Regime sans residues

[Chancer]

I am having a coloscopy on Monday and need some help suggestions with the diet beforehand.

Everyone talks of the diet being for 2 days but mine seems to be three unless I have misread it, it says "à suivre les 3 jours précédant l'examen" which to me means Friday Saturday and Sunday, the Monday of the op being à jeun or does the three days include the Monday? The op will be in the afternoon. It does say underneath "soit à partir de" but it has not been filled out.

On the foods that I can eat, Boillon de legumes, is that just vegetable water with no fibres? I have in the cupboard a soupe de pâtate douce à la crême fraiche which says it is a source of fibres, will those and the crême fraiche rule it out? I also have a Mouliné légumes variés, what about that?

It says that I can drink coffee but can I have milk with it? What about the morning itself, can I at least have my coffee? Assuming that I will still want it after drinking the last litre of flushing compound!

Breakfast is going to be my biggest problem, its my most important meal of the day yet there is nothing shown on the régime for breakfast, I dont fancy jambon blanc and eggs, what is jambon blanc anyway, non cured ham? Do you have any suggestions, I normally have porridge, fruit salad and fromage blanc.

Under produits laitiers it lists fromage à pâte pressée type gruyere, emmanthale, bondel, hollande, so I am assuming I can eat hard Edam or Emmenthal but what about fromage blanc or milk?

It lists compôte pomme-banane, pomme-coing (I thought that coing was fat!) banane bien mûre ecrasée, I have some compôte de pomme allegée en sucre, will that be OK.

It says "Eviter les aliments tels que raisin, tomates, kiwis, lentilles" which is probably the most confusing as there are so many other foods that not being listed I assume I cannot have such as all the other fruits and all vegetables.

I am planning to fill up on griddled meats and chicken with plain rice, I only have basmati is that a problem? I will snack on cheese and boiled eggs instead of my usual fruit, its having a decent breakfast that is worrying me and drinking coffee with milk, it wont be a problem to go without milk I would just like to know, oh and whether I really need to do it for 3 days not 2.

For my own amusement and to know whether after taking the laxative I have passed all the previous hard to digest food I was going to have a can of sweetcorn with my last proper meal, is this unwise?

Thankyou in advance

[minnie]

OH had the same procedure. I organised his diet for the three full days before exactly as set out. It is boring but in your own interests. In fact afterwards the surgeon reckoned that OH was best prepared patient he had seen (absolute flannel of course). However breakfast on the morning is an absolute no no!

Black coffee would probably be OK. The reason the diet is set out is for the surgeon to have the best view of what's showing. Good luck. I reckon jambon blanc is the thin processed stuff you get in packets.

[NormanH]

I spent many weeks on this sort of diet before and after my ops.

Boring and bland. It was probably the most irritating part of the whole process:(

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/low-fiber-diet/my00744

http://hepatoweb.com/dietetique2.php

You can eat compote (fruit purées) but not uncooked fruit.

No milk

Vegatable soups strained ( they served them with pasta in for 3 meals a day for a month [:-))] )

English style ham

Breast of chicken without the skin

Go for the 3 days...

PETIT DEJEUNER :

- café noir ou thé (pas de lait)

- biscottes + beurre ou margarine

- sucre , gelée de fruits , miel

 

DEJEUNER :

- viande maigre :boeuf , filet de porc , poulet , veau , lapin , dinde , jambon blanc , poisson poché , 2 oeufs durs ou pochés

- riz ou pâtes ou semoule + beurre ou margarine

- fromage à pâte cuite : gruyère , bonbel , st paulin , hollande ....ou crème de gruyère .

- biscottes

- eau ,thé , tisane , café

 

GOUTER :

- gelée de fruits ou pâte de fruits

- biscuits secs ou biscottes

- café ou thé + sucre

 

DINER :

- bouillon de légumes uniquement + petites pâtes alimentaires + beurre ou margarine

- comme le déjeuner .

[idun]

I was on it for 6 full months. Not just before and after. I became quite ill on it. (edit, forgot to say, should have been three days too that is the usual)

Yes, there is bugger all decent to eat, it is bland, boring and three days is fine. I was allowed  a little boiled milk though, are you? as you could use boiled milk in a hot drink. I like black tea and coffee, so drinks were not that much of a problem for me.

[NormanH]

The problem in milk is the lactose which speeds up the transit even if you aren't allergic.

The only milk I was allowed was 'infecte' a sort of artificial milk from the chemists

[Polremy]

Mr. Polremy didn't have to stick to a special diet at all before his procedure - just had to drink all that stuff!

How strange.

[5-element]

The idea is to give the colon a total rest by not sending anything through it - ANY kind of fibre does end up in the colon. So, no porridge, but white rice. No bread, although sometimes toasted bread or biscottes are allowed. No jam, but fruit jelly or honey is OK. Only hard cheeses allowed, Cantal, etc. are OK) no camembert or blue cheeses or other fermented cheeses, and no lactose.

Bouillon de légumes is something that can you make out of a stock cube! I, too, know this diet well, and still have to resort to it on occasion, and so has my husband - it is a diet that is recommended not just before a colonoscopy, but also with other ailments that affect the colon - for periods of time. I dread to think, Idun, what it must be like to eat that way for 6 whole months, lots of vitamin and mineral deficiencies I would expect - apart from the extreme boredom and disgust factor.

 

Courage Chancer, 3 days is not that long - and surely, you can have biscottes with butter and cheese or egg or cassis jelly or honey in the morning - except the day of the procedure when you have to have nothing by mouth since midnight the night before (usually), not even water. That is because of the anaesthetic - if you had something in your stomach, even water, it could make you quite ill.

[Chancer]

No it wont be a problem although I really will miss my fruit, actually the problem will be eating things that I no longer have in my diet since one year, I have just eaten my first piece of cheese in advance and jolly nice too. I have not eaten bread, butter or anything like it for a year and am not at all tempted by biscottes but cant see any other way of doing a breakfast, oh well back to Lidl once more.

I have just tried some mouliné and now realise that it probably wont be OK, its a bit like baby food, I guess that I need soupe which of course is not like soup as I knew it!!

[Loiseau]

From a post on your earlier thread, Chancer, the diet was discussed quite a lot.  Link to it here.

Yes, in the UK my deprivation was spread over three days leading up to The Day.  And on the day, sips of water ONLY. (No "full English" for you that day, I'm afraid!)
Honestly, it wasn't THAT bad - though the third day was restricted to clear liquids only, so a bit more tiresome.  I didn't actually feel hungrey, bizarrely.

On that thread, I recounted my UK experiences:

...for the op on a Wednesday here, I had to spend Sun and Mon at home eating what seemed an "unhealthy" roughage-free diet of no fruit, or salad or veg (except mashed potato I think); only chicken or fish allowed; no wholesome cereals or wholemeal bread; I think I was permitted CornFlakes with milk.
On the Tuesday (day before op) I was allowed only clear fluids: coffee and tea with no milk; clear broth, such as chicken noodle soup that was sieved to remove anything interesting; and clear fruit jelly (but for some reason NOT red jelly!). And because of having to take the laxative that day, I had to drink lashings of water. Do not stray far from the loo that day, especially in the hour following taking the laxative!

And others added lots of useful input.  It's obviously a slightly different diet, as yours caters for French ideas, so you can have plain boiled ham, for example, and apple puree.  ("coing", by the way, is quince.)

It's basically a "no roughage" diet you are aiming for, and I should think it would be an extremely BAD idea to eat sweetcorn at all during the run-up!  You should have nothing wholemeal (i.e. healthy versions of bread, rice, pasta).

Bon courage!  It's not as bad as all that, and you'll be through it by this time next week, n'est-ce pas?

Angela

[NormanH]

[quote user="Chancer"]

No it wont be a problem although I really will miss my fruit, actually the problem will be eating things that I no longer have in my diet since one year, I have just eaten my first piece of cheese in advance and jolly nice too. I have not eaten bread, butter or anything like it for a year and am not at all tempted by biscottes but cant see any other way of doing a breakfast, oh well back to Lidl once more.

I have just tried some mouliné and now realise that it probably wont be OK, its a bit like baby food, I guess that I need soupe which of course is not like soup as I knew it!!

[/quote]

Sitting at the same table with people who had fresh apricots and cherries for pudding in the Maison de Repos, when all I could have was apple purée yet again was the source of my only   semi tantrum [:(] ( I just walked away ...

For breakfast I negotiated Ham  with a  slice of the right sort of cheese or a boiled egg rather than jam or honey.

That diet seemed like a recipe for diabetes !

[Cendrillon]

My diet was much the same as Angela's and we both had the NHS procedure in U.K.

I found the Marigold powder i.e. stock cube equivalent good, I dissolved it in hot water in a bowl and ate it with a soup spoon. At least with that I could kid myself I was having a meal.[;-)]

Do not be tempted to eat forbidden fruits or any other healthy looking food, it is a definite No, No!

[Chancer]

Thank you all for your comments and explanations, it is much easier when you know the why as well as the what (to do).

I have some jolly nice spicy infusions, Hambledens Spice Delight, it says nowhere on the box what is in them, do you reckon they will be OK? It looks like I should avoid the fruits rouges ones.

[Loiseau]

Yes, Chancer, I think you should avoid anything red.  There was something in one of Norman's links in the other thread that explained why - but I forget the reason.

Angela

[Moriarty]

Mr. Moriarty had the procedure ...painless and easy so you've nothing to worry about. His regime was very simple: dried biscottes, thos eawful crunchy things that look like stale cardboard, with slices of hard cheese. He doesn't like ham so that could have been an option. Sometimes he put some clear runny honey on it. And he drank plenty of infusions ... there's quite nice ones at the supermarket. Avoid the rose/lime/camomile ones ... they smell very nice but taste of nothing. He found some apple and cinnamon ones at Auchan which really had some taste.

It's only for three days so although it felt like a long time it's not really. But he lost 5lbs in weight, enough to really feel quite different and his trousers were looser, he felt better.

Nutritionally three days of just hard cheese, honey and dry biscuits isn't ideal but it's just three days and the doctor was pleased that he'd made the effort, said many people think that just one 'slip' on the list won't make a difference but it does.

Good luck with the op.

[Chancer]

Well I have started, breakfast although not as we know it Jim is out of the way, dont much like the black coffee as I can now tell that the Aldi coffepads are in fact a bit grim.

I am begrugdingly going to buy some biscottes and some more hard cheese, if the rest of my meals are as unsatisfying as the first then I am just going to graze on biscottes and cheese like your husband, it will be a vivid reminder of how things used to be before I finally controlled my eating habits.

Do French people really like biscottes?

[idun]

Biscottes, beurk and yet like ryvita some people do like them.

Treat yourself to a small jar of decent coffee, sometimes a treat is good.

 

[Chancer]

Decent coffee in a jar??????[:-))]

I can no longer stand the stuff since changing to ground coffee/dosettes, if someone offers me a coffee I say yes but when I see a jar or those little sachets of instant I change my mind.

[5-element]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Do French people really like biscottes?

[/quote]

 

SOME French people do like biscottes. Occasionally, I do like them - for some reason, they don't make me feel as bloated as bread - I find it a good way to indulge cravings for carbs, without feeling I am eating carbs (silly, I know!). On the other hand, OH hates them, he thinks they are carboard or stale bread. Mind you, he also thinks that bread that is over 5 hours old is stale. Sigh.

 

[mint]

So, 5-e, he is a true French man then?

Mind you, I don't think I'd eat a baguette much more than 5 hours old either [:)]

[idun]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Decent coffee in a jar??????[:-))]

I can no longer stand the stuff since changing to ground coffee/dosettes, if someone offers me a coffee I say yes but when I see a jar or those little sachets of instant I change my mind.

[/quote]

So sorry, I buy Kenco Millicano in the UK now and it is good, doesn't taste like instant and does leave 'sludge' in the bottom of the cup. For me a decent jar of coffee. Also buy those coffee 'tea bags' of ground coffee. Handy if I cannot be bothered to put my italian cafetiere on.

[NormanH]

I find biscottes more tolerable with cheese than with jam.

Don't forget you can have breast of chicken, slices of ham (no fat) hard cheeses, hard boiled egg

I survived with things like frozen fish fillets with rice in a sort of rissotto as a change, with lemon juice.

For fruit you can have a compote..

[Chancer]

Yes I have already made inroads into the biscottes and cheese, they are OK really and given that I have not eaten bread for a year and hence hardly any cheese it seems like a forbidden treat, for me also it does not feel like I have broken my vow and eaten bread although they are virtually 100% flour.

I found a soya milk substitute in NOZ this afternoon, I have tried them before and they are normally déguelasse and rather like kissing your sister but this one is made from Lima Spelt (some fancy oat I think) and rice and soya, its lactose free and actually tastes great, in coffee even better than milk [:D] A good discovery, of course now I will have to return to empty the shelves.

Chicken with vermicelli and a soup sauce tonight, I think this is not going to be as hard as I thought, in fact I never have a problem adapting to whatever food source is available and have lived from hand to mouth several times, the real problem is having what I want and like in the fridge and cupboard but not being able to touch it, of course that is how I became obese, this is kind of the opposite, I only have healthy foods around and am being forced to eat a diet, and I agree with norman on this one, that seems to be a recipé for diabetes.

[NormanH]

Obviously you will only be on it for a very short time, but I was concerned about the lack of vitamins, so made sure I took vitamin supplements, which is a bit against my philosophy of eating a diet that gives you all you need.

[Théière]

Got any Bovril Chancer, a bit of a life saver I found...rice krispies for breakfast, you could eat your body weight and still be hungry [:)]

[5-element]

I hate to tell you Chancer, but all soya products are usually banned in a residue-free diet. I don't quite understand why, especially since there shouldn't be any fibre in anything as liquid as milk. It is probably OK if it is the only entorse to the diet for such a short time.