Three chiropractors and our incredible office staff looking to help you understand the HEALTH in healthcare! Our mission: To share our thoughts on food and health, allergy-free nutritious recipes, and preventative wellness care.
Hello Everyone! This Wellness Wednesday Week 4 and I'm here to talk to you about Paleo Meal Prep and Emergency Preparedness. One of the easiest ways to fail with a Paleo diet is to not have a plan. It's so easy to get home late and think to yourself "I don't have time to cook now, we can get takeout tonight." That may be okay if you choose the right restaurant and pick a paleo option, but it's really
easy to let "tonight" become tomorrow night, and the night after that, and before you know it, you have been eating out for several weeks in a row. Taking the time to form a plan for your meals for the week ahead of time can not only save you time, but also be easier on your budget (eating out is expensive!).
Some of the best ways to prepare are baking a whole chicken and/or ham; steaming several day's worth of quinoa or wild rice; baking sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, or another starch; or even preparing breakfast foods such as pancakes, egg cups, waffles, or baked oatmeal. Don't forget that a crockpot can also be an excellent asset, allowing you to prepare tomorrow's meal today.
You can either prepare enough meals for a few days and use all of them fresh, or you can prepare enough for the entire week and freeze some for the end of the week. This is also helpful for when the primary cook in your house is going out of town. It can also be great for when your children are home from school with a babysitter or when you are preparing for a big storm. I grew up in rural Connecticut and we lost power several times a year for days at a time because of the weather, and it was always nice to have food prepared ahead of time rather than having to live on processed foods and tuna fish.
While you're at the store, don't forget to pick up a few gallons of drinking water, extra batteries for flashlights, anything missing from your first aid kit, and stop by your local sandbag distributor if your home could be in a flood zone (also a good idea to check evacuation routes!).
Stay safe, stay dry and please remember to reschedule your appointment if you won't be able to make it!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Chelsea
My friends, if you learn nothing else from this blog, I hope I can teach you to ALWAYS READ ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE STARTING A RECIPE!
Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day and the most fun to cook! I'm all about making pancakes from scratch, and I have several recipes I use which are completely Paleo and also delicious!
However, I know that making breakfast for a crowd- whether it's for a holiday, special occasion, or simply because you have a large family- can be a significant struggle. Sometimes, shortcuts must be taken, particularly when said family shows up unexpectedly. You want to be able to keep the gluten free integrity of your home, but they may be wary of "this whole no grain thing". Making a big show about breakfast (or breakfast for dinner) can also be a special treat to help kids who are a little more reluctant to sign on to the gluten free lifestyle. Sometimes, you have to get as close as you can to the "real thing" while they're adjusting to the transition. When your family is more established in a gluten and dairy free routine, it's easier to use recipes with fewer processed ingredients like this pumpkin pancakes recipe. For when you need a shortcut, this King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Pancake Mix is definitely the way to go! If you are not cooking for a crowd, please make sure to follow the instructions for cutting this recipe in half!I made the mistake (yet again) of not reading the box where it says "add mix". Not "add 1/3 cup of mix". Not "add half of mix". They mean add the WHOLE MIX.
Whoops.
Well, I'm human. Like you, I'm not a chef. Kitchen mishaps happen.
This made a MOUNTAIN of pancakes! A little much when you intend to make breakfast for two people, but perfect for a crowd!
I also am not the world's leading authority on flipping pancakes. Whoops.
Also please make note of where it says to let the mixture rest for 10 minutes to allow it to thicken, this is important! To make this dairy free, I subbed Smart Balance for butter and used coconut oil spray on the pan. I also used 2 cups of almond milk in place of the milk, also after not reading the box where it recommends an appropriate proportion of rice milk. As you can see, the pancakes fluffed up beautifully anyway, hooray! Box mixes can be wonderfully forgiving. Blueberries also make a wonderful addition.
I hope you enjoy these as much as we did! Dr. Chelsea
How did you all do with
your homework this week? Were you able to successfully add in a Paleo
recipe to your meal plan? Was it easier than you expected? Did you
run into any difficulties? Do you feel like you need more
information? Did you enjoy it? Leave me some comments and I'll do my
best to address them!
Just to recap, the basic
premise of the Paleo diet is eliminating wheat, dairy, processed
foods, and refined sugar, instead increasing your intake of fish,
well-sourced meats, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and
healthy oils like olive, coconut, and avocado.
Some of you may be
thinking, what's the big deal? Grains make up a large portion of the
food pyramid! The traditional food pyramid we think of actually dates
back to 1992, and there has been much more research in the fields of
food and nutrition sciences since then! The CDC currently recommends
that grains should only make up one quarter of your plate, equal to
or slightly less than your serving of vegetables. Many Americans see
that and think “okay, then I'm going to eat a whole wheat bun with
my dinner”.
Here's the problem: the
way we harvest, store, and process wheat and other cereal grains has
strayed away from traditional practices, and they have become
inflammatory to many people. Some researchers believe it's because
the grains develop small amounts of mold during processing, others
insist it's because of genetic modification and too much
cross-breeding. Regardless of the cause, we are seeing more and more
studies asserting the inflammatory nature of these grains.
If we grossly oversimplify
the issue, there are two very basic types of physical characteristics
that we will see with food sensitivities. The first person tends
to be very slender, has difficulty gaining weight, experiences hair
loss, anemia, nervousness, and other symptoms similar to and possibly
including an overactive thyroid. Why? Because when her
gastrointestinal tract gets inflamed, it speeds up digestion so more
inflammatory chemicals don't leak into the rest of the body, and
doesn't allow her to absorb the vitamins and nutrients she needs.
These cases can sometimes be harder to diagnose because individuals
overall look “healthy” because they are slender and don't show as
many markers on blood work. The second person tends to be overweight,
has difficulty losing weight even with dieting and exercise, and has
symptoms similar to and possibly including an underactive thyroid because her body slows down digestion and inflammation builds up.
These individuals still may have trouble getting help because their
symptoms are written off as being part of obesity, fibromyalgia, or
another disorder.
Individuals
in both groups tend to experience acne, depression, anxiety,
irritability, fatigue, sleep disturbances, joint pain, acid reflux,
stomach ulcers, abdominal swelling, vomiting, gas, and diarrhea or
constipation or fluctuate between both.
If
you're sitting there saying “Wait, this sounds like me, why haven't I been diagnosed with a food sensitivity?” it's because there is very little
testing that properly identifies food sensitivities. In my last
video, I touched briefly on food sensitivities and how they differ
from traditional food allergies, so if you're lost right now, go back
and watch that again if you need a refresher. As a whole, medical
research tends to focus on food allergies, anaphylaxis reactions,
because they are more immediately life threatening and better
understood than food sensitivities. On top of that, as we have noted
before, inflammatory reactions, which are the symptoms of food
sensitivities, are diverse and look very different in each
individual person.
I'm
not asking you to take my word for it, do an experiment for yourself.
Keep following along with Wellness Wednesday and see how you feel. Unless you jump right
into strict paleo, it might take a few weeks to notice a difference,
be patient.
This week I want you to incorporate 4 paleo meals into
your meal plan! You can do it! It's going to be great!
Have a
sparkling day everyone!
Dr. Chelsea
Need recipe suggestions? Try one of these Simple Paleo recipes!
*Any
health topics that are covered should not be considered medical
advice. If you have specific questions please contact your doctor
or make
an appointment with
us. You should check with your doctor before making radical dietary
changes, particularly if you have heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or
are pregnant or nursing.*
When we discuss diet changes with our patients, our friends, and the people around us, something we frequently hear is "Wow, I would love to do that, but it just sounds so hard".
Change is daunting, I get it. Particularly when the people around you aren't supportive or even worse, are critical.
I'm here today to tell you that it's worth it.
Growing up, I was always overweight for my age class. I don't think I ever completely passed the fitness test in school, despite having very active parents who promoted outdoor activitie, and encouraged fruits and vegetables. My "seasonal" allergies (which were supposedly limited to ragweed and dust according to traditional allergy testing) were year round, included a constant supply of new (and piles of used) kleenex tissues, were significant enough to require an inhaler for the asthma component and made physical exercise unenjoyable. Sugar and dairy cravings were 24/7; in high school, my friends would come over for movie night and we would eat pounds of candy or cookies dipped in a whole container of frosting. I always felt uncomfortable; my stomach would hurt, I ate, then I felt worse. Bloating and gas were constant issues, as was acid reflux, all of which left me feeling chronically fatigued and perpetually embarrassed. I was taking over the counter pain medication 3-4 days a week for migraines that otherwise forced me to spend hours lying in a dark room and not able to study. In 2012, I was living the life of a full time graduate student and hit the breaking point. One morning, I looked in the mirror and decided I wasn't happy with my health or how I looked and decided to make a change.
It started slow.
I hit a lot of barriers and did some backsliding. New symptoms emerged as others dissipated and then those went away too.
Every struggle was worth it.
Four years later, I'm down 60 pounds and 10 pants sizes, I eat (mostly) clean (mostly paleo), and for the first time in my life I feel truly healthy. I'm still human; I have cheat days, I fall off of the fitness wagon, and I don't always take my own advice, but I have completely turned my life around from a path that would have lead to diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems. I have only had one bad allergy attack in the last 3 years and it was self-inflicted, otherwise my allergies are 99% gone, I have so much more energy, and I have fallen in love with aerobic activities. Cravings are almost non-existent and I have control over what I eat without feeling deprived or obsessive about it. I'm glad I went through all of this because I can tell you from the inside what it looks like, feels like, and what to do about it. Cutting out gluten and dairy was the best thing I have ever done for myself.
What I want you to take from this story is that you have the power to transform your life. It's not about making one massive change, the most successful way to do it is to make a series of small changes and to be consistent with them. No one can do it for you. However, when you make the decision to seize control over your habits you will not only improve your health but also find strength and empowerment within yourself.
That being said, we want to help you along your journey. Starting this week, I'll be posting a Simple Paleo recipe weekly. It will be something with few ingredients that doesn't require hours of preparation time. My goal is to teach you how to make small conversions in the things you eat every day that can have a monumental impact on your health. Not only is it much easier than you think, it also can be a lot of fun. And you can do it without feeling like you are dieting or depriving yourself!
What kind of transformation would you like to see? Let's see if we can get you there!
Yours in health,
Dr. Chelsea
In case you're a skeptic, here's some proof. The first photo is from 2012, the second from 2015 in my "fat pants" and the third from this morning in my (formerly) "skinny pants".
My favorite thing about summer at the clinic is lunchtime. In the interest of eating well, decreasing stress, and solidifying our relationships, we cook lunch in teams. Every team has a day, so we are constantly eating fabulous, unique dishes and we each only have to cook once per week. Most of the time we also use this as an excuse to try new recipes. It's just another aspect of the wonderful culture that Dr. Frank and Laure have built here at the Frank Clinic!
Dr. Holstein and I make lunch on Thursdays and we always try to come up with something sumptuous but simple. A few of the recipes we have tried out are crockpot barbecue chicken, spaghetti squash with vegan chili, and of course the angel food cake I made for her birthday found its way in there as well.
Like many Disneygenarians out there, I have wanted to try to make Ratatouille since seeing the film. It's naturally paleo and also vegan and is great when you want to feed a whole group of people. This recipe comes from The Comfort of Cooking.
LAYERED RATATOUILLE YIELD: Makes 4-6 servings
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 onion, finely chopped *You won't find onion in any of my recipes, I left this out* 2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced 1 cup tomato puree ¼ tsp. oregano ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 small eggplant, such as Italian or Chinese *I recommend actually getting a small one, the large ones present an issue when you start to layer everything. In fact, try to be sure that all of your veggies are approximately the same diameter* 1 zucchini 1 yellow squash 1 long red bell pepper Few sprigs fresh thyme *We were out so I used rosemary. Basil would also be fabulous* Salt and pepper
Parchment paper
Look at all of that color!
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, one tablespoon of the olive oil, and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.
Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. Trim the top of the red pepper and remove the core. On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.
*Or if you don't have fancy kitchen tools, do the best you can with a knife. My slices were anywhere between 1/16 and 3/8 of an inch thick* Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish. Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.
If you don't want to get too fancy with it, you can actually just bake the vegetables in a large dish, what some people call "Country Ratatouille". Either way, it's colorful and delicious and is an excellent way to incorporate several different kinds of vegetables. I arranged mine in two different patterns, since cooking at the office required a double batch.
What if I told you that you could make delicious jello and/or gummies for your kids (or yourself!) that were completely free of artificial sugar, food dyes, and flavorings? What if I also told you that it is incredibly easy?
Laure adapted this recipe from the fabulous people over at Bulletproof (yes, the people who put butter in coffee, we will explore this later). This particular version uses their Collagelatin, but with some tinkering can also be made with grassfed gelatin.
Why Collagelatin? It is a readily digested source of essential amino acids (13g of protein per Tbsp), promotes healthy joints and skin, and ignites bone and tissue repair. So who may benefit from it? Everyone! In particular,
children (especially picky eaters who avoid meat)
athletes and anyone else who exercises
post-surgical patients and anyone with a fracture
people with joint pain or arthritis
This can be made with any kind of fruit, but this week Laure chose blueberries.
My name is Celeste Holstein and I am Dr. Frank's daughter. Dad says he knew I would be a healer of some kind from a very young age. I was always the child that knew if the dog was sick or if our goldfish was going to die. I was also the child that couldn't be told what to do, and my dad understood that and never pushed me toward chiropractic. I always knew I was going to be a doctor, but what kind was to be determined.
I decided to go into pre-med with the goal of being an OBGYN. I wanted to change the way birth happened in the hospital. While I was at New College we had a midwife give a lecture and she talked about how managed care and malpractice were making the OBGYN's in town all retire because they could no longer practice evidence based medicine and their hands were tied by insurance or hospital policy. She talked about how the midwife model of care was much different than the medical model. Midwives believed that birth was natural and a woman's body was made with the wisdom to birth. It was a light bulb moment for me! It sounded a bit like...<gasp> what chiropractic philosophy says about the body!
I immediately decided to transfer schools to become a nurse midwife. Nothing worked, transcripts were lost, the program was full, etc. While I tried to trudge through I started working with Dad in the office therapy department. I remember spending a lot of time with a few new car accident patients who were in serious pain, out of it, grumpy, maybe even a bit rude. Over 2 months time I saw these people transform into happy, bright, grateful people as they healed. I realized maybe I never knew what Dad was doing in his office in the first place. I immediately asked that he hire someone to do my job, and move me in as his transcriptionist so I could watch what he was doing. I was immediately bitten by the chiropractic bug.
I changed my major back to pre-med at USF and things flowed beautifully. I graduated with my biology degree and went straight to Life University, dad's Alma Mater. I worked hard, learned everything I could because I wanted to be the best doctor I could, and before I knew it, it was graduation time and the Dean was on the phone telling me to write my Valedictorian speech.
How does this whole story come full circle? Chiropractic philosophy says that the body has the ability to heal itself if we just remove the interference. Our goal is to allow the body communicate optimally from brain to body. No time is this more important than we are growing a new human! The pregnant body undergoes enormous change through gestation and quite a bit of that anatomical and biomechanical change happens to the spine. This is precisely why so many midwives advocate chiropractic care for their patients. Through better spinal and pelvic alignment there are often
easier pregnancies, shorter deliveries with less need for intervention, and less stress put on babies during delivery.
My initial desire to help moms achieve more natural births has been met, just on a different path than I originally expected. Now I see pregnant women from preconception through their deliveries and into their aftercare as a chiropractor. Of course, I also see their newborns and their grandparents as well, but prenatal care will always hold a special place in my heart!
I grew up in a small town in Connecticut where my mom's stories from her job as an operating room nurse were what first inspired me to take a closer look at the human body. At 17, I was already committed to changing the world as a healthcare practitioner and at the time, it seemed the best way to do that would be as a pediatric surgeon. I had done some extensive shadowing in the medical field, including spending a day with my mom in the OR and had no idea what chiropractic was.
The first time I walked into the Frank Clinic that year, I had no idea it would set the stage for the rest of my life; my whole world turned upside down!
My uncle, Dr. Frank explained to me that chiropractors help the body heal itself from above, down, inside, out by removing interference to the communication between the brain and the body, primarily by way of adjusting the spine. No one had ever told me that the body could be helped to heal itself without invasive outside input and it completely shifted my focus. Why should I fight to fix almost irreparable insults to the body with the potential for catastrophic side effects when I could promote internal self-healing? I left knowing with deep certainty that this was to be my path. Two years later I was able to spend a summer off school at the University of Connecticut working at the Frank Clinic and fell in love with the culture of the office.
While I was in chiropractic school at Life University, I continued to follow my passion for pediatrics. I was fortunate to have the privilege to complete extensive coursework in prenatal and pediatric care, particularly for young children with neurodevelopmental issues like Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and other neurological concerns, as well as completing my senior internship with Drew Rubin, D.C. D.A.C.C.P, my professor, clinical instructor, and instructor for the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). I recently completed my Webster Technique Certification for pregnancy, in which I have already had training through my education, but now it's official (Dr. Frank and Dr. Holstein were already certified). Chiropractic care for infants and children looks very different than it does for adults, and often involves using the amount of pressure you would use to touch your eyelid. If you have any questions about chiropractic care for pregnancy and children, please never hesitate to ask, and know that children are always welcome in my office.
Outside of the office, I spend time painting, making jewelry, kayaking, hiking, practicing yoga, paleo diet blogging, and spending time with my grandma.
It has been a long journey to end up back at the Frank Clinic, but I feel like I am home here. The fact that up to 5 of my family members show up every day (including Dr. Holstein's daughters) helps, but also our incredible staff have made me truly feel welcome over the past year. Meeting patients, new and old, is a true blessing which I am so thankful for. If we haven't become acquainted yet, I look forward to it!
Greetings Everybody.
This is Dr. Frank answering a question Dr. Chelsea asked about who we are and what we do in the office. To answer this I wanted to talk about the origins of the concepts that I deliver in the office .
I have always loved the multiple approaches that different doctors and healers use to assist in the body's healing. What I have found is every body is created with the ability to heal.As practitioners we have just learned various approaches to nurture and support this inborn healing mechanism. Our goal is to find out what is interfering with this self- healing mechanism in all of us and what can turn it back on. In fact this has been my passion since 1976 when I was introduced to Paul Pitchford.
Paul was a guest lecturer at University of Idaho where I was studying Wildlife Biology. Paul introduced me to acupuncture and changed my diet from a typical college student diet to a whole foods plant based diet. I noticed immediate benefits. He suggested I attend a week- long conference called the Pacific Gathering of Northwest Healers. It was there that I was exposed to dozens of wholistic health practitioners including Chiropractors, Naturopaths, Homeopaths and Herbalists. Instantly I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life. I was told in those early days to get my DC degree first as naturopathy was only legal in 11 states.
I received my degree in 1981 but have continued to study to integrate all those pathways of Chiropractic, Nutrition, Acupuncture and Homeopathy. All of them have amazing contributions to nurture the healing homeostatic force within each of us. Some have much greater application in certain conditions. I have noticed that children respond especially well to homeopathic practice and like taking those medicines where giving an infant nutritional supplements or herbs can be virtually impossible. With future episodes of this question we will explore each modality and where I have found its best applications.
Mark Frank, D.C.
I am Laure Frank, co-owner of the Frank
Clinic and wife of the good, Dr. Mark Frank for 38 years. I am the
Office Manager, Book keeper, Grammie, Daycare provider and resident
historian. So, I will give you a bit of background....
We opened our first practice in 1981 at
the corner of 301 and 54-W. Three years later we moved and set up a
new clinic in the Westgate shopping Center on 54W and Allen Road. We
were there for 19 years treating a wide variety of patients with
Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Nutrition and Lifestyle management. In
2003 we moved to our current location across the street from Florida
Hospital in Zephyrhills. In the last 5 years we have been especially
blessed to have our daughter, Celeste Holstein D.C. and my niece,
Chelsea Drda D.C. join us. The three doctors round out the practice
beautifully with Dr. Frank doing more of the “osseous”
manipulation, Acupuncture, NCR, Dry Needling and Nutrition and Dr.
Holstein and Dr. Chelsea seeing more women, children, infants and
families. All three doctors are well versed in treating with “hands
on”, “light touch”, and instrument adjusting.
We have state of the art equipment
including 2 of the famous Cox flexion/distraction tables, 4 Leander
tables, 2 different types of decompression tables, ATM (Active
Therapeutic Movement) rehabilitation unit, electrical stimulation
therapy, Ultrasound, as well as exercise programs and Massage.
I have been at the heart of the clinic
since we began 35 years ago, I have worked at the front desk, filed
insurance claims and worked in our therapy dept. Dr. Frank and I have
given numerous Lifestyle and Nutrition classes and Workshops and love
guiding patients down the road to better health. I have prepared many
meals to serve to our students to show them how healthy food can be
delicious too!
I currently spend the majority of my
time helping raise two of our grand daughters, continue to keep the
books and do my part to keep the office running smoothly. If I had it
to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing :)
Hello Everyone! This Wellness Wednesday Week 4 and I'm here to talk to you about Paleo Meal Prep and Emergency Preparedness. One of the easiest ways to fail with a Paleo diet is to not have a plan. It's so easy to get home late and think to yourself "I don't have time to cook now, we can get takeout tonight." That may be okay if you choose the right restaurant and pick a paleo option, but it's really 
