Austin Erickson

For Austin Erickson, the self-styled “cooking chiropractor,” it all began with a beet.

A little over a year ago, Erickson – who practices at Oas Family Chiropractic in Eau Claire – was suggesting to a patient whose gallbladder had been removed that she try eating steamed beets. (Studies suggest that a substance in beets can help protect the liver, which produces the bile that is stored in the gallbladder.)

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to do that,” came the patient’s reply. The woman, it seemed, didn’t know how to steam a vegetable. Erickson explained that it was simple: all you needed was a pot and a colander. But the patient didn’t know was a colander was, either. Still eager to get the woman to eat a beet, Erickson asked if she’d be willing to come in on a weekend for a cooking demonstration. She agreed, and one Saturday he showed her how to steam a beet. “That’s really easy,” she said.

“That got me thinking, a lot of the time I talk to people, and they say ‘I don’t know how to do that,’ ” Erickson explained. “So I started organizing  a few little cooking classes.” Erickson now stages several free cooking demonstrations each month for clients and other community members. As far as Erickson can tell, he’s the only chiropractor in the area who puts on such classes. Some are held at his chiropractic office, 1740 Westgate Road in Eau Claire, while others are held elsewhere in the community, including one May 30 at Banbury Place, which was presented by Sara Hefty of The Lux Health Coaching.

“It’s going to be quick, it’s going to be good, and it’s going to be nutritious.”
– Austin Erickson, “the cooking  chiropractor,” on his recipes

“It’s going to be quick, it’s going to be good, and it’s going to be nutritious,” Erickson told the class, describing the dishes he cooks up. On this evening, the audience – largely populated by Hefty’s clientele – would dine on two recipes: a hamburger skillet with leeks and a peaches and cream chia smoothie. Both were simple and featured healthy ingredients mildly exotic to a typical Midwestern eater: coconut oil, turmeric powder, golden flax, chia seeds (yep, the same kind you used to watch sprout atop your Chia Pet).

The ingredients were arrayed in front of Erickson cooking-show style, and the chiropractor fielded questions and kept up an easy patter about their nutritional content and availability while chopping carrots and sprinkling spices. Among other things, he suggested using coconut oil rather than olive oil for high-temperature cooking (save the olive oil for salad dressing, he advised) and recommended using real sea salt (which contains traces of many minerals) rather than iodized, refined table salt.

Class attendee Linda Tiry said she was familiar with much of the nutritional information Erickson conveyed, “But what I appreciate about Austin is he gives the reasons why – what’s good about turmeric?” she said. (In case you were wondering, turmeric – a South Asian spice that’s a major component in curry powder – has been studied for its anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.)

Though he’s not a registered dietician, Erickson took courses on nutrition in chiropractic school and received state-certified training to sell nutritional supplements. In addition, he’s a voracious reader of nutritional literature and an avid cook. (In college, he explains, “Basically, I got sick of Easy Mac.”)

For Erickson, encouraging nutritious eating is an extension of the adjustments he performs as a chiropractor: Both are about promoting and maintaining wellness rather than simply following the put-out-the-fire approach of traditional Western medicine. In addition, the carbohydrate-loaded standard American diet promotes inflammation in the body, which can have harmful health effects.

“In bringing down that level of inflammation through your diet, you’re helping with the chiropractic adjustments,” Erickson said.

For more information on Austin Erickson, visit cookingchiropractor.blogspot.com, call 715-552-7889, or email cookingchiropractor@gmail.com.