It was a warm fall day in 2006 when I asked a friend to meet me for lunch at one of Montreal’s trendy Plateau neighborhood cafés. I wanted to learn more about the classes she had taken to become a naturopath. While munching our sandwiches, I drilled her with questions about the course material, schedule, teacher and cost. It sounded like something I’d love to do. Being bilingual would help as it was offered in French only.
I drove home, emailed the teacher and found out the fall session would start that Saturday! I showed up at 8:30 a.m., check in hand, not realizing that I was embarking on part-time studies that would last six years and lead me to my dream career… what I feel is my calling.
I was fortunate to study under Lise Harbeck, a Naturopath with degrees in Chemistry and Nutrition and more than twenty years of experience by that time . She is very warm, caring, generous with her time, as she loves sharing her knowledge with her students.
The first thing we studied was the body type plan. Dr. Henry Bieler (1839-1975) was well known for his book, Food is Your Best Medicine. He was a physician and a nutritionist who introduced the concept of distinguishing individuals by identifying their dominant gland.
He determined there were Thyroid Types and Adrenal Types and that these dominant glands affected the shape of a person’s body. Thyroid types are more often tall and slender, while Adrenal types are usually stockier. He believed there was also a third type, but never worked it out.
In 1983, Dr. Elliot Abravanel co-authored the book, Dr. Abravanol’s Body Type Diet and Lifetime Nutrition Plan. Inspired by Bieler’s theory, Abravanel determined two more types with his own research: the Gonad Type (among women only, despite the name’s male connotations ) and the Pituitary Type. He discovered a direct link between each type and where fat accumulated on a person’s body. When he put two of his patients on the same weight loss
plan, one lost weight and felt great, while the other lost very little weight, became pale, felt tired, and experienced increased food cravings.
