Easily Digestible Fruits and Vegetables for Better Gut Health
Health ConditionsDigestive Health

The Easiest Vegetables and Fruits to Digest

The Easiest Vegetables and Fruits to Digest
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Updated on July 31, 2025
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If you have irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, or common digestive issues like gas, bloating, or constipation, you’ll want to stick with foods that can keep these symptoms at bay or provide some relief.

Fruits and vegetables are important components of a healthy diet, but not all of them may agree with your gut. Here’s a rundown of the types of produce that are less likely to give you digestive trouble.

Low-FODMAP Foods

The low-FODMAP diet is a go-to treatment for patients with IBS.

FODMAPs stands for “fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols.” These are all short-chain carbohydrates. Foods high in FODMAPs are believed to draw water into the gut, which can lead to gas, bloating, and other symptoms.

Because FODMAPs tend to be found in carbohydrate-rich foods, many fruits, vegetables and dairy products are considered high-FODMAP. Some low-FODMAP foods include potatoes, carrots, bananas, blueberries, and quinoa.

Fruits With High Water Content

The importance of water for the human body cannot be understated. One function of water is to help break down food more easily and soften stool to prevent constipation.

While drinking water is recommended for improving digestion, consuming fruits with high water content may also help.

Watermelon has one of the highest water densities among fruits and vegetables. A 100-gram (g) serving of watermelon packs 91.5 g of water content. This is approximately 92 percent. It is also full of nutrients like vitamin A and vitamin C.

A fruit salad with plenty of watermelon would make for an easy to digest breakfast or snack. Other fruits and vegetables with high water content include: celery, cucumber, strawberries, tomatoes, and cabbage.

Low Fiber vs. High Fiber

Fiber is an important nutrient that many Americans lack. Total dietary fiber intake should be at least 25 to 30 g a day from food, not supplements; many experts recommend 40 g or more per day. Currently, the average dietary fiber intake among adults in the United States is about 15 g per day — half the recommended minimum amount.

Fiber helps food move along through the digestive system, but too much fiber at once can also cause problems if you’re experiencing gut symptoms.

 Therefore, if you haven’t been getting enough fiber in your diet, you’ll want to increase your intake gradually to avoid digestive problems.

Not getting enough fiber can cause symptoms related to constipation. In this case, consuming high-fiber foods like pears, mangoes, berries, and potatoes may alleviate your discomfort.

Cooked Vegetables

If you are looking for easy-to-digest foods for an upset stomach, consider cooked vegetables. Raw vegetables are higher in nutrients, but they are also higher in fiber.

Cooked vegetables also have a softer texture than raw veggies. The tenderness of cooked vegetables typically suggests that the fibers will be easier to digest. The fibers in raw vegetables are stiff and intact, meaning the digestive tract has more work to do in order to break them down.

When foods are more difficult to chew, they may travel through the digestive tract without being properly chewed and broken down. Thoroughly cooked vegetables may reduce indigestion because they are easier to chew.

If you are worried about the lost nutrients during the cooking process, opt for steaming instead of boiling. Try adding steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green peas, corn, and zucchini into your diet.

Probiotic-Rich Fermented Vegetables

You may have heard that fermented vegetables are easy to digest. The gut health benefits of fermented foods — sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, tempeh, miso, and kefir — may be attributed to their probiotic content.

Fermented vegetables high in probiotics may also encourage a healthy gut microbiome. Because probiotics are considered “good” bacteria, consuming probiotic-rich foods may increase the diversity of gut flora.

Puréed Fruits and Vegetables

Some people can digest foods that are blended or puréed better than the whole version. For people with reflux or difficulty swallowing, smoothies or blended soups may be easier on your digestion.

Blending food is believed to take some of the stress off of your digestive system, so it is recommended for people with a weak stomach. Blending food breaks down the fiber of fruits and vegetables even further, so if you are sensitive to high-fiber foods, consider blending them.

Go Easy on Your Gut

Your gut has a hard job — think of all the foods you consume on a daily basis. By consuming more easily digestible vegetables, you may find your symptoms less severe.

In addition to incorporating more easy-to-digest foods for an upset stomach, try avoiding possible food triggers. It’s possible you have a food allergy or sensitivity.

Also, what you consider easy to digest may be different from what someone else does. Always pay attention to how your body responds to certain foods. If severe digestive symptoms persist, you may want to try an elimination diet, or talk to a registered dietitian or medical professional to identify food triggers.

The Takeaway

  • Choosing fruits and vegetables that are easy to digest can help relieve digestive problems related to diseases such as Crohn’s, IBS, and ulcerative colitis.
  • Good choices include low-FODMAP foods, fruits and veggies with a high water content, and probiotic-rich fermented foods, such as sauerkraut or kimchi.
  • If certain foods seem to trigger symptoms or your symptoms are worsening, see a doctor, who can perform testing to make an accurate diagnosis.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Try a FODMAPs diet to manage irritable bowel syndrome. Harvard Health.
  2. Low-FODMAP Diet. Cleveland Clinic. February 24, 2022.
  3. Does drinking water after a meal help or harm digestion? Mayo Clinic. March 7, 2025.
  4. Nutrition Facts for Watermelon. MyFoodData.
  5. 15 foods that help you stay hydrated. UCLA Health. June 17, 2022.
  6. Increasing Fiber Intake. UCSF Health.
  7. Fiber. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. April 2022.
  8. Rough Up Your Diet. NIH News in Health.
  9. Raw vs Cooked Vegetables: What’s Healthier? University Hospitals. November 28, 2023.
  10. Bilodeau K. Fermented foods for better gut health. Harvard Health. September 12, 2023.
  11. Food Allergy Testing and Diagnosis. American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
  12. Why and How to Start an Elimination Diet. Cleveland Clinic. April 12, 2022.
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Kayli Anderson, RDN

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Kayli Anderson has over a decade of experience in nutrition, culinary education, and lifestyle medicine. She believes that eating well should be simple, pleasurable, and sustainabl...

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