Green Breakfast

This morning the little one demanded "Mommy's cereal (frosted mini wheats) however, every time they eat that, it never stays with them like the commercials say they do.  Some mornings we give it to them, others, no. This morning was a no. We made waffles instead.  The little boy wants pancakes, all the time and the girl, waffles.  Good thing it is all from the same mix. One in a pan, the other in the iron.  The little man wanted to help and went straight for the spinach. Yes, spinach. See, a few years ago our family was introduced to Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. A book that is said to have "Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food." Well, we tried it and a lot of things in it work.  One of the things we did since discovering the book was add spinach to our pancakes and waffle mix. We simply add the spinach and milk in our vitamix, turn it on blend together. The milk (and waffles) turn green, but that is the extent of the oddness.  My wife (who is pretty picky when it comes to flavors) says she can't tell. The color is all that throws her off. Now each time we make waffles or pancakes the little man heads to the fridge to "help" get and gets the spinach.

This morning the family had waffles and I had a green juice. I took a cantaloupe and, three large handfuls of spinach.

and tossed them in the juicer. This allowed for me to get nutrients and the calories I need for my morning after the Insanity workout. I'm now consuming more than I was the last two weeks.  

No more "VLCD" for me. Instead of only consuming 400 to 600 calories, I'm back up to the 700 to 1,200 range.  I still need to create a deficeit in my caloric intake!  The competitions are drawing to a close.  And I know that I'm off of my 84 pounds lost in 84 days... however, life happens. And that is okay!  I'm down to 195.5 this morning! That is 56.5 pounds lost! I'm still going for my goal... no giving up over here. Just doing all I can to remain HEALTHY and lose the weight.  As that is key! I want to be alive and fit. Not fit and dead. The competitions are great and they motivate me, but overall health is what is most important. I do want to find myself at 166 pounds... as that would be 34+ percent lost... which should place me in first place for the second competition. However, if I don't get there before it ends... I'll get there eventually. And that is for sure.

With that said, on the team challenge... Our team has lost over 160 pounds in 3 months!  Today (3/26) is the LAST DAY of a mini challenge! It ends at 5pm EST. We looked and discovered we NEED 60 more votes to beat the current leaders in this challenge. The mini challenges would determine the winner if there is an overall tie in weight loss!  Please take thirty seconds and vote for our SLIMPOSSIBLE photo (you can SEE it below). 

It is on HealthyWage's Facebook page, here are instructions and the link. 

It takes 4 clicks once this page loads:

1: Top right corner "Like" Scroll Down.

2: Click "Vote next to the SLIMPOSSIBLE Photo.

3: After Vote is counted; Click to close window. Scroll Back up.

4: Click "Unlike" and you are done. http://a.pgtb.me/Pr6?app_data=entry_id%3D20465867 

My focus for the next two to three weeks...

Complete two to three workouts a day. Stay extremely busy to maximize my caloric eliminating abilities, eat quality food. Cardio... cardio... cardio... so calories are destroyed and these pounds will melt away!

My Progress: 56.5 Pounds Lost in 72 Days!

Almond Butter

Almond butter... sandwich!  So... while doing Insanity Cardio and Balance this morning I received a text message from my sister-in-law.

Here is that conversation:

Her:
"Hey. I've been thinking about how you've hit plateaus with your weight loss efforts. It surprised me to hear this since you're obviously only consuming healthy food and have been working out like a mad-man. I wonder if you had say one heavy carb meal per week if it'd trigger a boost in your weight loss? Or maybe one meal with extra protein? Idk. Just a thought.

Me: I have been thinking the same type of thing but not sure. I have heard that that can help, Or something like that can help because it mixes things up a bit. Anything is better than going to long on the low calorie diet and allowing my body to consume my muscles for fuel.

I thought about it and decided, why not give it a try. Taking one (1) scoop of the nutritional yeast and mixing it with 1/2 tablespoons of Justin's Almond Honey Butter. The yeast dried it out so I added some water and used my hands to knead the mixture. Doing so created a moist mixture. Just add little by little, if it looks to wet, pour it off.  This actually worked very well. If you don't want jelly, go left.  If you do want jelly, go right. I then sent her these pictures:

                                    Without Jelly: 363 calories                    With Jelly: 413 calories

Her: That looks really good. My first thought for eating carbs was eating something like pizza...tons of carbs...and fat. But I think you're taking a much better approach.  :)

Me: Haha... hope so. :-) Especially since almost everyday for the last 2 weeks has been around 400 to 600 calories. Maybe 800

Her: Wow. And this sandwich will come close to 400. I do think there is some truth in that you need to feed your body to burn the fat. You'll be the ultimate testiment to that if you find it works.

Me: I agree... you do need to fuel the body. And if you are not careful when you do start pounding fuel, your body will start storing everything, regardless what is as fat. Doing so as a precaution as it might fear that you will keep starving it. Which is like a very low calorie diet is only recommended for 2 weeks and only if you are obese. Which I did. And which I still am. But not as much that was awhile ago. :-) I need to be careful that I do not allow my body to start consuming my muscles. They say if you are moderately active besides work out you take your current body weight times 14 to get your required calories a day for just maintaining your current weight. Subtracting 500 off of that will give you what they recommend at losing a pound a week. I will throw that formula into the blog."

"Sedentary lifestyle (desk job): Current weight in pounds x 12 = Maintenance Caloric Needs. Moderately active lifestyle (server in a restaurant and/or doing one of our entry level programs, like Power 90® or Hip Hop Abs®): Current weight in pounds x 13 = Maintenance Caloric Needs. Highly active lifestyle (construction worker and/or doing one of our elite programs, like P90X® or INSANITY®): Current weight in pounds x 14 = Maintenance Caloric Needs. From there, subtract 500 calories and that's probably a good deficit for weight loss. (But make sure that number stays about 1,200. Anything lower can be dangerous in the long term.) Conversely, if you're trying to gain muscle mass, add 300 calories or so—but make sure you're also doing a solid weight lifting program like Body Beast® so those calories have a place to go." From Team BeachBody's Newsletter

With that said, this was a pretty good sandwich.  I'll keep in mind how much I consumed and will follow it up with a juice later today, as this was the first thing (besides water during the workout) that I have had today.

My Progress: 55.9 Pounds lost in 69 Days!

Sandwich vs Juice

My wife wanted a peanut butter (she chose almond butter) and jelly sandwich for lunch.  I considered joining her.  While making her sandwich my calorie counting brain (which is new to me) started adding up the calories in the sandwich. As healthy as it is...

...the calories in this sandwich were adding up fast.

I opted to make two juices instead.
Often I will include kale, collards (both a "superfood") or spinach in my juice.  Today I wanted something lighter, just a minimal flavor. Not every juice has to be "green" to be healthy.  However, the cantaloupe juice below has a lot of the same qualities of a juice with kale or collards in it. I juiced the entire thing, rind and all. The 850 watt juicer is amazing and kicks all the remnants into the catcher, so the juice is just that, juice. However, the valuable nutrients in the rind are separated and added to the juice.

This is what I made.


Cantaloupe
1 Tbls TwinLab Nutritional Yeast
312 Calories
Yield: 36 ounces

9 Organic Carrots
1 Beet
1 Tbls TwinLab Nutritional Yeast
385 Calories
Yield: 24 ounces

Total: 60 ounces; 697 calories

One Peanut/Almond Butter and Jelly Sandwich
2 slices of organic bread (89 calories each)
1 tbls Almond butter (200 calories Which is the same amount for either our peanut or almond butter)
1 tbls Strawberry jelly (50 calories)
Total: 428 Calories

The juice can easily be divided out into multiple "meals." A 12 ounce glass would equal 139.40 calories. Drinking 12 ounces 6 times in one day (like having 6 meals) would keep me feeling "full" throughout the day. If I felt hungry, I could easily consume more.

Trying to divide the sandwich into 6 meals might be a bit more difficult. It can be done, I'd recommend a baggy or something to keep the bread of drying out, if you try it.

Even the 385 calorie carrot juice, at 24 ounces could at least be two 12 ounce meals. Usually I consume my juice in 4 to 8 ounce increments. Going for 12 is a bit more "normal" if you look at a most kitchen glasses being 16 ounces when filled to the brim. Most people probably fill them with 12 to 14 ounces of liquid. I consume 4 to 8 ounces at a time now as my stomach feels full with less than it did three months ago. Another great benefit of eating healthier and smaller portions... I don't pound food like I used to and feel satisfied and full, with a lot less.

I did not do a workout yesterday. An unplanned rest day. With that said, I'll get on the scale tomorrow, but no weight update for today.

Calories per day

I was asked this question.  After answering it, I thought, this should be a blog post.  I've received several questions along this line and figured I'd share.

"Congratulations on your weight loss. I checked out your blog. About how many calories are you taking in a day?"

The beachbody calculator says that I should be consuming 2800 to maintain and 2300 to lose a pound a week. However, currently I am consuming much less than that. But only for about 2, maybe 3 weeks. I am making sure to get my essential nutrients, nutrients and vitamins via nutritional yeast. I am also consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables from time to time, each day.

99% of what I consume goes through the juicer. However, these last few days I've added in a few more solid items. I believe yesterday I probably consumed around 700 calories, but did no workout.  The day before probably 500 and did 2 Max Insanity workouts.  Both days though I took two servings (70 calories) of Nutritional Yeast. I have a gut still... not as much as before of course. My body is still burning calories... I know the concern is not to do a very low calorie diet for long, as the body will start consuming the muscle.  Which is why I added the nutritional yeast. And which is why I'm only doing this for 2 or 3 weeks.  Then, when I add more calories back into my lifestyle, I'll do so with high quality foods and juices. Doing so in a manner that doesn't PACK it in, as I don't want to do the roller coaster weight gain thing.  Also, I still have 30 pounds (slightly less than that), that I want to shed. I know I need to fuel my body or my body will CLING to the calories that I have, as a way to make sure that I am still alive. With that said, I've noticed it doesn't take a lot for me to fill full. Which is great, as I eat 4 to 8 times a day!  So... for now, I'm consuing 4 to 8 ounces (75 to 200 calories) every couple of hours. Once I get back in the "range" the beachbody calculator says is my range (2300 to lose a pound a week), I still plan on rationing out my portions. They will be larger, around 280 to 600 per meal (based off of 4 to 8 meals a day).  Simply take the total calories you want to consume in a day / by the number of meals you plan on eating and VIOLA! You've got how many calories you should consume each meal.

It will be a while before I get up to 2300 calories.  I'll probably jump it up to 1200 to 1500 calories next week. Eating 8 times in a day would make it basically 190 calories per time.

It is all about discipline.

In reality, I eat more in the morning at night.  Which means I tend to eat twice or three times the amount to start the day and then ration the remainder out.

Example: 1500 calories would be about 190 calories per "meal" but I would consume at least two, maybe 3 of those to start the day.

Breakfast: 570 ish calories. Which would leave 930 calories to be divided into the next 7 times I eat. Basically 132 calories each time... every few hours.  If I ever "feel" hungry I can always double up one of the times I eat.  Either way, I have rationed it out, so when the food is gone, it is gone.  Not that I can't or wouldn't eat more if I wanted it. I would just know when the food / juice is gone, that I hit my caloric intake that I planned for the day.

I listen to my body though, if I feel hungry I will eat.  I also remember to drink PLENTY of water.  As 60% of the time we "feel hungry" we really are thirsty.  If I feel hungry, I'll drink water first and then wait.


This picture is of regular food... I still do consume solids. I just am being selective and careful.  This is one of the rare times where I did a low heat stir fry.

Since it takes about 20 minutes or so for the stomach to tell the brain it is full, I purposely stop consuming food well before the "twenty" minutes comes and goes.  This is a huge improvement on the eating habits I had in my youth.  I grew up on meat and potatoes. I would eat until I "felt" full! Then when the signal finally did hit my brain, I was also so full my pants felt like they were going to cut me in half.  We were all big eaters growing up! Huge meals! We always wanted to get the most bang for our buck!  How much food can I get for as little as possible.  Now I look at it as quality over quantity! Highly nutritious food is much better! I'll pay a little more and ensure that I am getting what my body needs!  I haven't had fast food or junk in a long time and I see no place for it in my life! This is a lifestyle change.  Even after I hit my goal weight and tone up, my intention is to still juice at least one or two times a day and then have a sensible dinner. Maintaining a healthy inside and a fit outside is my goal.  I want to be strong enough and active enough to do all that I can with my family and kids and healthy inside so that I can live a long life with them too!  Looking "fit" and ripped on the outside doesn't mean that one's arteries and body is healthy on the inside.  However, I know after my last blood work and the ultra sound where they looked at my arteries that I am healthy and that the arteries are "clean!"  The ultrasound tech was shocked when she saw my arteries.  She actually said, "WoW!  This is what normal arteries are supposed to look like!"

That was so cool to hear!

Thanks for asking... and thanks for reading!  I truly want to be the healthiest that I can be. Both inside and out.

Fruit Juice

This morning's juice consisted of:

Two fuji apples, 1 cup of blueberries (stuffed in the yellow pepper), the yellow pepper, one beet and two red collard green leafs. This by itself is very good!  I'd recommend it to anyone.

After making the juice, the vitamix came into play, as I wanted to mix in the nutritional yeast without any clumps... I usually keep all of my ingredients in the fridge, as I like a cold drink... if ever something isn't cold, simply adding ice does the trick.

Upon mixing in the nutritional yeast, I drank about 15 ounces and reserved the remaining 10 or so ounces for later today. I was asked "how I do it." I've read a few times over the years that it is better (health wise) ton eat 4 to 6 small meals a day then 2 or 3 large ones.  With that in mind, consuming my calories rationed throughout the day makes it so I don't overeat and I feel full and satisfied. They say it takes 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain you are "full." Implementing that knowledge into my life and a touch of discipline makes it simple. I drink (or eat) about 4 to 8 ounces and then I wait. No sense of eating for 20 minutes, just so my stomach will "talk" to my brain. Sixty percent of the time when we feel "hungry" we are actually thirsty. I keep that in mind too. When I feel hungry, water comes first and then food.

After seeing a post about a "mono" juice on my friend's website. I took another look at my "juices" that I've been making that get the nutritional yeast added in them. For the past week the juices have been vegetable based, as they have lower calories than "fruit" based ones. Since the VLCD is still very much an element of my diet this week (and next), making sure to consume essential nutrients, vitamins, amino acids all while doing so with minimal caloric intake, I was avoiding most fruit. Now I've brought fruit back into the mix... and I'm loving it just as much as before.  Variety in the juices I consume has been huge. It has been 67 days since I've started juicing and have probably juiced 98% of everything I've consumed since early January, 2013. I love it and am not missing or craving anything.  I have memories of regular "food" but not overwhelming cravings.  On the contrary, when I do take something like take a bite of a fry from In n' Out from my wife's meal or lick a spoon off (out of habit) after making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (even though the jelly is all natural) the intensity is more than I am used to and I

Testing this new concept:

A grapefruit juice that just consisted of two full grapefruits and a heaping tablespoon of TwinLab's Nutritional Yeast. A 7 out of 10!

A cantaloupe juice following my friend's advice to leave the rhind on was also good.  "Juicing the entire fruit gives you 100% of the food value. The green skin contains chlorophyll (which cleanses your system). Chlorophyll is also found in foods like kelp, spinach, kale, and other green foods. -MakeitVegan" Once again, just the fruit and a scoop of the nutritional yeast. Great! Probably an 8 or 9 out of 10.

I placed both drinks in the fridge to get them cold after tasting them.  You could pour them over ice as well. I had no desire to drink that many ounces right away, but to have them on the ready as part of my 'meal plan' for the day.

Since I did two Max Insanity workouts yesterday, I used the grapefruit juice as my recovery drink after the second workout!

Updated Photo!

Updated photos... with the new weight loss and finally getting below 200 pounds, here is a look at the last 65 days! I'm down 54.7 pounds thus far! With basically 30 pounds to go to reach my goal weight of 166, I'm thrilled at the progress!

I have been working out like crazy! Having done over three hours of cardio and ab workouts yesterday has, as MyFitnessPal says; "earned" me more calories. I don't want to "earn" calories as of yet... I want to shed them!

The text at the bottom of the image says "If every day were like today you'd weigh 158.9 lbs in 5 weeks"
I would LOVE to be at 166 by April 8th. That may not happen, but I will be close.  The final contest needs to be weighed out on April 21st, maybe the 19th. Either way, I am hoping to be at 166 by that day. April 8th is the deadline for the first contest. Eating well, doing these Insanity and P90X workouts and implementing little tidbits that I've picked up to help me minimize the quantity that I consume and eat per meal is really paying off!

I am taking two servings of nutritional yeast each day to ensure I'm getting the essential nutrients and I am still consuming my juice. Only for two, maybe three weeks will my caloric intake be between 400 and 800. I'm doing this, with the nutritional yeast and the workouts to ensure weight loss, but also keep the nutrient levels up, so my body isn't lacking.

The previous winners of the second weight loss contest that I am in lost about 34% of their body weight. That contest pays out $5,000 to first place. My intention is to WIN that one... and then tone up and add muscle and a few pounds of weight. However, I am listening to my body and will not ignore warning signs. I am "winning" by losing as much as I have lost. Win or lose the five grand, I'll be healthier and happier at the new weight. One thing is, I know that my body needs more than just low calories. A body needs nutrients. A bowl of cabbage soup each day would be low calories, but would not provide the nutrients to sustain life. Which is why the nutritional yeast is being consumed with my juice.

After three weeks I'll continue eating (juicing and eating) as normal. I find it interesting that my stomach gets full a lot faster than ever before. Yesterday after drinking about 8 ounces of juice, I ate (yes, chewed) about half of my son's bean burrito (whole wheat tortilla and refried beans - he likes them pretty plain) and a few bites of the filling from the stuffed yellow pepper that I made the family for dinner, I felt like I was going to pop! This is good to learn now, as I want to avoid the "roller coaster" weight gain that is a potential after losing a lot of weight. I understand the need to avoid going back to the bad eating habits of the past. Slowing down. Smaller bites. Smaller portions. More, but smaller meals throughout the day will allow for feeling fuller and satisfied throughout the day, without tanking it on.

I look forward to a healthy, long and energetic life with my wife, kids, family and friends!

Finally!

My home scale says I've broken 200! I am now down 54.7 pounds! In the last few days I've done three Insanity workouts! With 19 days remaining until the first (of 6) weight loss contests are over, eliminating calories is the goal! Intense cardio workouts, combined with consuming 'complete' meals that have all the essential nutrients that I can get, along with discipline and no 'cheat' days and time... hopefully the 84th pound will be lost.

The last few weeks haven't been the best in terms of working out. As a family life got kind of busy.  We drove to Arizona to see my mom after she burned her legs.  Living out of the hotel for three days didn't invite the best workout environment, as the hotel didn't have a dvd player. Along with being on the second floor... I couldn't bring myself to be hopping around doing Insanity workouts with "neighbors" downstairs. Hitting the treadmill while there was okay, but not as intense!

One good thing is, I didn't give in.  No fast food. No restaurant food (besides one veggie burger). Instead the international market that was close to the hotel provided all that I needed.

If this is your first time here. I went in and saw my Doctor and had blood work done... I posted about it here.  He says my numbers are perfect and that, besides technically being "obese" via the BMI scale, I am the healthiest person that he has seen.  My good cholesterol numbers have increased and my bad has lowered. I'm getting all the protein, calcium, etc... For me, it is about shedding these pounds! Once I reach my goal weight and these weight loss contests end, I'll tone up some.

I am super excited to FINALLY be under 200 pounds... and not just a little, but to be under it! I intend on NEVER again seeing 200 or higher when I step on the scale!

I am now going to try to squeeze in P90X's ab workouts during the next 19 days to help burn cardio, but also to try to tone up the mid section... the belly, before the final weigh ins and photos!

I will post some photos either today or tomorrow... it will be nice for me to see my start and current progress photos!

My Progress:  Lost 54.7 Pounds in 65 Days!

Juice and a Burger!

Today I went out on a limb.  I found a recipe online that talked about making a "burger' out of the remnants of the juice.  However, I didn't like the idea of having to add eggs to make the burger bind together. Nor did the ingredients sound like they would POP much in terms of flavor. However, the idea of making a burger from the remnants stuck with me.

I kept thinking about it, but had no real plan so, I opened the fridge and picked some vegetables out three fuji apples for my juice.

Ingredients:
Lacinato Kale, 2 Stalks Red Collards Green, 3 fuji apples, 1 Organic Tomato (the big ones), 1 Beet, 2 small 2 Cucumbers,  5 carrots, 1 Orange Bell Pepper, 1 Yellow Bell Pepper, 1 Parsnip

Yield: close to 70 ounces. Taste! 8 or 9, easily!  This was really good!

When I tasted it, I was thinking, this is so l good... I wonder what it would taste like as the burger.  I started thinking, meat... ground beef. Is pretty flavorless, until people add spices.  I found spices online that people add to beef. I looked in the cupboard and found lemon and black pepper in a grinder.

I took the remnants out and of the catcher and put them in a bowl then balled it up like I would if it was ground beef.

 

The moisture that remained in the remnants was enough that it actually held the "meat" together when I made the patties. The red coloring from the beets was enough to mentally make me think I was handling ground beef again. Each time I touched the remnants I kept washing my hands...

In the end, I believe this was pretty good. I liked it warm. I might have tried it on a whole wheat bun, but we don't have any in the house right now.

After the first patty, I tried a few different spices to see what the options could taste like.  When it comes down to it. If you make the above "juice" in the Breville, you can have your own patty mixture without needing any fillers or anything to make the patties bind together. 

Once you have it, mix the remnants together (like you would ground beef) and then take small handfuls (about 4 to 8 ounce) out at a time.  That way, if you don't like something, you still have tons of extra without ruining the entire thing.  The remnants were going to go in the trash anyways, so I don't feel like I'm wasting anything. Just experimenting with new flavors in my food.

Attempts:

Made it with fresh ground Lemon Pepper. Pretty good.

Made the above remnants with cayenne pepper. Just okay.

Made it with dried oregano, dried parsley flakes, fresh ground pepper and a touch of salt. Decent.

I considered making it with "worchester sauce" but didn't.  Just couldn't bring myself to add something that had refined sugar in it. Had it not been for "sugar" being in the ingredients I would have tempted it.  We have several "sauces" in the fridge from before my juicing days that sounded good... but have sugar in the ingredients.  For now, I just don't want refined, bleached white sugar in my system.  Feel free to experiment with any of your normal favorites! Come back and leave a comment... I'd like to know or hear about what you did and if you liked it.

Q

I tweeted this question:

"Is it lack of calories or nutrition that can set off starvation mode?"

Twitter is limited on text, but not on how you can connect. I don't normally tag tons of people, but I did this morning. I am looking for a serious answer and would love a response from "experts." Opinions are great, but knowing is best. I am looking for a real answer. 

If someone consumed vegetables, fruits along with wheat grass and nutritional yeast or a combination of foods that make up a "complete" diet; wouldn't that keep starvation mode from ever setting in?


This is how I look at it. Nutritional labels and most advice is based off a 2,000 calorie diet. This number is not set in stone for each person, but is a guideline to help people consume enough calories to hopefully obtain the nutrients, vitamins, fats and minerals that the body needs for sustaining life. However, if those 2,000 calories came from just soda and candy, the body would still be lacking nutrients and would go in starvation mode. If the calories came from kale, collards, etc... and for those who enjoy meat, chicken, beef, fish, etc... the items consumed would have more in it than just the junk in soda and candy.

I am suggesting that a lifestyle built on (based on) a complete diet would sustain life and maintain a healthy weight if individuals consumed all what the body needs. Of course, the body needs calories.  I'm not suggesting no calories whatsoever, that would be wrong and deadly.

I personally believe that a lifestyle based on complete foods, with all of the essential nutrients and amino acids would sustain life very well. That one would not need "2,000 calories" a day to maintain life, but could do so on a smaller number. That consuming food throughout the day could prevent the feeling of being hungry. Doing so, would allow for ample health, growth and could keep cancer and other diseases away, while never allowing starvation mode from developing.


Please either comment below or send me an email. Years ago I created an account for a quizno sandwich promotion, I haven't used it since, you can email me there (I still can access it), that way I don't potentially get "spammed" by auto bots, but still can access your replies. 2freequiznosubs AT gmail DOT com

Earned it!

Beachbody says I've "Earned it!" They sent me this Insanity shirt for completing the Insanity program! That is pretty cool of them.

There are still at least 34 more pounds to shed! I feel great that 50+ are eliminated... but, I am not going to settle there!

We're back from Arizona. Mom is doing well and now... now... I need to do give the BEST POSSIBLE effort and make sure that I consume all the essential nutrients that I can, with the minimal calories possible. There is still a lot of "jiggle" in the "keg" area when this man walks, so there isn't a concern about needing extra fuel for fueling this calorie assaulting and destroying machine!
Just NEED willpower! The nutritional yeast... ugg, can be a bit much. However, consuming two servings a day is doing wonders! And... it puts my mind at ease.

If this is your first time here... or if you missed yesterday's post, you've got to check out the picture of the Jackfruit! It is not photo shopped!  The picture of it in this post -->  http://84lbs84days.blogspot.com/2013/03/family-first.html <-- was taken by me, with my droidx at an International Market!  The thing is HUGE!

For first timers, I have in the past also included blood reports, photos of juices, some recipes, etc... hope you enjoy this blog.  Most importantly, I started this to motivate myself to lose the weight.  That has become a lot easier that more people are visiting each day. Just knowing that others are seeing this and following my weight loss journey adds tons of motivation! Thank you everyone!

Family first.

Family comes first.

Mom ended up in the hospital after burning her legs so we headed out of state to go see her. She is doing a lot better with another surgery coming in a few days.

My desire to workout each day was (and still is) huge. However, living out of the hotel for the past three days didn't allow for it. Sure, they had a gym. And a treadmill. Burning 800 calories on a treadmill isn't as "fun" for me, compared to doing it with Insanity. With only actually "working out" one of the last three days minimizing my caloric intake has been my greatest source of hopefully maintaining any chance I have of reaching my 84 pound goal. The treadmill said I was burning 100 calories every 10 minutes. I'm not that fast of a runner, so watching 100 in ten brought mixed feelings.

I'll get back on the scales tomorrow morning for sure and will update the weight loss tracker at that point. Why not today... I like to weigh in when first thing in the morning. Since we checked out the hotel this morning, weighing myself wasn't an option.

While we were gone I brought the juicer with us. This allowed my eating (consumption) as best as I could. With the exception of the nutritional yeast. I accidentally left that at home. Marking today as my first day of having it in three days.

Finding food along the way for me involved going to an International Market... that was a fun experience. Finding foods, fruits and vegetables in varieties, sizes and shapes of which I've never knew excised.
Including a humongous carrots, a Dragon Fruit and seeing a full sized Jack Fruit for the first time.
Now that we're back home... it is time to spend the next few weeks becoming a calorie destroying machine in an effort to reach my goal!!! I will have a deficit like crazy! With ensuring maximum nutritional intake... the next few weeks may not "taste" that well, but the end goal will be the main focus. As long as "family" events don't come up. If they do and if they are "major" they could step in the way. Which would be fine. The saving grace, my sweet wife will be off for two weeks soon. I plan on using that time to make a caloric deficit that who knows, might rival our National Debt... haha

Below are some pictures from the International Market. Enjoy.

Yucca

Jackfruit! Scroll down to SEE how BIG this is!

Wait for it... wait for it...

BAM! That is a Jackfruit... in my shopping cart!

This is the first time I've seen it for sale in both the whole fruit or in chunks.
Most stores NORMALLY only sell it in chunks, as it is enormous!

Above you have a Dragon Fruit, a HUGE carrot (about the size of a yam) and a chunk of the Jackfruit.

We brought the juicer along with us...

Red Spinach... I had never seen this before!  Tasted great!

I added this to my "juice" instead of using regular spinach:

Persian cucumbers, 3 fuji apples, red spinach (about half the bunch you see), large carrot, 5 baby bok choy.

He loves to help me "make a juice" and typically wants to do so for "mommy."

Tips and Pics

Yesterday consisted of a lot of phone time.  With some things going on with the family, I found myself trying to do all that I could, everywhere.  In the end, all appears to be well.  After things settled down, I did Max Insanity Cardio for some "me" time.

My eating wasn't the greatest today.  Tip... don't leave your juicer unattended for 24 hours... YUCK!  The Breville is hard enough to clean as it is, let alone if you leave it sitting with tomato and other remnants in the top of it. Normally I clean it right after or as I am consuming my first 16 ounces of the juice that I just made.  This does two things, one... gets food (a juice) in me.  And two, it makes it so that cleaning is done fast, which makes it so the juicer is ready to go when my wife wants to make her an apple and spinach juice or something else on the sweeter side.  Besides, my little guy likes to make "apple juice for mommy" all the time.  Keeping it clean just makes sense.

With that said, life sometimes gets in the way, as it did today.  By the time I finally got to it, I almost didn't want to clean it.  Of course though, I did.

Today's eating... no juice. Not intentional, just how it worked out.  I got so busy early on before I knew it I was consuming my daughter's favorite Oatmeal Organic Clif ZBar that we buy for the kids.

They call them "cookie bars." My boy loves the Chocolate Chip ones and will tolerate the Chocolate Brownie ones if no other chocolate chip are remaining. We normally buy the variety pack from Sam's Club and the brownie ones always get left til' last.

Then after the cookie bar I felt "okay" but still had other things to take care of.  I kept the kids happy, fed, bathed them, etc... all was well there.  I just didn't get to "me" very much today.  One of the trades of being a stay-at-home-dad, at times, you come in last... but the house and kids are well, happy, fed, and healthy.  All a victory in themselves.

After another few hours had passed, I had another one. This time the brownie one.  Combined, I was only sitting at about 260 calories for the day.  This wasn't my plan.  But at least the little bars are packed full of nutrients.

After things calmed down I ran (drove) to the store to get the final touches for dinner.  Yeah... that was a joke.  Stater Brother's (Grocery store) didn't have what I wanted.  Quickly I went up to Albertson's and they did... but there also was construction on the return trip back to the house.  My "quick trip" turned into a 40+ minute shopping trip and with a hungry family at home, I wasn't winning any best shopping time awards. Upon returning home I decided to make mashed 'purple' potatoes.  After boiling them, I was contemplating on what to do with them.  I am avoiding milk, and didn't have any alternative milks in the house.  I ended up trying to make a concoction with the Nutritional Yeast and some Hawaiian salt / seasoning that a friend gave us.  Short story... to much salt came out.  It killed it.  Nutritional Yeast heated in a cup of boiling water, stinks up the entire kitchen and sends wife running the other direction. Luckily, I did all of this after the family had eaten.  End result, I only consumed a portion of the "mashed" potatoes and then settled in for an almond butter honey and strawberry jelly sandwich.  I just couldn't take any more.  That salt mess up was the straw that broke the camel's back, if you will.

Oddly, I didn't feel hungry.  However, I will not be "heating up" nutritional yeast on its own anytime soon.  The container says you can add it to soups or sprinkle it on things.  I'm guessing it works on "soups" and other things because they already have flavoring.  In the end, I couldn't stomach the salt... as when I went to give it a dash on the potatoes, it accidentally dumped about 20 times more than I wanted... I tried to just consume it.  Yeah... NO.  I'm not a big salt person as it is.  Let alone, just trying to eat it to not waste the spuds.  They found themselves in the round file.  I ate about half... before turning to the above mentioned sandwich.

By the time I hit play on my workout... around 2:20 this morning I had only consumed roughly 400 to 500 calories.  Once again, this wasn't my plan. Today will be more for sure.  This is probably the first time I've ever allowed such a thing to happen.  Once again... if you are juicing your meals... don't leave it dirty.  It is hard to juice if it is full of remnants and when (or if) your day gets hectic, cleaning it becomes one more "task" weighing on the day that has to be done.

Oh... and THANK YOU to ALL who voted on our link I added in my previous post!  It looks like we won that mini challenge by the "hair on our chinny chin chin!" For winning what do we get.  We get a second mini challenge under our belts.  They will use these mini-challenges as tie breakers if two teams win the overall weight loss competition.  $10,000 is at stake.  Our team has lost over 126 pounds and has a little over a month to go!  Once again, if you voted, thank you, I appreciate it!

So now here I sit... at 4:44 a.m. blogging.  I haven't been on the scale yet. The phone rang a few minutes ago.  I'm glad I was up, as it was an important call. Funny thing is, had I been in bed, the ringing might have woken my wife. And after yesterday, I'd just assume that everyone get as much sleep as possible... well, that should be me too.

I'll leave you with some workout pictures.  I just set up our Canon power shot camera on custom mode and then let it snap some photos while I worked out.  None of these are edited, besides some cropping.  I'll try to get some progress photos taken soon.

 

Working out.

Yesterday was a BIG day in terms of working out and calories DESTROYED! My wife says I'm nuts!  But is glad that I am getting the nutrients and vitamins to sustain life!

I added in my second workout and the time walking at Disneyland for 3+ hours (except I only claimed 2) and MyFitnessPal said; "If every day were like today... You'd weigh 156.3 lbs in 5 weeks" I didn't even mention carrying a toddler around at Disneyland. haha! I put the number of calories MyFitnessPal says I lost (earned by working out) in the paragraph under the photo below.

Calories... what a funny and interesting thing.  We need calories.  Yes.  We all do!  And they are just about everywhere you look!  The bad thing is often the calories are wrapped around the bad food, the white, processed, bleached, stripped foods and the good food! The bad foods are "accepted" everywhere and desired by most.  Also, they are cheaper to make and for now, sell better in most places than healthier options.  At Disneyland last night I couldn't help but to see the results of standardized American eating... all over the place!  Most of the options at the restaurants ONLY SUPPORT being heavy too! I wanted to get my kids something and just everything was just 'bad' for them. My wife mentioned that IF they made whole wheat pizza crust that they most likely would have to throw most of it away. People like what they like.  I simply said, just imagine if the World had never been introduced to white bread, or stripped products.  Simply said, we (the World) would potentially be a lot healthier.  It blows my mind that a 20 ounce bottle of water costs more in most places than a 20 ounce bottle of soda / pop / cola. The water hasn't had chemicals, additives, sweeteners or other things added to it.  However, bottles of water are probably not purchased as much as bottles of soda.  Simply said the quantity of soda purchased over water allows for more profit margin, which most likely allows for soda to be produced and sold for less than water. Sad... sad... sad...

There are so many heavy people in the world (I am still one of them... so, I'm not bashing anyone). It is just sad to me that so many people are fat due to choice!  Yes, some people are heavy due to medical conditions that they can't control.  However, sadly a lot of medical conditions have developed due to being fat, or as a result of poor choices.  The circle most likely could have been prevented had wiser choices been made.

After talking to Grandma this morning she confirmed.  We were never really educated in vegetables.  We grew up eating meat and potatoes.  And that is what we knew.  However, a burger in 1940 was a completely different 'burger' than what people are getting served to them in 2013.  The simple fact that antibiotics are used in the cattle industry at high levels to keep the animals healthy at rates higher, much higher than they ever would have been in 1940 makes it obvious that the meat is different. I'm not saying people can't eat meat.  I just wish we would have been more educated in the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. had we been, I'm certain that more of them would have been on our plate and consumed each meal.  My two kids both like vegetables.  They also see "mommy and daddy" eat vegetables and other things too.  They are interested in what we are interested in.  Little sponges they are.  Simply said, lead by example and they will follow.  If all we did was eat sugar, drink soda, etc... they would want that too.  They want to be like us.

I need a hand... something I can't do myself. The weight loss team I am on has lost 126+ pounds in 2 months! We are at the top of page 1 if you click on this link --> http://a.pgtb.me/Pr6?app_data=entry_id%3D19570192 We really need your votes to win this mini challenge! The team with the most mini challenges won wins if there is an overall TIE in weight loss by teams!  This is HIGHLY likely as HealthyWage caps each team at no more than 16.7%!  You can quickly "unlike" their page seconds after you vote! We are only losing by 12 votes!!! Voting ends TODAY at 2 PM pacific time!

You can do this once per mini challenge.  If you haven't voted on this photo yet, please do!  If you have, THANK YOU!

The photo you will be voting on is this one:

Last night I did a total of three Insanity Workouts!  WAHOO! Two of them were Max Insanity workouts! Between Insanity (three times), Disneyland, the park, taking the kids to the sub shop for my wife and then taking them to her classroom for a 'lunch bunch' with her kiddos, a lot of calories were burned yesterday. MyFitnessPal says; "You've earned 2591.0 extra calories from exercise today"

I need to step on the scale today and then update the tracker. However, I am doing great and I am looking forward to my next "weigh in." I know I am getting nutrients and vitamins. Even the essential nutrients.  I'm looking to make sure I get calcium though... as I don't want to mess up any bones.  I found a few pages that focus on foods highest in calcium.  I will be making sure that I get that in my body too!

I haven't made a juice today, when I do, I'll post it and the data on here, as I did the last few days.

My Progress (as of yesterday): Lost 50.2 pounds in 57 days! I will update this today.

So close... so close.

After crushing Max Plyo this morning, I took some time before getting on the scale.  Getting breakfast ready for my wife, the kids and then even waited until after breakfast and a shower. When I got on the scale it said... 201.8! I hadn't used the facilities as of yet.  Just did the work out and showered. With that said, this number may "drop" as the day goes on.

Today's juice (meals).
8 roma tomatoes
1 full bunch of celery
5 whole carrots
1 purple yam
1 purple potato
4 heaping spoonfuls of TwinLab Nutritional Yeast
3 large handfuls of spinach
2 yellow peppers
1 orange pepper
Yield 72 ounces
758 calories
10.5277 calories per ounce

I will ration this out throughout the day. Starting with 16 ounces (168.444 calories) for breakfast. The remaining 589.55 calories will be divided out into 8 ounce or 4 ounce glasses to be consumed throughout the day.

From MyFitnessPal:
"If every day were like today... You'd weigh 174.2 lbs in 5 weeks"

After telling my wife my new weight she simply said; "How dare you?" Haha!  I'm losing, losing, losing and it feels great! I feel energized and very well! My strength is up and I feel alert and that is is well.

When I finally was able to make the juice, it was during a contested time.  The kids wanted "Daddy!" Glad I have the Breville, as the 3" chute makes making juices fast and easy!

I look forward to tomorrow's number on the scale... my intentions for the day; to do another MAX Insanity workout when the kids either go down for a nap (if they do) or tonight, after they go to sleep.

Now... I'm being asked for a peanut butter and honey (agave) sandwich by my little man. Time to go fulfill his wishes. :-)

3 pounds. 72 ounces!

This is a snapshot of Day 2 of the "two week" VLCD (very low calorie diet) to help catch up / jump start the weight loss back on track to the 84 pound goal!  In reality, I am happy that things slowed down and that I listened to my body when the bruised knee happened. I'd rather be a few pounds behind than have hurt myself even more by not taking it easy. From the competitive side, it isn't great to be behind. However, from the physical side, I'm glad that holding back took place as I can still pick up my kids, play with them, run and do just about anything without worrying about the knee. When the falls happened, jokingly I said; "Had this happened a month earlier, I would have broken the floor!"  I truly believe smashing into the floor (not once, but three times) with nearly an extra 40 pounds would/could have caused a lot more than just a bruised knee.  Therefore I am thankful that those pounds were exterminated before my wife and I went on our date that night!

Below the picture of today's (and tomorrow's) "meals" you can see the data of the juice from MyFitnessPal. I took the idea of taking a photo of the remnants from Mike and his Makeitvegan.com website/blog and decided to do my own.  Below you have 3.11 pounds of remnants and the 72 ounces of juice that came from them!

In reality this was going to be today's juice...

...however, the jicamas sabotaged that with their high calorie volume.  It turns out that according to MyFitnessPal two medium jicamas contain 500 calories.  Yup... two jicamas tuned today's juice into a two day mean. Thank you! I'll be fine... really.

This is what is in the juice:
9 roma tomatoes
5 organic carrots
1 bunch of lacinato (dinosaur) kale
2 orange peppers
1 head green leaf lettuce
1/2 kohlrabi
1 baby bok choy
5 persian cucumbers
1 beet (w/o greens... only because I didn't have any)
1 bunch of rainbow collards
1/2 an eggplant
2 medium jicamas
2 heaping tablespoons of TwinLab's Nutritional Yeast
Yield: 72 ounces of juice!

Personally I think this actually tasted pretty decent.  I wanted the jicama as I knew they would add a sweet flavor without the fruity taste that berries would add and to my surprise I think the nutritional yeast settled the flavor down so it wasn't so "gardeny" as my wife called some of the smells and flavors of previous juices I've come up with.

According to MyFitnessPal; this juice has 1,130 calories in it (chart is given below).
The Break Down:
This juice contains 15.69444 calories per ounce!
An 8 ounce glass would contain 125.555 calories.

Consuming 16 ounces (251.111 calories) immediately after making it and then rationing out the rest for consumption throughout the day really paid off. Pouring it into two airtight containers to preserve the juice from oxidation and then in the fridge they went.

A few hours later we took the kids to get hair cuts, mini golfing and then to one of their sets of grandparents' house to play and spend time with. Prior to leaving I took 8 ounces with me so I could "eat" while we were out and about. When we returned home another 8 ounces. Taking time to consume each glass over a period of several minutes to give my body enough time to tell the brain that it was indeed getting nutrients.

That puts my tally for the day at 32 ounces (502.222 calories). With 40 ounces (627.777 calories) remaining in the fridge for tomorrow,  I should be okay.

The kicker is... today's workout started at 10:20 p.m. By the time I was done, it was 11:07. I thought to myself, I can do another Max Insanity Workout before midnight if I skip the 2 minute cool down and the warm up on the second workout, as I am obviously already warmed up.  So... I did it. I did two Max workouts; back to back!  If a routine like this doesn't burn calories, nothing will!  And... with the nutritional yeast, I know I'm getting the amino acids and nutrients that my body needs!

As mentioned above here is the chart from MyFitnessPal that shows what was "juiced" today.

My Progress is still 46 pounds in 55.... now 56 days 

as I haven't been on the scale since I finished my last workout.  

I sat down and immediately started writing this post. I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning (or today, but in a few hours) and will update the pounds at that time.

Catching up!

Much has happened since my last post.  Okay... plateau, destroyed!  It took a while but I finally dropped below the 208 that was keeping me prisoner! This came from one of my competitors who is also my teammate in one of the competitions; "I am glad we have a determined team! I am the same way, when I make up my mind about something. Your bruised knee gave me a chance to catch up to you!"

The downside of having a teammate as a competitor.  She doesn't actually know my weight loss total or where I started at.  However, for the first weigh-in I was about 2% ahead of her, she feels she has caught up to me. She is using basic math and the insight given to her from our individual percentage that is being displayed to our team.  Since that contest started about 2 1/2 weeks after the one where we are competitors in, she is hoping that we're about tied now. After doing the math myself, I think I'm still about a half a percent ahead of her, maybe more.

Honestly, I thought I'd be down 55 pounds (at least) by now, as I'm writing this on Day 55. I'm only down 46 pounds... which is still huge!  I am still 9 pounds off my minimal pounds lost to make the 84 in 84 days goal that I initially set out to achieve. And since time doesn't stop, I need to increase my weight loss, safely to allow me to catch up.

When something messes up a plan, you can either keep plugging away and see if it can come to pass or launch a new plan. Get educated. And re-route. Point "A" to point "B" was what I thought I had planned out with this goal.  With the juicing and all the produce.  However, I was still consuming 1,200 to 2,000 calories a day. But, I wasn't consuming the literal pounds of fiber that I would be if I was eating the food itself. This picture comes from my friend's website/blog; "MakeItVegan." It shows 65 ounces of juice and in front of the glasses is three (3) pounds of remnants they push out of their Breville. They (and I) have the Breville JE98XL model.

In reality, yes. Our body needs fiber, but three pounds, in a single day?  That would be a lot to "process" through our system. He does a write up about fiber and goes in depth about that, so I will not beat that up here. I looked into calorie intake and starvation modes.  Also into what the body can handle. I need to find a way to 'catch' up safely.  There are a few articles on Livestrong that talk about VLCDs (very low calorie diets) that discuss consuming 500 to 1,000 calories.  If you do so, you are supposed to do it with the direct supervision of a doctor and no longer than two weeks at a time. The concerns are that to few calories without the proper nutrients, can lead to gallstones and other malnutrition issues. The underlining warning is that a VLCD should only be done by those who are also obese.  Well, technically, going off the BMI calculator, I am "obese" along with A LOT of the people in the U.S.  Let's face is, the standard American diet, like it or not, leads to a lot of very heavy and obese people.  Even some who are toned and look pretty fit with big muscles, can be "obese" based off the calculator.  Since I am still "obese" the VLCD technically could work for me. I certainly don't want health issues or gallstone issues. I do want to 'catch up' my weight loss to my days though.

The verdict: After a few hours of research I've decided to do it. I purchased TwinLab's Nutritional (Brewer's) Yeast to aid in my nutritional intake I give the break down (copied and pasted) at the end of this post.  Basically, I picked this due to the "naturally occurring" nutrients and the essential amino acids that it contains. This is a complete product. This product has only 35 calories per heaping scoop but is packed full of nutrients, protein, etc... For the next two weeks, I will still be juicing, just less overall. I will be rationing out my caloric intake throughout the day.

From what I've read it is better to workout early in the morning. To consume more food in the morning and mid afternoon and less in the evening. I read it is better to start the day with a water. Which is fine with me. I am making sure to consume between 80 and 120 ounces of water each day. I learned that it is possible to consume to much water. I was consuming about 160 ounces of water per day (16 ounces every hour). I learned that this isn't the wisest and that your kidneys process less water when working out then when your body is in a resting state. I have lowered my water intake to between 80 and 120 ounces, and am only consuming about a glass full while working out as the data I found said that the kidneys only process about 3 ounces while you are actively engaged in a workout. The body focuses more on sweating during this time, then processing liquid through the kidney.  That way you don't have the urge to go pee while in the middle of physical activities. It kind of "turns off" the spigot.

My routine: Workout in the morning before the kids and wife wake up.  After the workout make a juice. I'm now making one juice (about 45 to 65 ounces) per day. Then I'll grab 2 heaping tablespoons of the Nutritional Yeast and throw that in the juice (using the vitamix and about 8 ounces of juice to mix it in well, without clumps, then I dump that back into the main juice and mix it with a spoon).  The calories from the juice are ranging between 600 and 800. I then ration out my intake.  Starting with 16 to 20 ounces for breakfast and the rest throughout the day.

Then, depending on how I feel, I am taking one slice of whole grain, omega 3 Apple Valley bread with one tablespoon of almond butter on it and slicing it up (like you would a kid's pancake). I'll consume that over the course of a few hours... eating slowly to make sure that I'm getting the calories, but not all at once. This keeps me feeling like I have something in my body as the day goes on.

I am listening to my body.  If I get "hungry" I will of course grab something more. My plan for the next two weeks is to keep my caloric intake at below 1,000, preferably 500 to 800, even with the Insanity workouts that I'm doing.  I want to keep my caloric intake down.  I figure I still have enough fat cells on my body, that my body will have plenty to burn without me adding more calories to the mix. This will only be done for two weeks.  I will juice a variety of items to ensure that I am getting plenty of nutrients.

Yesterday was day two of this new way of eating and consuming on the VLCD, my wife asked me if I felt hungry and the answer (surprisingly) was; "No. I feel fine."  The biggest key is, rationing out my intake throughout the course of the day.  Besides, for years it has been said that 6 small meals is better than 3 meals a day. I'm hoping that my weight will drop and I will catch up, so in another 10 days my progress will be closer to 65 pounds in 65 days then the 9 pound deficit that I am currently facing.

Time to go make that daily juice.

My Progress: 46 pounds lost in 55 days!

Nutritional Yeast Nutritional Data:
"All the nutrients are naturally occurring - nothing is added! Supplement Facts Serving Size: 1 heaping tablespoonful (16 g) Servings per container: 31 Amount Per Serving % Daily Value Calories 35 Protein 8 g 16% Thiamin 1.4 mg 93% Riboflavin 0.7 mg 41% Niacin 5.3 mg 27% Vitamin B6 0.6 mg 30% Folic Acid 240 mcg 60% Vitamin B12 2 mcg 33% Biotin 16 mcg 5% Pantothenic Acid 0.4 mg 4% Calcium 59 mg 6% Iron 1.5 mg 8% Phosphorus 234 mg 23% Magnesium 33 mg 8% Zinc 1.2 mg 8% Copper 0.5 mg 25% Manganese 0.13 mg 7% Chromium 60 mcg 50% Sodium 60 mg 3% Potassium 222 mg 6% Alanine 592 mg * Arginine 464 mg * Aspartic Acid 800 mg * Glutamic Acid 1120 mg * Glycine 400 mg * Histidine 208 mg * Isoleucine2,3 400 mg * Cystine 112 mg * Leucine2,3 624 mg * Lysine' 592 mg * Methionine' 144 mg * Phenylalanine' 368 mg * Proline 400 mg * Threonine' 400 mg * Serine 448 mg * Tryptophan1,2 96 mg * Tyrosine 304 mg * Valine2,3 480 mg * 'The L-Tryptophan in the product is naturally present in the protein. It is not added or manufactured. 'Essential Amino Acids. 'Branched Chain Amino Acids. Other ingredients: Debittered Brewers Yeast. Free Of Contains absolutely no preservatives, fructose, honey, sugars or any additives."