Author: DrKim

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Time to Get MOVING!

We’ve heard about the two main things to change in our lifestyle in order to be healthy. We’ve heard these two things so much for so many years that they roll off of our tongues and we never really stop to think about whether we’re actually doing them…or we know we’re not doing them and we feel at least a little bit guilty about planning to start “later”, when the timing is better….

Diet and Exercise. Those are the two things.

Wanna guess which one I haven’t done regularly for YEARS?

Yes, I have good reasons. We all do.

I was not born into a sporty family. My parents did not play any kind of sports or exercise much, and I was not encouraged to do much, other than take up tennis a little. See, I was one of those girls everybody loved to hate–I could eat whatever I wanted and still had a good figure. So I didn’t really have the motivation to start something I didn’t like. In college I learned to walk and work out at the gym because everyone else was doing it, but I really never liked it. Same with chiropractic school, but I did learn to like it better. When I graduated and moved back to Florida, I lived on my own. I joined a gym and took early morning walks on the beach.

And then I got married, moved across the world to a different culture (without any family or friends), and had babies. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Learning how to and now managing a home for seven people leaves things like exercising by the wayside.

And now that I’m 36 years old and have had five babies, well, my figure isn’t exactly what it once was. And my energy is…..lacking. To say the least.

It’s time for a change.

I need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk of health. After all, I’m giving tips on how to be healthier, right? I’m sure you’d agree that I should be a person who actually exercises regularly, not only for my own health but so that you can feel good about trusting me to help you on your path to health.

So this is my plan so far:

  • I’ve been doing about 5-10 minutes in the morning on the floor which includes stretching, stomach crunches, push-ups, and back extensions. Not a lot, just a little and I will increase it as I gain strength.
  • This morning I took an early morning walk after my floor exercises for about 20 minutes. It was wonderfully energizing. I’ll try to do that most mornings plus the floor workout from 6 to 6:30 AM.
  • Hubby bought a home gym machine for weight training. I’m not sure when I’ll fit that in, but probably in the afternoon during nap time. I’m always sleepy and it will help wake me up. It’s getting delivered at the end of the week. I’m excited that we’re in this together.
  • And a mini-trampoline. It’s in the living room. I can certainly put on some fun music and dance for a few minutes each day. I hope we can find some place to keep it when it’s not in use…

Just like everything that’s good for you, exercising is part of a lifestyle change. And changes need to be approached in a way that is simple and most importantly DO able. That means to take babysteps so that you don’t crash and burn.

I think I can realistically commit to 1/2 hr each morning. I don’t think it’s realistic to commit to an hour. So I won’t. I want to be successful in reaching my goal.

I think I can probably commit to about 15 minutes each afternoon, but for this week I’m going to focus on the morning habit. Every little bit counts.

Jonathan Roche coined a term I love. It’s the No Excuse Work Out. (NEWO). No excuses, because it can take only 6 minutes. And everyone has 6 minutes! You can listen to his weekly BlogTalkRadio show here.

I can use all the encouragement I can get, and I’d like to cheer you on too. What’s your exercise routine or challenge?


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My Afternoon Routine


One of my favorite tools from the Flylady is the concept of routines. A routine is something you do every day, and putting it in a specific order helps you to remember and learn it until you don’t have to think about it. And having a little checklist, either on a post it or in your Control Journal can help.

In my recent post about keeping up with the laundry, I shared my morning routine. It looks like this:

  1. Make my bed
  2. Get dressed to shoes
  3. Feed baby
  4. Wake other kids
  5. Start a load of laundry
  6. Prep & drink smoothies (hubby usually does this)
  7. Prep school lunches (hubby usually does this)
  8. Cleanup kitchen/empty dishwasher
  9. Baby to nap
  10. HANG CLOTHES OUT TO DRY/laundry “reboot”

My late morning routine looks like this:

  1. Cleanup kitchen if it’s not already done
  2. blog post/computer work/desk work 1/2 hr
  3. declutter 15 minutes
  4. daily mission/detail cleaning/weekly home blessing as needed
  5. outside time or other activity with children
  6. prep lunch

And my afternoon routine (babystep #23), looks like this:

  1. Serve lunch/feed baby/eat lunch myself
  2. Lunch cleanup
  3. prep snacks for school children
  4. put toddler to nap
  5. welcome school kids home/give snacks
  6. story time with 4 year old (and anyone else who wants to join us)
  7. put baby & 4 year old to nap/bigger boys to quiet reading
  8. MY QUIET TIME! computer/reading/nap if I want.

It really is helpful to do it the same way every day; it helps me to not forget anything. Since I’ve been doing it for a while, it does come automatically so I don’t consult my control journal, but if I were new to this or found myself leaving things out, I certainly would.

Flylady gives her routines as examples. Use any of these to give you ideas; just remember that you need to make it work for YOU.

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Tomato Basil Salad with Goat Cheese

This salad is simple, elegant, and delicious. It’s good for date night and yet my kids can’t get enough of it.


Tomato Basil Salad with Goat Cheese

2-3 large tomatoes, sliced
fresh basil
goat cheese
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper


  1. Arrange tomato slices on a serving dish.
  2. Drizzle with olive oil & sprinkle liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper.
  3. Cut ribbons of basil & sprinkle on the tomatoes.
  4. Sprinkle goat cheese

Don’t tell anyone how easy it was!

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"Nutrition 101: What Would You Know If You Didn’t Know Anything?"

If you didn’t have a million research studies, nutrition books, and diet experts to tell you….

If you hadn’t had the “4-food groups” chart, health class, and your gym teacher in school to advise you…

If everyone from your mother, to your doctor, to Oprah wasn’t instructing you….

How would you know WHAT, WHEN and HOW MUCH to eat?

Join WellWithU on BlogTalkRadio TODAY (Monday) at 2pm EST for “Nutrition 101: What Would You Know If You Didn’t Know Anything?”

I’m looking forward to the show. If you miss it, you can also listen to the archives by clicking the above link.

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Menu Plan Monday-June 21


Sunday-Eggplant Torte

Monday- Creamy Celery Soup and Tomato Basil Salad with Goat Cheese

Tuesday-Scrambled Eggs with Veggies and Hash Browned Potatoes

Wednesday- Baked Potatoes with grilled Mushrooms and Onions, steamed vegetable.

Thursday – Lentils of some kind

Friday-Baked Chicken, Steamed Broccoli, Apple Sauce, Black Bean Brownies

Saturday- Raw “Granola” with Almond Milk & fresh fruit, Leftover Celery Soup

Sunday- Burgers. (We moved Father’s Day to this week.)

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Making It Work For YOU


Today is Father’s Day in the US. (Happy Father’s Day!)

But we live in Israel. It’s not Father’s Day here. And although we continue to celebrate most of these American traditions, it’s something that we do within our family because we want to, certainly not because of any type of social pressure.

My husband has lots of extra work he wants to accomplish this week, and the idea of taking today off (remember, Sunday is a work day here) was adding stress. So, we decided to MOVE Father’s Day. We’ll celebrate it next Sunday, in one week. With a family fun day and burgers. Yum.

Moving our Father’s Day celebration a week works for us. And this Making It Work For YOU concept is a really good one.

Almost every good idea is just that: an idea. A concept. Whoever made it found that it helped him or her, but that doesn’t mean it will work for you exactly as it is; you might need to tweak it just a little. And that’s OK!

Figuring out how to take good ideas and make them work for you will make your life much more manageable. It will save your sanity.

So, the next time you hear an idea that sounds interesting or even great but you just don’t see how it so could work for you, don’t dismiss it easily. Give it a little more thought and you just might come up with a variation that works for your family. After all, there’s no one just like you!

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Laundry. Day 20 of Babystep Challenge To A Peaceful Home

We now have seven people in our home. SEVEN! Seven people wear a lot of clothes. Especially when one of them is a baby who sucks her hand between spoon-fed bites and then holds her toes and the food goes everywhere in between….and four of them are of the little-boy variety who play hard, in dirty things, every day.

So, we have a lot of laundry. I remember when I was in college & in my single days when I could go a week (or more!) without doing my laundry. Those days are long since done, and the habit I’ve learned would have been helpful even then.

What is that habit, you may ask? How do you stay on top of the laundry when THERE’S JUST SO MUCH OF IT!? You make laundry part of your routine. Which just so happens to be Flylady’s babystep #20.

This means that I do laundry EVERY DAY. Well, 6 days a week. It’s just part of my morning routine which looks like this:

  1. Make my bed
  2. Get dressed to shoes
  3. Feed baby
  4. Wake other kids
  5. START A LOAD OF LAUNDRY
  6. Prep & drink smoothies
  7. Prep school lunches
  8. Cleanup kitchen/empty dishwasher
  9. Baby to nap
  10. HANG CLOTHES OUT TO DRY/laundry “reboot”

I do this every day, with slight variations. If I do one FULL load each day, it’s almost enough. Add an extra load or two for towels & sheets and we’re good to go. In addition to this, we do a load of cloth diapers each night. In the morning they are dried and ready to put away (this job belongs to my four year old).

My biggest challenge with the laundry is not the washing and the drying. Even the folding I’ve gotten a new system for: since I’m line drying, I realized that I must handle each piece of clothing separately as I take it off of the line. So, I add a few seconds for each one and FOLD IT AS I TAKE IT OFF THE LINE AND PUT IT INTO THE BASKET ALREADY FOLDED! I was excited when I realized I could save time like that.

No, the challenge is putting the clothes away. I do have a time in my schedule that is supposed to be for this, but I’ve gotten behind most days and needed to skip this step. And, the drawers are so full that there’s no place to put things. So everyone lives out of the laundry basket. It’s no good.

Today, I’m going to actually use the time that’s supposed to be set aside for putting away the laundry to fold and put away the laundry. That will mean that we must eat our lunch on time and stick to the schedule I worked hard to put together. Then I’ll be able to see this.

Which feels good.

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What’s the Big Deal About MSG?


You’ve probably heard that MSG is bad for you. But you might not know why, or realize how prevalent it is. It’s in so many packaged and processed foods that you might not even know you’re eating it when you are, especially since it comes under many different names.

Here’s what you need to know about MSG:

  • MSG is an excitotoxin, a type of chemical transmitter that allows brain cells to communicate. The problem is that excitotoxins can literally excite your brain cells to death.
  • Aside from harming your brain, MSG has also been linked to eye damage, headaches, fatigue, disorientation and depression. Source

  • Children are most at risk from MSG. The blood brain barrier, which keeps toxins in the blood from entering the brain, is not fully developed in children. MSG can also penetrate the placental barrier and affect unborn children as well. Nonetheless, most major brands of infant formula contain some processed free glutamic acid (a form of MSG). Source

Hidden Names for MSG

OK, so now you know why it’s bad. But it gets even trickier….MSG is not always called MSG. Here are 2 tables showing all the names under which it can be found. Source

MSG Gelatin Calcium Caseinate
Monosodium glutamate Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP) Textured Protein
Monopotassium glutamate Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP) Yeast Extract
Glutamate Autolyzed Plant Protein Yeast food or nutrient
Glutamic Acid Sodium Caseinate Autolyzed Yeast
Vegetable Protein Extract Senomyx (wheat extract labeled as artificial flavor)

The following substances contain some factory created free glutamate in varying amounts. Please note that some food labels list several of these items, which can add up to a considerable and dangerous amount in one product:

Malted Barley (flavor) Natural Flavors, Flavors, Flavoring Modified food starch
Barley malt Reaction Flavors Rice syrup or brown rice syrup
Malt Extract or Flavoring Natural Chicken, Beef, or Pork, Flavoring “Seasonings” (Most assume this means salt, pepper, or spices and herbs, which sometimes it is.) Lipolyzed butter fat
Maltodextrin, dextrose, dextrates Soy Sauce or Extract “Low” or “No Fat” items
Caramel Flavoring (coloring) Soy Protein Corn syrup and corn syrup solids, high fructose corn syrup
Stock Soy Protein Isolate or Concentrate Citric Acid (when processed from corn)
Broth Cornstarch fructose (made from corn) Milk Powder
Bouillon Flowing Agents Dry Milk Solids
Carrageenan Wheat, rice, corn, or oat protein Protein Fortified Milk
Whey Protein or Whey Anything enriched or vitamin enriched Annatto
Whey Protein Isolate or Concentrate Protein fortified “anything” Spice
Pectin Enzyme modified proteins Gums (guar and vegetable)
Protease Ultra-pasteurized dairy products Dough Conditioners
Protease enzymes Fermented proteins Yeast Nutrients
Lecithin Gluten and gluten flour Protein powders: whey, soy, oat, rice (as in protein bars shakes and body building drinks)
Amino acids (as in Bragg’s liquid amino acids and chelated to vitamins) Algae, phytoplankton, sea vegetable, wheat/ barley grass powders


In order to avoid this nasty chemical, you MUST READ LABELS! I was and continue to be amazed at how many things contain it. I learned how to make my own chicken broth the old fashioned way just to avoid using boullion cubes (it’s really good; try it!).

Dr. Russel Blaylock is a Neurosurgeon who has many teachings, interviews, etc. on the dangers of MSG. I haven’t heard most of these, but I have heard an interview with him in the past; he is extremely knowledgeable (he is a neurosurgeon, after all!) and he speaks with the training of the medical community. Here is a link to a lecture he gave on MSG. I’m sure it’s worthwhile.

So, to recap, Here’s what you can do:

  1. READ LABELS! Try to recognize any of the above names for MSG
  2. Umm…Avoid those things. Probably means eating fewer or different packaged foods. This is a good thing, trust me!
  3. Feel good that you can make this small change for a BIG step towards health for your family!

Cheetos and MSG – Bringing new meaning to the slogan “Dangerously Cheesy”

More info about the damage of MSG

Links about MSG

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It’s Bedtime! Day 17of Babystep Challenge To A Peaceful Home

Day 17 of Flylady’s babysteps is to set a bedtime and stick to it. I love this. And I hate it.

I love to sleep. So this is something that I actually want. I want to go to bed at 10 each night and wake at 6 in the morning. Somehow, though, I have trouble getting there on time.

I know that if I can get dinner served on time (6pm), then we can be done by 6:45, I can finish cleaning up by 7:30 (hubby gets kiddos ready for bed). And by 8 when the kids go to bed, I can have some time to myself or to spend with my husband. And then I can get ready for bed no later than 9:30 and to sleep by 10. I know this.

And yet….it doesn’t happen. It’s the dinner at 6 that is the problem. I have a lot of trouble getting dinner prep started on time (probably because I don’t want to stop the nap time and walk away from the computer). But, if I would, many good things would come from it.

I’d get enough sleep AND get time to myself in the evening. It’s a good trade off.

So, I’m going to go to bed on time. Which means I’m going to walk AWAY from the computer at 4 when it’s time to wake the kiddos from their nap. That’s my plan.

And since I make my bed every day, it’s nice and inviting.

Here’s a post I wrote on sleep a while back with interesting facts, including how much sleep different people need.