First Four Days Food List For A Flat Belly Diet

The Flat Belly Diet has two phases, the first of which is the four-day "Anti-Bloat Jumpstart" for women or the "Flat Abs Kickstart" for men. This phase clears your digestive tract and gets you used to eating four meals a day, which is a main component of the diet. The books "Flat Belly Diet!" and "Flat Belly Diet! For Men" include detailed shopping lists for four days of Jumpstart and Kickstart meals.

Jumpstart or Kickstart?

While the creators of the diet aimed the original book toward women, the men's Flat Belly Diet is basically the same. As with many diets, certain foods are required to accomplish the first-phase goal. The Jumpstart and Kickstart processes flush your digestive system and kick your metabolism into gear. This phase rids you of belly bloat, so you can start the main phase of the diet feeling thinner and lighter. The diets' authors promise a loss of up to 7 lbs. and almost 6 inches for women and 4 lbs. and 3 inches for men in this phase. But, they ask that you follow their menu exactly for those four days.

Foods to Avoid

One of the purposes of the first four days is to decrease water retention, so you must avoid salt, salt-based seasonings and processed foods. Excess carbs -- pasta, bagels, bananas -- also are out. The diet asks you to avoid bulky raw foods and eat foods with less volume, such as 1/2 cup of cooked carrots instead of 1 cup of raw -- both have the same nutrition. Also on the list: gassy foods, such as beans, broccoli, onions and citrus fruits; sugar alcohols, which cause distention, bloating and diarrhea; chewing gum, which causes you to swallow air; and fried and spicy foods.

Foods to Buy

The Flat Belly books provide an exact shopping list and menus for the Jumpstart and Kickstart processes. Produce includes items such as grape tomatoes, green beans -- fresh or frozen -- potatoes, baby carrots, cremini mushrooms and yellow squash. Dairy products are lactose-free skim milk and low-fat string cheese. Buy frozen blueberries, peaches and strawberries for smoothies; corn flakes, applesauce and sunflower seeds for breakfast; deli turkey and tuna fish for lunch; and tilapia, turkey breast and chicken breast for dinner. Ginger root and fresh mint, along with cucumbers, lemons and limes will flavor either Sassy Water or Fire Water. The diet requires you to drink 2 liters a day for each of the first four days.

After the Jumpstart or Kickstart

Based on MUFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids, the diet focuses on the healthy fats your body needs. MUFAs lower cholesterol and decrease your risk for heart disease. The creators of the Flat Belly Diet promise MUFAs are the "antidote to belly fat." You can find MUFAs in most vegetable oils, nuts and seeds, dark chocolate, avocados and olives. Following the first four days, you will eat four meals of 400 calories each, and you will have "a MUFA at every meal." The Jumpstart and Kickstart processes do not include MUFAs. Each day's calories add up to 1,200 for women and 1,600 for men, but during the main four weeks of the diet, women also consume 1,600 calories a day.