. In addition, alcohol can irritate the intestine and speed up digestion.
Alcohol also quickens muscle contractions in the digestive system, leading to belly cramps and an urge to poop.
Bloating may also occur. Alcohol — particularly beer — disrupts the balance of bacteria in the gut, which increases gas production and makes your abdomen bloat.
What to Drink Instead: Nonalcoholic beers, wines, and spirits are commercially available for those who enjoy the taste and social aspect of alcohol but not its gut effects.
When to Speak to a Doctor
Kelci McHugh, RD, a North Carolina-based registered dietitian and assistant director of nutritional sciences at Ayble Health, a virtual gut health platform, advises that everyone’s gut functions uniquely, and your understanding of your own digestive responses can offer valuable insights into when you should seek medical attention. “Consider speaking with your doctor when gut symptoms get in the way of your daily routine, you experience unintended weight loss, or show signs of health changes,” McHugh recommends.
The following digestive symptoms may also warrant a trip to the doctor:
- Sudden or severe abdominal pain
- Ongoing diarrhea
- Fewer than three bowel movements a week most weeks
- Heartburn more than two times per week
- Unusually gassy or bloated
- Blood in your stool
Take note of whether specific foods consistently trigger digestive symptoms. Your doctor may inquire about your symptoms, suggest lifestyle adjustments, and discuss potential diagnostic tests such as a colonoscopy.
The Takeaway
The foods you consume can contribute to digestive problems like abdominal pain, gas, bloating, nausea, heartburn, diarrhea, and constipation.
Certain foods are more likely than others to cause digestive issues, including dairy, cruciferous vegetables, high-fat foods, gluten, legumes, and more.
Consult your doctor if digestive symptoms become persistent or interfere with your daily life.
