Download and print as a PDF (197kB pdf)
Introduction
This leaflet is for patients who are preparing for colonoscopy to guide them on the low residue diet required before a colonoscopy procedure. This is a very important part of the preparation for the colonoscopy. It helps to make sure the bowel is clean for the procedure and that the endoscopist can see everything clearly.
What is a low residue diet?
A well-balanced diet contains fibre that helps with digestion and absorption of nutrients and water. However, it also helps bulking in stools (poo) and this diet can leave behind residue when preparing for a colonoscopy and makes seeing and performing the procedure harder. Please eat a low residue diet which helps to ensure your bowel is clean for the procedure.
When do I start the low residue diet?
Five days before your procedure, only eat a low residue diet, which means foods from the allowed column in the table below. Do not eat any high residue/fibre foods.
This information is to compliment the bowel preparation guidance you will be given, the time you will need to stop eating prior to colonoscopy will depend on the time of your procedure.
Bread, cereals and grains
Food allowed
- Refined breakfast cereals such as: Rice Krispies®, Coco Pops®, Weetos®, Frosties®, Cornflakes®, Sugar puffs®, Ready Brek®.
- Products made from white flour for example white bread, white pasta, crumpets, English muffins, wraps, pitta bread, bagels.
- Well cooked white rice, rice noodles, egg noodles, white noodles.
- Plain naan bread, plain chapatti, poppadoms.
- Rice pudding, semolina, tapioca, plain couscous, polenta.
Food to avoid
- Wholemeal cereals. Cereals containing nuts, seeds or dried fruit.
- Muesli, fruit and fibre, shredded wheat, bran flakes, Crunchy Nut Cornflakes®.
- Any bread products or biscuits containing coarse grains, seeds or nuts or dried fruit such as multigrain bread, seeded batch, rye crispbread, rough oatcakes, hobnobs, muesli bars, flapjacks, teacakes, scones, fruit loaves.
- Brown rice, brown pasta, quinoa, pearl barley.
Meat, poultry and fish
Food allowed
- Soft, tender, minced or pureed meat or poultry without visible fat and with skin removed such as poultry, lamb, beef, pork, veal and ham
- Plain tofu, textured vegetable protein, Seitan, Quorn®
- All types of eggs
- Fish without bones such as cod, salmon
- Seafood (ensure prawns and shrimps are peeled)
Food to avoid
- Tough, gristly meat or skin including pork scratchings
- Fish with bones like sardines or with edible bones like whitebait.
Dairy products, fats and oils
Food allowed
- Limit all types of milk including nut and plant-based milks to no more than half a cup a day
- As an alternative to dairy, you may like to soybean milk or soybean ice cream (e.g. Tofutti)
Foods to avoid
- Cheese containing dried fruit, onions or nuts
- Yoghurts or fromage frais containing fruit pieces, dried fruit, nuts, seeds or cereal
Vegetables
Food allowed
- Well-cooked or pureed root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, turnips or swede, tomatoes without skins or seeds such as tomato juice, canned de-seeded tomatoes, passata, tomato puree
- Well-pureed hummus, lentil soup sieved to remove skins
- Vegetable juices or soups – sieved to get rid of any seeds/skins
- Avocado
- Mashed potatoes or well-cooked potatoes without skin, for example jacket potato, boiled potato
- Gnocchi
Food to avoid
- All vegetable stalks, skins, seeds and peel
- Sweetcorn, broad beans, runner beans, mange tout, sugar snap peas, spinach
- Raw vegetables such as peppers, radishes and celery, tomatoes, cabbage, leeks, onions, lettuce, spinach and salad leaves
- Firm beans and pulses with thick skins like kidney beans, baked beans, haricot beans, barlotti beans, soybeans, puy lentils, mushy peas or chickpeas
- Potato skins
- All curries made with lentils, beans, legumes/pulses
Fruits
Food allowed
- Fruit juice or smoothies (no seeds / pips / skins / piths)
- Cooked or stewed fruit without skin
- Melon, banana, canned pears, peaches or apricots, canned citrus fruit with no pith, skin or pips such as mandarins or grapefruit
- Pureed fruit / fruit coulis (sieved)
Food to avoid
- All dried fruit
- Any fruit skins, pips or seeds
- strawberries, raspberries,
- blueberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries
- passion fruit, pineapple, kiwi, mango, apricots
Desserts
Food allowed
- Custard, ice cream, milk puddings
- Clear jelly
- Plain cakes
- Vermicella (seviyan/plain kulfi).
Food to avoid
- Coloured jelly e.g. red jelly
- Ice cream containing fruit and nuts
- Cakes, puddings and pies containing any of the following: Wholemeal flour, dried fruit, nuts, dried coconut and any fruits you have been advised to avoid
Drinks
Food allowed
- Fruit and vegetables juices with no bits
- Smoothies that have been sieved or have no seeds in
- Water, soft drinks, weak tea and coffee, herbal tea.
Food to avoid
- Fruit and vegetable juices/smoothies with pulp and seeds
Other
Food allowed
- Clear or strained soups
- Sugar, honey, golden/maple syrup
- Seedless jam, marmalade
- Dark/milk/white chocolate, boiled sweets, marshmallows, toffee
Food to avoid
- Chocolate with fruit or nuts
- Nuts, seeds, coconut and desiccated coconut
- Marmalade with peel, jam with seeds
Your comments and suggestions
If you have any concerns about your treatment or care, please bring them to our attention. We will do our best to help.
If you feel you would like some support with raising your concerns, the Patient’s Advocate is available to speak on your behalf. You can contact the Patient’s Advocate by telephone between 10am and 4pm on:
01444 441881 Extension 65909 (Princess Royal Hospital) or 01273 696955 Extension 64029 or 64588 (Royal Sussex County Hospital) or by email at [email protected] for either site.
We always welcome new ideas and suggestions. Please let us know if you feel there are ways in which we could improve our service.
Thank you for taking the time to read this leaflet – if there is anything at all that you don’t understand, or you have any questions, please ask a nurse at the unit, or call us on 01273 696955 Extension 64570 for the Royal Sussex County Hospital and 01444 441881 Extension 68187 for the Princess Royal Hospital.
This leaflet is intended for patients receiving care in Brighton & Hove or Haywards Heath.
The information in this leaflet is for guidance purposes only and is in no way intended to replace professional clinical advice by a qualified practitioner.