Digestion10 min
Home care for loose motions: ORS, curd-rice and banana
With loose motions the first job is replacing lost water and salts; the second is resting the gut with simple, binding foods. Here is a sensible home plan — and the warning signs that mean it's time for a doctor.
The Ayurvedic view
Ayurveda calls diarrhoea atisara and sees it as the digestive fire being overwhelmed — often by contaminated food or water, a heavy or unfamiliar meal, or a change of season. The traditional approach is to let the body rest: light, easy-to-digest food, plenty of fluids and gently astringent foods such as unripe banana, pomegranate and curd rice.
Modern medicine agrees on the most important point: dehydration is the real danger, especially in children and the elderly. ORS (oral rehydration solution) saves lives.
Ingredients
- ORS packet, or homemade: 1 litre boiled and cooled water + 6 level teaspoons sugar + ½ level teaspoon salt
- 1 cup soft-cooked rice mixed with ½ cup fresh curd and a pinch of roasted cumin
- 1 ripe banana
- Thin buttermilk, coconut water, or rice kanji (the starchy water from cooking rice)
How to prepare
- Mix ORS exactly as written on the packet, or stir the sugar and salt into the cooled water until dissolved. Make fresh every 24 hours.
- Mash the soft rice with curd and cumin into a smooth curd-rice.
How to use
- Sip ORS frequently — a few sips every few minutes, and roughly a glass after each loose stool for adults.
- Eat small portions of curd-rice, banana, khichdi or toast when hungry.
- Continue fluids even if you don't feel like eating.
Helpful habits
- Avoid milk, fried or spicy food, raw salads, fruit juice with added sugar and caffeine until stools settle.
- Wash hands with soap after the toilet and before eating; drink boiled or purified water.
- Rest — the gut heals faster when you don't push through the day.
Precautions
- Do not make homemade ORS saltier or sweeter than the recipe — the proportions matter.
- See a doctor urgently for blood or mucus in stools, high fever, severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, no urine for 6–8 hours, sunken eyes, drowsiness, or diarrhoea lasting more than 2 days.
- Babies, young children, pregnant women, older people and those with diabetes or kidney disease can dehydrate quickly — seek medical advice early.
- Don't give anti-diarrhoea tablets to children without a doctor's advice.
