What to Eat Before Colonoscopy?

What to Eat Before Colonoscopy

A colonoscopy is a procedure where doctors look at the inside of your gut with a thin tube with a camera on its tip.

The gut should be cleaned before the colonoscopy to ensure a better view and correct diagnosis.

Doctors usually prescribe a 3-day diet along with prep medications that help cleanse your gut.

So, what to eat and what not to eat for this three-day process? This article will explain all the details and offers an easy-to-follow meal plan.

Before Colonoscopy Cleansing

Cleaning all the waste in the intestine before the procedure is directly related to a better view of the colon inside and the correct diagnosis. The doctors recommend a diet for this and require it to be followed.

However, for some people, it may be hard to find a three-day meal plan. At this point, people may be confused, and if the cleaning process cannot be done correctly, the procedure will fail, which might mean repeating the colonoscopy.

For this reason, you can find some foods you can and cannot eat on your 3-day meal plan. If you are short on time, scroll down, and you’ll find a complete 3-day meal plan.

What Not to Eat Before Colonoscopy Cleansing?

The diet covers 3 days before the procedure. Fibrous foods and red drinks (wine, cherry juice, etc…) should not be consumed. At this stage, wholemeal bread, dried mint, dried parsley, paprika, chili flakes, fruits, nuts, freshly squeezed juices, and vegetables also should not be consumed.

So what can you eat?

What to Eat Before Colonoscopy Cleansing?

You can consume clear-colored drinks and foods that will not leave the pulp in the intestine. Examples of these are foods such as all-purpose flour soup (do not use whole wheat), grain-free soup, chicken broth soup, grilled chicken, apple juice, pineapple juice, vanilla pudding, yogurt soup, egg, a small amount of well-cooked white rice, cheese, inside part of the white bread (don’t consume the crust), and honey.

What to Eat Before Colonoscopy – 3-Day Meal Plan

Your doctor will give you some medicines to be used 1 day before and just before your colonoscopy. You should get this information from your doctor, as the use of these medicines will vary according to the time of the procedure.

However, the meal plan should be finished at least 2 hours before starting these medicines, and then you should continue with only water, apple juice, and pineapple juice until the day of the operation. On the day of the procedure, you should not even drink water.

3-Day Liquid Meal Plan Before Colonoscopy

Day 1

Breakfast

Feta cheese
Inside the white bread
Tea/Linden Tea
Honey

Lunch

Yogurt rice soup
Grilled chicken (Do not use seasonings or vegetables)

Yogurt rice soup recipe: Take 6 1/2 cups of water, 3 tbsp of white rice, and 2 tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan and boil until the rice is soft.

Put 1 cup Greek yogurt, 1 egg yolk, and 1 full tbsp all-purpose flour in a bowl and mix. Add 2 ladles of boiling water to this mixture (take this water from the rice boiling water), stir, then pour slowly into the pot. Cook, stirring constantly.

Dinner

Grilled fish (Do not eat skin or bone)
Inside the white bread

Day 2

Breakfast

Feta cheese
Inside the white bread
Tea/Linden Tea
Honey

Lunch

Yogurt rice soup
Inside the white bread
Vanilla pudding

Dinner

Feta cheese
Inside the white bread
Honey
2 eggs fried in 1 tbsp olive oil

Day 3 – The Most Important Day

Breakfast

Feta cheese
Inside the white bread (a few)
Tea/Linden Tea
Honey

Lunch

Chicken broth soup
Apple juice

Chicken broth soup recipe: Boil 2 chicken thighs in plenty of water, cook 1 tbsp all-purpose flour with 2 tbsp olive oil, take the boiled chicken out of the water, shred it, and keep it aside, add the chicken broth to the flour slowly and stirring, add salt, Finally, add the shredded chicken pieces and boil for a while.

Strain the soup with a wire strainer and consume only the juice.

Dinner

Chicken broth soup
Pineapple juice

Drink as much water as possible!

Bottom Line

For the best colon cleansing, follow this meal plan and do not go out of the diet. Especially avoid red-colored drinks, alcohol, and fiber foods, and be sure to stick to the list for the last day of the meal plan. In this process, you can consume black coffee as long as you do not overdo it.

For the best method, be sure to talk to your doctor and get his/her opinion.