I empathize with you! I would also be VERY interested in the answer(s) given. Sadly, I got caught and go in for mine next Friday morning :) I was thinking that instead of the sugar-heavy diet suggested (popsicles and Jello - eeew!!!) I would definitely do bone broths and coconut oil. The oil mostly because it is clear, unlike cream and such, and very satisfying. I have not come up with a good alternative to the Gatorade laxative cocktail. I will probably just do as my husband suggests and deal with it for the one night. The bromated whatever stuff they put in it won't be as bad as it sounds for just that once. Although I'll admit, it's the principal of the thing :) Best of luck to you!!!

You don't have to change your diet for the week before a colonoscopy. Just don't eat solid foods the day you start drinking the solution (because it all comes out in the end). You can drink clear liquids including bone broths or anything else you can see through.

The solution is just salts. It draws water into the colon and that flushes everything out. You don't have to add the flavor packs (has sugar) but it won't taste very good.

Make sure you chill the solution after you add the water (improves taste a little) and take it out of the fridge about an hour before you drink it so you won't get too cold.

Have fun and good luck. Personally, I found that getting it all down was a little difficult but as long as you're running clear you should be good.

I'm GI endoscopy nurse and spend much of my day assisting with colonoscopies. Bad preps are a problem we deal with every day, and consequences for the patient are significant. Many times I have had a doc tell a patient they have to come back in a few months to be rescoped because we couldn't get a good look. There are several things you can do diet-wise to help ensure a good prep:

1. Avoid anything with seeds for 2 or 3 days before the procedure. Seeds from multi-grain bread is our worst problem - today we had 3 (!) different patients with plugged scopes due to seeds. Any kind of seed can be a problem, though, from big cucumber seeds to tiny strawberry seeds.

2. Eat a low-fiber, low-residue diet for the day before your clear-liquid day (2 days before the procedure). If there is less bulk in the colon, it will be easier for everything to get out, so less cramping. So, no fibrous veggies - meat and starchy veggies are the way to go.

3. Avoid fruits & veggies with peels or skins. We see a lot of thin veggie skins like pepper skins, and while they don't cause nearly the problems seeds do, they are a pain and can clog the scope.

4. Not dietary advice, but I'll give it anyway: read and follow your instructions! You would be amazed at the number of people who fail to do this simple thing. Finish drinking what you are assigned to drink even if everything is coming out clear - just because it's clear right now doesn't mean it'll be clear later. Lots of people have nausea or vomiting - if this is bad, call your doctor and he/she might prescibe something different.

uggg I hate those things. I don't recall them telling me to change my diet before, because frankly they'll wash you out with the liquid laxative drink before. I always have trouble keeping that in me, it makes me want to vomit just thinking of it....uggggg

You could if you wanted, eat only chicken and fish (white meats) no colored fruits or veggies and clear liquids like water, light tea, broth. I think my hubby had to do something like that for something 3 days before the test...don't recall what it was though.

They generally don't want you consuming fats, so if you have bone broth I would skim all of the fat. I was once told to eat a light diet the day before, you probably should at least not have a 24oz steak the day before your liquid fast. I got by on chicken broth, jello and coffee.

Right, the laxative takes care of whatever's in there. There will be some fasting involved, so your main goal is to be able to fast without feeling deprived. If you already can, you are good to go. If not, going lower carb and doing ramping up on IF might help you get there. Depending, a week might be enough to get you comfortable -- more ramp up time might be helpful.

Just a tip. I don't know what the laxative they use now (I'll find out soon enough …), but five years ago I was supposed to drink a gallon of this nasty liquid. I'm over 6' tall, yet after 3/4 of a gallon I had to stop or else I would have just thrown it all up. I called my doctor (do these guys get phone calls at 11pm every night?!) who told me not to worry about it, and sure enough it was no problem. So maybe you don't need as much as they ask you to drink?? I would ask the doctor in advance how to handle it if you can't stomach the entire latative. Anyway, that was in the pre-paleo days.

I'd be very curious to know whether a person can eat paleo, maybe not eat 24 hours before, and get clean enough to avoid the laxative, which for me was the only unpleasant part of the experience. Okay I won't turn it into an official paleohacks question now, but any thoughts would be appreciated. I would ask my doctor, but just looking at him I can tell he's never heard of Paleo. :-)

When I had one done, 10+ years ago, they gave me no recommendations about food. But, I figured that on the day before the flush, it would probably be a good idea to run all my food through a blender, which I did. The next day, after drinking the entire gallon of PEG/electrolyte laxative, I experienced no cramping or any other discomfort.

Another helpful bit of advice I got about drinking the dreaded solution: chill it in the fridge first, then drink it with a straw. APparently this helps to bypass the taste buds at the front of the tongue, and makes it a little more palatable. We'll see, I have to start this weekend - brrr

i usually fast for 3 days on all liquids before the test. that way, i am all cleaned out and don't have to drink the prep. i've done this for 5/8 colonoscopies, and the gastro said my colon was clean. the prep is just so terrible to drink and not worth suffering and having explosive diarrhea all night.