Low-Fiber Diet for Colonoscopy Preparation
Five days before your colonoscopy, this low-fiber diet guide will show you what foods to eat and which to avoid.
Milk and dairy
Eat these foods
- ✅Milk
- ✅Cream
- ✅Hot chocolate
- ✅Buttermilk
- ✅Cheese, including cottage cheese
- ✅Yogurt
- ✅Sour Cream
Avoid these foods
No yogurt mixed with:
- 🚫Nuts, seeds, granola
- 🚫Fruit with skin or seeds (such as berries)
Bread and grains
Eat these foods
- ✅Bread and grains made with refined white flour (including rolls, muffins, bagels, pasta)
- ✅White rice
- ✅Plain crackers, such as Saltines
- ✅Low-fiber cereal (including puffed rice, cream of wheat, corn flakes)
Avoid these foods
No whole grains or high-fiber:
- 🚫Brown or wild rice
- 🚫Whole grain bread, rolls, pasta, or crackers
- 🚫Whole grain or high-fiber cereal (including granola, raisin bran, oatmeal)
- 🚫Bread or cereal with nuts or seeds
Meat
Eat these foods
- ✅Chicken
- ✅Turkey
- ✅Lamb
- ✅Lean pork
- ✅Veal
- ✅Fish
- ✅Eggs
- ✅Tofu
Avoid these foods
- 🚫Tough meat with gristle
Legumes
Avoid all legumes
- 🚫Dried peas (including split or black-eyed
- 🚫Dried beans (including kidney, pinto, garbanzo/chickpea)
- 🚫Lentils
- 🚫Any other legume
Fruits
Eat these foods
- ✅Fruit juice without pulp
- ✅Applesauce
- ✅Ripe cantaloupe and honeydew
- ✅Ripe, peeled apricots and peaches
- ✅Canned or cooked fruit without seed or skin
Avoid these foods
No seeds, skin, membranes; or dried fruit
- 🚫Raw fruit with seeds, skin, or membranes (includes berries, pine apple, apples, oranges, watermelon)
- 🚫Any cooked or canned fruit with seeds or skin
- 🚫Raisins or other dried fruit
Vegetables
Eat these foods
- ✅Canned or cooked vegetables without skin or peel (includes peeled carrots, mushrooms, turnips, asparagus tips)
- ✅Potatoes without skin
- ✅Cucumbers without seeds or peel
Avoid these foods
No raw, skin, seeds, peel; or certain other vegetables:
- 🚫Corn
- 🚫Potatoes with skin
- 🚫Tomatoes
- 🚫Cucumbers with seed and peel
- 🚫Cooked cabbage or brussels sprouts
- 🚫Green peas
- 🚫Summer and winter squash
- 🚫Lima beans
- 🚫Onions
Nuts, nut butter, seeds
Eat these foods
- ✅Creamy(smooth) peanut or almond butter
Avoid these foods
No nuts or seeds:
- 🚫Nuts including peanuts, almonds, walnuts
- 🚫Chunky nut butter
- 🚫Seeds such as fennel, sesame, pumpkin, sunflower
Fats and oils
Eat these foods
- ✅Butter
- ✅Margarine
- ✅Vegetable and other oils
- ✅Mayonnaise
- ✅Salad dressings made without seeds or nuts
Avoid these foods
- 🚫Salad dressing made with seeds or nuts
Soups
Eat these foods
- ✅Broth, bouillon, consommé, and strained soups
- ✅Milk or cream-based soup, strained
Avoid these foods
- 🚫Unstrained soups
- 🚫Chili
- 🚫Lentil soup
- 🚫Dried bean soup
- 🚫Corn soup
- 🚫Pea soup
Drinks or beverages
Drink these beverages
- ✅Coffee
- ✅Tea
- ✅Hot chocolate or cocoa
- ✅Clear fruit drinks (no pulp)
- ✅Soda and other carbonated beverages
- ✅Ensure/Boost
Avoid these beverages
- 🚫Fruit or vegetable juice with pulp
- 🚫Beverages with red or purple dye
Other
Eat these foods
- ✅Sugar
- ✅Salt
- ✅Jelly
- ✅Honey
- ✅Syrup
- ✅Lemon juice
Avoid these foods
- 🚫Coconut
- 🚫Popcorn
- 🚫Jam
- 🚫Marmalade
- 🚫Relishes
- 🚫Pickles, olives