Improving Your Dive Diet for Seasickness

Kathy Gagliardo   Dec 27, 2023

Many people make resolutions to eat better at the beginning of each new year. My suggestion is to focus on how you can eat better as a diver to avoid seasickness. A lot of it is paying attention to what works best for you.

When I first started diving, I was told by my instructor to stay away from greasy or acidic foods before diving especially if I was nervous on my first dives. I listened to this, and it worked for a time until I started diving in conditions with surge. At that point eating non-greasy foods still didn’t work. I started to look at other considerations that could make me sick…was I near the boat exhaust and getting nauseous because of that? Did I get nauseous from being overheated? The answers were resounding “yeses” for those but even when I eliminated those from the equation by staying away from the back of the boat and only putting the top of my wetsuit on just before the dive, I was still getting sick. By paying attention to my body and realizing what makes me nauseous besides those variables I now know that I get nauseous if I eat a carb-based diet before diving! Bread should sop up the acid, but the problem was that my body blew through the carbs, and I got nauseous simply from hunger. Shockingly what works perfectly for me is a breakfast with bacon and eggs. I don’t drink coffee so this was never a concern but know that most people do. In that case, the carbs could help with the acid.

My point in all of this is to take the time to experiment a bit about what works for you. Listen to your instructor as a place to start but relying on your own experience is key. Ultimately, eggs, bacon, AND a pill of Bonine a day is what keeps me happy and not the color of the Grinch! Good luck to you in your New Year’s resolution of a better diving diet!