Living Hilo Style hasn’t been going out very much — like the rest of you, I’m sure. And maybe you’re getting tired of my cook-at-home posts. Well — here is a post that you may not have been expecting–a reflection on my colonoscopy prep. I am still keeping up with my health checkups. So, for me, that means it is time for a colonoscopy screening. If you’re 50 or over, you should talk to your doctor about your screening. This isn’t my first colonoscopy so I can tell you from experience that for me, the worst part of the colonoscopy is fasting. Since I love food, I hate to have to fast. Additionally, my social media feeds are full of posts from foodies that make me drool and crave. I don’t watch tv shows very much but the ones I do watch are all about food. But, I think this is an important health screening to do–especially since my mother had colon cancer so I don’t procrastinate on this. So–on the bright side, I wonder if I can use this as a cleanse/weight-loss kickstart for me??

In order to qualify for the colonoscopy procedure, I had to have a negative COVID test in the 72 hours prior. I made an appointment at Clinical Labs and thankfully, tested negative for COVID. The COVID test itself was quick and easy. The test just collects from the nostril area rather than the area way up my nose near my brain! My colonoscopy procedure was scheduled for a Friday morning so I had to start my liquid diet from Thursday. The last solid food I ate was at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday night. On this liquid diet, I am allowed to have sports drinks, water, tea, black coffee, Jell-O, popsicles, soda, or broth as long as nothing is red or purple colored.

• The day before the fast, I prepped non-red Jell-O to ‘eat.’ I also prepped the Miralax laxative with Crystal Light lemonade and put it in the fridge for later.
• My Thursday morning weigh-in came in at 126 pounds. At around 8 a.m. I prepped dashi broth to sooth my desire for something savory later on but I wasn’t hungry yet so I just drank some water.
• 9 a.m. My mouth got bored/lonely so I ate some Jell-O. I recommend using Knox gelatin in the mix to make your Jell-O firmer so that you have a more satisfying feeling of chewing.
• 11:30 a.m. My first stomach growl of hunger. I heated up some of the dashi broth and pretended I’m eating a fabulous soup. Actually, the broth was really good since it was made from my favorite Kayanoya brand. And I had more Jell-O so it felt like more than a one course meal.
• 12:10 p.m. AGH! My husband calls to ask me what I want from Burger King! He usually doesn’t offer me fast food since I’ve been trying to eat healthily lately. But for some reason he decided to do it today!!! UGH. And now I have to prepare myself for drooling over his Whopper and fries! But I did request a ginger ale. He ended up bringing home a Sprite which was fine. I rarely drink soda but this felt like an indulgence and did seem to make me less hungry. But hmm, if I’m trying to lose weight, maybe I should not be drinking soda. Back to green tea and dashi, I guess.
• 4:30 p.m. I’m feeling fine so far. Not hangry. Jell-O and broth seem to be working well. I took three Dulcolax pills at 5 p.m. and started the colon cleansing process that also included 7 doses of Miralax at 5 p.m. and another 7 doses of Miralax at 4 a.m. I didn’t join my family while they ate dinner. That would just be too torturous. FYI: Normally, you would take one dose of Miralax in a day so this 14-dose quantity certainly was a kickstarter to cleanse my gut.

I stopped all intakes of liquids at 7:45 a.m. on Friday morning as instructed. Prior to heading to the Endoscopy Center at 10 a.m., I weighed in at 123 pounds prior to the procedure. A loss of around 3 pounds. The fasting experience wasn’t too bad. The water, broth, Jell-O, and laxatives actually made me feel pretty full so I didn’t have any real hunger pangs but I did miss being able to indulge when I wanted. I was hungry the morning of the procedure but it wasn’t unbearable. But — I do love to eat. And would prefer not to fast. In fact, I finished my procedure around 11:45 and my husband had bought a miso special from Cafe 100 for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was still pretty tired from the anesthesia but I was able to participate in a work meeting before I took a short nap in the afternoon. For dinner, I had a slice of my daughter’s leftover pizza from lunch, some delicious Maui Hashimoto Farms persimmon, a kale and arugula salad, and some roasted eggplants and then had a good night’s sleep. On Saturday morning, I weighed in at 124 pounds–two pounds less than pre-colonoscopy. And now about a week after the procedure, I’ve been weighing in steadily at 125. I’ll try to maintain that level through the holidays ! Living Hilo Style.