By Lanier Laney
It only takes a short while spent around Beaufort native Dr. Clark Trask to notice that a) he’s a very smart person b) he’s got a great sense of humor and c) he’s a genuinely caring person. Combine that with his common sense approach to medicine and his patients confide that he’s a great doctor that they are comfortable trusting with their health.
Clark says that he did not grow up with a dream to become a doctor, but that the “calling” to be one came literally out of the blue with a sudden striking realization on the side of a mountain while hiking in the Himalayas.
“I had an epiphany on a mountain in Nepal. I haven’t had an epiphany since then and am not sure I have enough time on earth if the next epiphany leads to as much of a life change as the last one which led to me becoming a physician,” said Clark with a laugh.
Up until that point, Clark, after completing college at Vanderbilt, had became sort of a world traveler, having spent a year in France before college, a summer waiting tables in Paris, then two years living in Japan and traveling around Nepal.
But after the experience in the Himalayas, Clark returned to South Carolina and enrolled in the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Soon after, he met his future wife Evy at a friend’s wedding.
Clark said, “I knew her two sisters and parents for three years before I met her. We have been together for 12 years. She is my shining light and inspiration.” He adds with a smile, “She is better than me at most things but allows me to play with chainsaws on the weekends.”
Together they have two children — Grace, 10, and Sam, 7 — who attend Riverview Charter School where Evy is on the board of directors.
Clark completed his residency in family medicine and he practices at Coastal CareMD on Ribaut Road across from Beaufort Memorial Hospital (with which he is now affiliated). In 2005 he started Medical Weight Loss of the Lowcountry as part of that practice. Says Clark, “I had so many patients who needed help with their weight and didn’t have tools to use in their journey. So, I went back to school (Harvard) for certification in Bariatric Medicine (which is the study of weight loss and weight management) to better understand how to help people — with and without other medical conditions ‚ lose weight effectively and safely.”
This mission has led to Friday’s Grand Opening of Better Body Groceries at Medical Weight Loss of the Lowcountry at its new location at 1600 Burnside Street, Suite 106 (behind Hilton Garden Inn, down from Bangs Salon).
Clark said, “We have always offered some meal replacements and supplements to our patients as they greatly assist in meeting weight loss goals. ‘Better Body Groceries’ is the name for our extended offering of food products — available to all who want to try them, not just our own weight loss patients.”
The store will stock a variety of snacks and delicious meal replacements, including high protein shakes, bars,
snacks (chips, pretzels, jello, cookies, yogurt), pastas, prepared meals, and organic whey, fiber, and fish oil supplements. There is also a very large gluten-free products section.
The grand opening event will be held Friday, December 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Stop by to check out the food selection and talk with their staff — the wonderful Laura Achurch and Margaret Suber and Evy Trask.
Says Clark, “I work with some amazing women and we love to laugh.” There will be a lot of free samples and a special 15% off all Better Body Groceries from December 14-21.
Clark says about Beaufort: “I like the tides and currents that sweep in and out like our very breaths; I like coming over Whale Branch when returning from a trip and rolling the windows down to suck in the aroma of pluff mud; I like meeting folks who knew my grandmother or grandfather and also those who moved to Beaufort because they recognized in their own worldly prisms that this was a stopping point, a place to call home, a unique corner of a crazy world.”
“Life can be circuitous in its path,” he adds. “Beaufort is home and I am so honored to be back here to practice medicine in this wonderful town that I grew up in — it is a dream come true.”
Better Body Groceries at
Medical Weight Loss of the Lowcountry
1600 Burnside Street, Suite 106
Behind Hilton Garden Inn, down from Bangs
Monday – Friday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
and by appointment after 1 p.m.
843-379-1166
Clark Trask, MD
Coastal CareMD/Medical Weight Loss of the Lowcountry, 974 Ribaut Road,
Beaufort, SC 29902
843.524.3344
