With monounsaturated fatty acids - or "MUFAs" - being a core principle of the Flat Belly Diet (we recommend a MUFA at every meal), nuts, seeds and nut butters are incorporated into the vast majority of the meals and recipes on the program. If you have allergies to these foods, then the Flat Belly Diet might not be the right program to suit your needs. Please contact customer service if you have this concern.

I do not recommend artificial sweeteners and have not included any in the Flat Belly Diet. However, if you would like to use Splenda or another sugar substitute that is your choice. In many of the recipes and meal ideas you'll notice that the foods taste great with just fruit or the MUFA-rich chocolate as a sweetener. I have posted a blog with additional info and research about why I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners. To read my blog just click on my profile (I'm in your buddy list).

I don't recommend nor do I discourage you from taking supplements. If the supplements were prescribed or recommended by your doctor please continue taking them until you discuss with him or her.

Yes, you can continue to drink Sassy Water every day. I recommend Sassy Water during the 4-day phase but many of our testers (and our staff) kept drinking it long into the Flat Belly Diet! As far as other beverages to drink with or between meals I would recommend plain water (if you need a little flavor you can add a splash of 100% apple or white grape juice or freeze 100% juices and bits of real fruit and add the cubes to your water).

I also recommend unsweetened brewed hot and cold green, red, white or black tea, or herbal tea. Just use a splash of juice, and if you use more, please just account for the calories it provides by adjusting from your meal plan. The best way to do this may be to swap it for a fruit.

Sparkling water can contribute to bloating so I generally recommend no carbonated drinks but if you really enjoy it and it's calorie free and all natural I think that would be fine as well.

During the 4-day Jumpstart coffee is not allowed because it can contribute to bloating and acid reflux, but after that, you can enjoy your coffee again! Some people notice a major reduction in bloating from this one change alone. Please keep in mind that the 4-day Jumpstart is all about reducing bloating and you can resume coffee on day 5.

However, if you really don't want to give up your coffee please keep it in. The goal with the 4-day Jumpstart was to create the most effective anti-bloat plan, but you should also feel great. Green tea would also be a great choice to provide some caffeine during the 4 day Jumpstart.

Is there a health food store in your area? If so you should be able to find most or all of these items there, however, many mainstream grocery chains also carry nearly all of these brands. If you do not have a health food store please ask your grocery store manager to help you locate the brands they do carry. You can also request that they order the brands for you to test them out in the store.

And please note that the brands listed are only suggestions, not requirements in any way. I selected them based on their excellent quality and taste and when we tested this plan, our testers told us they liked knowing about highly recommended products. However, you can substitute ANY brands you like for any of the ingredients in this entire plan as long as the calories are the same.

Frozen foods are not required. When I selected foods for the meal plans I took into account convenience and saving shopping and preparation time. You may use the same amount of fresh fruits and vegetables. You can also use your swap feature to see which foods are allowed to be swapped for anything in your plan that you would like to swap.

But, yes, you absolutely can substitute fresh fruit, vegetables and fish when you see frozen or canned. Many of our testers needed quicker, more convenient ingredients but if you can use fresh that's terrific.

Members have also asked if it's okay to use complete frozen meals. The answer is yes. I've suggested specific brands with zero trans fat, not over 3 g of saturated fat and like to recommend products with ingredients you can easily recognize and pronounce - I look for frozen meals made with whole grains, produce, lean protein and low fat dairy and try to avoid artificial anything (colors, flavors, preservatives) as well as high fructose corn syrup. If you have favorites you really love that you'd rather eat you can give them a try - just be sure your entire meal is no more than 400 calories including the MUFA.

Please pair your MUFA with the frozen meal.

Before you leave, you can devise a plan using your recommended meals as a guide. I would suggest printing out some of your favorite meals so you can try to recreate them when you're away. Also, pack some portable MUFAs.

You can always order a salad topped with grilled chicken or salmon (stick to about 2 match books or up to deck of cards portion at most) with balsamic vinegar and add 2 Tbsp (2 thumb tips) of your own seeds or chopped nuts. Once you become more familiar with the meals and portions I think you'll find that you can alter some standard restaurant menu items to become Flat Belly meals.

Also, for on-the-go times when you need something to pack and eat I recommend any of the following bars along with 2 Tbsp nuts or seeds to replace a meal:

• Odwalla Chocolate Chip Peanut or Banana Nut bar
• Any flavor Larabar
• Nature's Path Optimum Blueberry Flax & Soy energy bar or Pomegran Cherry energy bar
• Any flavor Luna bar
• Clif Black Cherry Almond or Chocolate Brownie or Crunchy Peanut Butter Bar

It's up to you whether you want to include alcohol. As a health care professional, my goal has always been to help people make informed decisions that work best for their own lives. So here's the information I always share regarding alcohol: In moderation, alcohol has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease, but it also carries risks. Just one drink a day is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, and more than moderate drinking is tied to a number of health risks.

That said, most adults do consume alcohol, so if you do already drink, practice moderation. That means one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. (One drink equals twelve ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1/5 ounces (one shot) of 80-proof distilled spirits.)

Each of these contains about 100 calories, so to stay on track with the Flat Belly Diet, whether you're trying to lose weight or maintain weight loss, you'll need to balance out those calories somehow. You can either burn 100 extra calories (by exercising), or take 100 away. If you choose the latter, I recommend either shaving 25 from each of your four meals or 50 from two-taking 100 calories out of a single 400-calorie meal can leave you feeling too hungry, and since alcohol is an appetite stimulant, that could be a recipe for overeating.

There is a complete list of MUFA rich foods on the site. Use it to see how much you should eat of any one item. Feel free to swap any MUFA on your menus, just make sure it's a pretty fair trade calorie-wise (in other words you should not take pesto out (80 calories) and replace it with tahini (178 calories), but you can take peanuts out (166 calories) and replace them with sunflower seeds (165 calories).

If you have been told to avoid nuts by your personal physician, please continue to follow his or her dietary instructions exactly as prescribed. According to National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), "Avoidance of nuts, popcorn, and sunflower, pumpkin, caraway, and sesame seeds has been recommended by physicians out of fear that food particles could enter, block, or irritate the diverticula. However, no scientific data support this treatment measure. Eating a high-fiber diet is the only requirement highly emphasized across the literature and eliminating specific foods is not necessary."

Attached you will find a link to an NIDDK article about diverticulosis that includes information about nuts and seeds. If you are interested in following the Flat Belly Diet and are not allergic to nuts or seeds, perhaps you could share this information with your physician and discuss possible options that are appropriate for your condition.
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/diverticulosis/

In terms of sodium, the total mg per day varies greatly in this diet for a few reasons:

• This isn't a static meal plan. If you have the book, you know that all the breakfasts, all the lunches, all the dinners, and all the snack packs are simply listed out, and you get to choose which one from each list you want on any given day. Some of the meals are higher in sodium and others are very, very low. So, in the book, your total daily sodium intake can vary greatly depending on which meals you chose. On this site, meals are randomly inserted into your meal plan, but, you can swap a meal for another, and swapping just one higher sodium meal out can dramatically lower your total sodium.
  
  For example, I looked on my meal plan for this week and on Monday the sodium in the analysis box said 2,206 mg (just under the daily recommended cut off). But when I traded my breakfast for another, it sank to 884 mg (a very low sodium intake).
  
  
• You also have the ability, both in the book and on this site to swap out ingredients within a meal. Some ingredients are higher in sodium, such as deli meat. But you can always swap an ingredient within the same food group, such as getting rid of the deli turkey and inserting fresh chicken breast.
  
  
• Most MUFAs are low in sodium, particularly the oils and unsalted nuts and seeds (avocados and tahini are also low), but a few are higher, including the nut butters (2 Tbsp unsalted dry roasted peanuts have no sodium but 2 Tbsp natural peanut butter contains 120 mg). The highest sodium MUFAs are olives and olive tapenade. Pesto can also be higher depending on how much salt was added. I highly recommend comparing jars or containers - you'll find that the amount can vary considerably from brand to brand.

  The recommended daily sodium intake is a maximum of 2,300 mg per day. Some people with high blood pressure are told by their physician to aim for 1,500 mg daily. You can easily achieve either of these recommended limits on this diet by doing 3 things:

  1. Choose lower sodium meals, particularly those where the MUFA is oil, avocado, or unsalted nuts or seeds
  2. Swap out higher sodium ingredients within meals (such as deli meat for fresh meat)
  3. Read labels on packaged foods and choose brands and varieties with the least amount.

The meal timing structure, calorie control and balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats does help control hypoglycemia and a MUFA-rich diet will help to increase your good cholesterol level (HDL) and decrease your total cholesterol and LDL level. The Flat Belly Diet! book has a lot of detail about how MUFAs impact heart health, reducing the risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The Flat Belly Diet is very heart healthy. The protein, fiber, and MUFAs (on day 5 of the program and beyond) help slow digestion and provide more "time-released" absorption of the carbohydrates so you blood sugar should rise slower over a longer period of time and remain more steady.