Having any type of restriction in life can be frustrating at times. As beautiful as the snow and ice may be, it can be limiting and cause many of us to feel isolated from the outside world. Even if we are able to go out, some of our favorite stores and restaurants may be closed giving us no choice but to go back to our homes feeling even more restricted. If the winter blues have settled in, here are a few cozy Low-Fodmap meal ideas (the recipe cards are printable!) to help get you through the freeze from the comfort of your kitchen!
Stay Warm!
We are here for you, and we want to help.
Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2
Lately, it has been extremely cold out. You know, the kind of cold that no matter how many layers you are in it seems to have settled in your bones? When you are already not feeling your best, the last thing you want is extremely cold temperatures amplifying your aches, pains, discomfort, and already present fatigue.
With bitter cold temps affecting so much of the country right now, I would like to offer some support in protecting your energy and supporting your overall healing journey.
Cozy days
First and foremost, make sure you are dressing in layers—even indoors. Grab those oversized comfy blankets, cozy socks, and breakout those heating pads. Opt to keep your room warm but not overly heated.
Why this is important: To the body, warmth is associated with safety. This is a signal to your nervous system to help your body conserve energy for healing.
Choose warming foods
Whether your food is prepared for you or you’re the one doing the preparing, choose warm foods over cooling foods (such as salads). Warm, freshly-prepared foods are easy for the body to tolerate. It takes up less energy to digest warm foods and it is more comforting to the body. Foods such as hearty stews, sipping broths, soups are an excellent place to start. In addition, add in soft warm grains like oats or rice. Lastly opt, for cooked fruits and vegetables over raw.
Why this is important: Eating warm foods help to increase circulation. This also naturally increases body temperature in frigid temperatures.
Optimize your hydration
Even though it is cold out it is still essential to make sure you are getting enough fluids. It is easy to forget about water in the winter time, especially when the mere thought of a tall glass of cold water makes you shiver.
If water is unappealing, try warm herbal teas, light broths such as sipping bone broth, or room temperature drinks. Sip them slowly during the day to optimize your hydration.
Why this is important: Dry winter air and indoor heat can deplete the body of moisture without you even realizing it. Staying hydrated is a year-round necessity for energy, immunity and overall good health.
Consistent Energy Intake
Skipping meals should not be an option. You must eat regular meals, even if they are smaller portions than what you usually consume. Prioritize protein and complex carbohydrates to keep you fuller longer and to help with caloric stability.
Why this is important: Freezing temperatures can increase caloric demands, as the body works harder to generate and maintain stay warmth.
More than 40 years ago, the Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine was founded with a simple but unconventional belief: when medicine gets complicated, care must become more thoughtful—not more fragmented.
At a time when most healthcare was organized strictly by specialty and symptom, our clinic was built around a different question: What is driving disease beneath the diagnosis? Rather than treating organs in isolation, we focused on the biological systems that connect them—and on patients whose conditions did not fit neatly into a single box.
This philosophy placed the Kaplan Center ahead of the times.
Seeing the Connections Before They Were Obvious
Long before terms like systems biology and precision medicine entered the mainstream, our clinical work centered on the shared mechanisms underlying chronic illness, neurodegeneration, and aging. We saw, again and again, that inflammation, immune dysregulation, metabolic dysfunction, and impaired repair processes were quietly shaping disease years before it was formally diagnosed.
Our early patients were often those with complex, persistent, or unexplained symptoms—individuals who had exhausted conventional options but still lacked answers. By looking across systems rather than within silos, we were able to detect patterns others missed and design more coherent, individualized care. It isn’t rare that a new study comes out and shares findings that we have been seeing within our patients for the past few decades.
From Complex Chronic Illness to Precision Care
Chronic and neuroinflammatory disease remains the cornerstone of our practice. We continue to care for patients with post-infectious and post-viral syndromes, autoimmune and immune-mediated conditions, refractory pain, and complex neurologic disorders.
What has evolved over time is not our philosophy, but our capability.
Advances in immune, inflammatory, and metabolic diagnostics now allow us to identify disease activity earlier and intervene with far greater precision. Our care has moved beyond managing symptoms toward stabilizing underlying biology and supporting long-term function.
Expanding Into Cognitive Health & Alzheimer’s Care
One of the most important evolutions of our original vision is the development of our cognitive health and Alzheimer’s care pathway.
Decades ago, cognitive decline was typically addressed only after symptoms became disruptive. Today, research confirms what our systems-based approach long suggested:
Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders develop over many years, shaped by inflammation, immune activation, vascular dysfunction, and metabolic stress.
Our cognitive health services reflect this understanding. We emphasize early identification of risk–up to 20 years before symptoms even occur– comprehensive evaluation beyond memory testing alone, and personalized strategies to help slow progression, preserve function, and support patients and families across the disease continuum.
Advanced Therapies, Integrated With Purpose
Being ahead of the curve has never meant chasing trends—it has meant adopting innovation when it meaningfully advances patient care.
The Kaplan Center is proud to be the first outpatient center in the region to offer therapeutic plasma exchange as part of a comprehensive treatment strategy for carefully selected patients with immune-mediated or inflammatory conditions. This advanced therapy represents a significant step forward in addressing complex disease mechanisms—and is never offered in isolation, but integrated into a broader diagnostic and clinical framework.
Beyond Illness: The Evolution Toward Healthspan & Longevity
While the clinic was founded to address complexity and chronic disease, our work today extends beyond treating illness alone.
Drawing on decades of experience caring for what happens when biology breaks down, we have expanded our healthspan and longevity services to help patients intervene earlier—before disease becomes entrenched. This approach focuses on precision prevention: identifying early dysfunction, reducing chronic inflammation, and preserving cognitive, metabolic, and immune resilience over time.
Longevity medicine at the Kaplan Center is not about chasing youth. It is about using evidence, advanced diagnostics, and clinical insight to reduce future disease burden and support healthier aging.
A Legacy Built for What Comes Next
What has remained constant for more than 40 years is our commitment to thoughtful evaluation, systems-based medicine, and long-term partnership with our patients.
The tools have evolved. The therapies have advanced. The scope of care has expanded.
But the founding principle remains the same: complex problems require deep expertise, careful listening, and medicine that sees the whole system—not just the diagnosis.
As we look ahead, that blend of heritage and innovation continues to shape how we care for patients today—and how we prepare for what comes next.
We are here for you, and we want to help.
Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2
Low Fodmap and Snowed In – Try these recipes at home!
/in Nutrition, Wellness/by Chardonée Donald, MS, CBHS, CHN, CNS, LDNHaving any type of restriction in life can be frustrating at times. As beautiful as the snow and ice may be, it can be limiting and cause many of us to feel isolated from the outside world. Even if we are able to go out, some of our favorite stores and restaurants may be closed giving us no choice but to go back to our homes feeling even more restricted. If the winter blues have settled in, here are a few cozy Low-Fodmap meal ideas (the recipe cards are printable!) to help get you through the freeze from the comfort of your kitchen!
Stay Warm!
We are here for you, and we want to help.
Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2
Winter Wellness: Why Staying Warm and Energized Matters When Winter Weather Settles In
/in Lifestyle, Nutrition, Wellness/by Chardonée Donald, MS, CBHS, CHN, CNS, LDNLately, it has been extremely cold out. You know, the kind of cold that no matter how many layers you are in it seems to have settled in your bones? When you are already not feeling your best, the last thing you want is extremely cold temperatures amplifying your aches, pains, discomfort, and already present fatigue.
With bitter cold temps affecting so much of the country right now, I would like to offer some support in protecting your energy and supporting your overall healing journey.
Cozy days
First and foremost, make sure you are dressing in layers—even indoors. Grab those oversized comfy blankets, cozy socks, and breakout those heating pads. Opt to keep your room warm but not overly heated.
Why this is important: To the body, warmth is associated with safety. This is a signal to your nervous system to help your body conserve energy for healing.
Choose warming foods
Whether your food is prepared for you or you’re the one doing the preparing, choose warm foods over cooling foods (such as salads). Warm, freshly-prepared foods are easy for the body to tolerate. It takes up less energy to digest warm foods and it is more comforting to the body. Foods such as hearty stews, sipping broths, soups are an excellent place to start. In addition, add in soft warm grains like oats or rice. Lastly opt, for cooked fruits and vegetables over raw.
Why this is important: Eating warm foods help to increase circulation. This also naturally increases body temperature in frigid temperatures.
Optimize your hydration
Even though it is cold out it is still essential to make sure you are getting enough fluids. It is easy to forget about water in the winter time, especially when the mere thought of a tall glass of cold water makes you shiver.
If water is unappealing, try warm herbal teas, light broths such as sipping bone broth, or room temperature drinks. Sip them slowly during the day to optimize your hydration.
Why this is important: Dry winter air and indoor heat can deplete the body of moisture without you even realizing it. Staying hydrated is a year-round necessity for energy, immunity and overall good health.
Consistent Energy Intake
Skipping meals should not be an option. You must eat regular meals, even if they are smaller portions than what you usually consume. Prioritize protein and complex carbohydrates to keep you fuller longer and to help with caloric stability.
Why this is important: Freezing temperatures can increase caloric demands, as the body works harder to generate and maintain stay warmth.
Stay warm!
Chardonèe Donald, MS, CBHS, CHN, CNS, LDN
Nutrition Specialist
We are here for you, and we want to help.
Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2
An Origin Story: Why the Kaplan Center Was Ahead of Its Time
/in Treatments, Wellness/by Kaplan CenterMore than 40 years ago, the Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine was founded with a simple but unconventional belief: when medicine gets complicated, care must become more thoughtful—
not more fragmented.
At a time when most healthcare was organized strictly by specialty and symptom, our clinic was built around a different question: What is driving disease beneath the diagnosis? Rather than treating organs in isolation, we focused on the biological systems that connect them—and on patients whose conditions did not fit neatly into a single box.
This philosophy placed the Kaplan Center ahead of the times.
Seeing the Connections Before They Were Obvious
Long before terms like systems biology and precision medicine entered the mainstream, our clinical work centered on the shared mechanisms underlying chronic illness, neurodegeneration, and aging. We saw, again and again, that inflammation, immune dysregulation, metabolic dysfunction, and impaired repair processes were quietly shaping disease years before it was formally diagnosed.
Our early patients were often those with complex, persistent, or unexplained symptoms—individuals who had exhausted conventional options but still lacked answers. By looking across systems rather than within silos, we were able to detect patterns others missed and design more coherent, individualized care. It isn’t rare that a new study comes out and shares findings that we have been seeing within our patients for the past few decades.
From Complex Chronic Illness to Precision Care
Chronic and neuroinflammatory disease remains the cornerstone of our practice. We continue to care for patients with post-infectious and post-viral syndromes, autoimmune and immune-mediated conditions, refractory pain, and complex neurologic disorders.
What has evolved over time is not our philosophy, but our capability.
Advances in immune, inflammatory, and metabolic diagnostics now allow us to identify disease activity earlier and intervene with far greater precision. Our care has moved beyond managing symptoms toward stabilizing underlying biology and supporting long-term function.
Expanding Into Cognitive Health & Alzheimer’s Care
One of the most important evolutions of our original vision is the development of our cognitive health and Alzheimer’s care pathway.
Decades ago, cognitive decline was typically addressed only after symptoms became disruptive. Today, research confirms what our systems-based approach long suggested:
Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders develop over many years, shaped by inflammation, immune activation, vascular dysfunction, and metabolic stress.
Our cognitive health services reflect this understanding. We emphasize early identification of risk–up to 20 years before symptoms even occur– comprehensive evaluation beyond memory testing alone, and personalized strategies to help slow progression, preserve function, and support patients and families across the disease continuum.
Advanced Therapies, Integrated With Purpose
Being ahead of the curve has never meant chasing trends—it has meant adopting innovation when it meaningfully advances patient care.
The Kaplan Center is proud to be the first outpatient center in the region to offer therapeutic plasma exchange as part of a comprehensive treatment strategy for carefully selected patients with immune-mediated or inflammatory conditions. This advanced therapy represents a significant step forward in addressing complex disease mechanisms—and is never offered in isolation, but integrated into a broader diagnostic and clinical framework.
Beyond Illness: The Evolution Toward Healthspan & Longevity
While the clinic was founded to address complexity and chronic disease, our work today extends beyond treating illness alone.
Drawing on decades of experience caring for what happens when biology breaks down, we have expanded our healthspan and longevity services to help patients intervene earlier—before disease becomes entrenched. This approach focuses on precision prevention: identifying early dysfunction, reducing chronic inflammation, and preserving cognitive, metabolic, and immune resilience over time.
Longevity medicine at the Kaplan Center is not about chasing youth. It is about using evidence, advanced diagnostics, and clinical insight to reduce future disease burden and support healthier aging.
A Legacy Built for What Comes Next
What has remained constant for more than 40 years is our commitment to thoughtful evaluation, systems-based medicine, and long-term partnership with our patients.
The tools have evolved. The therapies have advanced. The scope of care has expanded.
But the founding principle remains the same: complex problems require deep expertise, careful listening, and medicine that sees the whole system—not just the diagnosis.
As we look ahead, that blend of heritage and innovation continues to shape how we care for patients today—and how we prepare for what comes next.
We are here for you, and we want to help.
Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2