Before your colonoscopy, you must follow the preparation guidelines your consultant provides. Part of the guidelines will involve eating a low-fibre diet a few days beforehand. Your consultant will specify exactly how long you must eat the diet.

What is a low-fibre diet?
Low-fibre foods: what you should and shouldn’t eat on a low-fibre diet
Find your local consultant with the help of PHIN
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However, it can be challenging to change your diet temporarily. In this guide, we’ve listed low-fibre foods as well as the foods you should avoid so you can make the switch and enhance your colonoscopy results.

What is a low-fibre diet?

Fibre is vital to your diet because it helps your body absorb water, increase your stool’s bulk and keep it soft.

Eating a diet high in fibre is usually good for you, but eating one before your colonoscopy could hinder its outcome. Overeating fibre can make the laxatives you take during preparation less effective. If this occurs, residual stool can be left, which makes seeing your colon much more difficult. As a result, your consultant will be unable to complete the procedure and will reschedule your appointment.

You must follow a low-fibre diet to reduce the risk of this occurring. Fibre can be found in many food types, so knowing what to avoid and eat can be tricky.

The main fibre-rich foods are:

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Seeds
  • Nuts
  • Whole-grain bread, cereals and pasta
  • Oats
  • Legumes

However, within this list, you can eat and prepare some foods to make them acceptable on a low-fibre diet.

Low-fibre foods: what you should and shouldn’t eat on a low-fibre diet

Knowing what is OK to eat and what to avoid temporarily can feel overwhelming with so many potential foods to avoid. The NHS website has some useful information on what to eat before your colonoscopy on their Getting Ready page. You can also learn more about preparing for your colonoscopy with our essential tips .

To make it easy, we’ve compiled a list of food types specifying foods you should avoid and which are acceptable to eat on a low-fibre diet.

Dairy 

  • Foods to avoid: Yoghurt mixed with granola or fruits with skin or seeds
  • Foods you can eat: Milk, Cream, Cheese, Yoghurt, Sour cream

Breads and grains

  • Foods to avoid: Whole grains, Brown or wild rice, Anything with nuts or seeds
  • Foods you can eat: White breads and grains made with refined white flour, White rice, Low-fibre cereals made from puffed rice or corn

Meat/protein

  • Foods to avoid: Red meat
  • Foods you can eat: Chicken, Turkey, Eggs, Oily fish, like salmon, Tofu

Legumes

  • Foods to avoid: All legumes, including lentils, chickpeas and beans
  • Foods you can eat: None

Fruit

  • Foods to avoid: Fruits with seeds like raspberries, Fruit skins, peels and membranes like apples, oranges and watermelon, Dried fruit, Coconut
  • Foods you can eat: Fruit juice without any pulp, Canned or cooked fruit without seeds or skin

Vegetables

  • Foods to avoid: Raw vegetables, Vegetable peels, Vegetables with seeds, Specific vegetables (including Corn, Potatoes with skins, Tomatoes, cucumbers with seeds and peel, Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Onions)
  • Foods you can eat: Canned or cooked vegetables without skins or peels, Potatoes without skin, Cucumbers without seeds and peel, Peeled, cooked carrots

Nuts and seeds

  • Foods to avoid: All nuts and seeds, Crunchy nut butter
  • Foods you can eat: Smooth peanut or almond butter

Fats and oils

  • Foods to avoid: Salad dressings with seeds or nuts
  • Foods you can eat: Butter, Margarine, Vegetable and other oils, Mayonnaise

Soups 

  • Foods to avoid: Unstrained soups, Chunky vegetable soups, Lentil soups, Pea soup
  • Foods you can eat: Strained, clear broths, Milk or cream-based strained soups

Miscellaneous

  • Foods to avoid: Pickles, Chutneys, Jams and marmalades, Olives, Whole-grain mustard, Foods with red or purple food colouring, Popcorn
  • Foods you can eat: Sugar, Salt, Honey

If you’re unsure what foods to avoid or incorporate into your low-fibre diet, ask the colonoscopy consultant. They can give you specific details based on your needs.

A low-fibre diet with diabetes

If you have diabetes, you may be at risk of variations in your blood sugar due to the alteration of your diet temporarily.

Make sure you discuss your diabetes type and how it’s controlled with your consultant before your colonoscopy preparation to ensure you can manage your diabetes continually.

Find your local consultant with the help of PHIN

PHIN can help you find a local, private consultant if you’re experiencing bowel symptoms requiring a colonoscopy. With our easy-to-use search tool, you can search by location, speciality and procedure to find the correct consultant or hospital for your needs.

Search for private consultants or hospitals with the help of PHIN and discover local healthcare that helps you prioritise your wellbeing.

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