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I was introduced to Dr. Glen Depke, a traditional naturopath, as Dr. Joseph Mercola’s
EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) guy. For those of you who have not heard of him, Dr.
Mercola is perhaps the most famous osteopath in the world, with a
huge Internet presence and email newsletter having over two million active subscribers
world-wide. Glen was content to leave this description as is. At the time, I was considering
taking EFT training. It took Dr. Depke about two minutes to convince me of his conviction
regarding EFT, and that I should not wait a second longer than necessary to take the training.
But Dr. Depke is far more than “an EFT guy.” In addition to having his own practice,
Dr. Depke does all of the intake exams for Dr. Mercola’s Optimal Wellness Center in Chicago,
in which he performs an iridology exam and either sets the client up with a nutritional
program based upon metabolic type or recommends that the client undergo EFT treatments. He
also moderates Dr. Mercola’s on-line metabolic typing forum, in which he keeps the peace and
answers questions.
If that were not enough, Dr. Depke is a consultant for Orange County, California’s
Serenity Wellness Center, providing metabolic typing and iridology services. In conjunction
with the Serenity Center, Dr. Depke will be putting on a two-day wellness workshop.
In his words, “I’ve got about all the clients I can handle.”
Dr. Depke is a board certified alternative health practitioner, having received his
Doctor of Naturopathy from Clayton College of Natural Health. He has earned a Diploma of
Iridology from the International Institute of Iridology, an EFT Advanced Certification, and
is a certified Advanced-level Metabolic Typing Advisor.
Chip: You are a naturopathic doctor, a nutritionist, an iridologist, and an EFT [Emotional
Freedom Technique] practitioner. That seems like a very diverse skill set. How do you merge
them into a single, focused practice?
Dr. Depke: I’m a traditional naturopath, and any traditional naturopath is going to
utilize a variety of non-invasive methods of healing. Naturopathy is really a diverse field.
Some naturopaths focus on nutrition, some focus on energy work, some will use homeopathy or
herbal–there’s a lot of different directions. For me, what I thought would make the biggest
difference in our society is doing individual nutrition programs. It’s an area where almost
everyone needs work. We are a society with poor overall nutrition.
And because of the amounts of information out there on nutrition, there’s a lot of people
who think they are doing really well, but are in fact, eating wrong for their body type and
still having challenges–even eating organic and focusing on whole food. I always thought
nutrition was more of my calling.
I pulled in the EFT because when you are trying to make a shift in nutrition, a lot of
people have very strong emotional ties with some of the food they eat. If you don’t have
some form of energy work, something to free up that blocked emotional energy, it’s almost
impossible to get them to change what they are doing.
We see this with people who are on life-long diet plans–one diet after another after another.
Even if they seem like they are having success, they fall off the wagon and gain the weight
back unless they deal with the emotional component to it. EFT is a perfect fit with
nutrition, even if all it does is help people change their diet. [Meaning: even if that were
the only thing it did. EFT does much more than help people change their diet.
See What can EFT be Used For.]
[EFT] is a perfect match for iridology as well, and it’s why I chose to study Holistic
Iridology under Dr. Pesek [David Pesek, Ph.D.]. If you talk to anyone else about iridology,
it’s always about the structure of the eye and how it relates to the body, whereas Dr.
Pesek brings the emotional component into it.
What I typically do now on my initial consultation is take some pictures of the
client’s eyes, show them on the computer, and do an assessment of their iris right then.
We’ll deal with what’s going on in their body and address the emotional component right
then. [For example,] if I find a mark on the pancreas we’ll look at the nutritional aspects,
but I always go into the emotional aspects as well. [Typically, pancreas issues are
associated with sadness and grief–Chip] If their iris shows a lot of challenges, I recommend
that they get a full report - a comprehensive analysis. But if it is relatively free of
challenges, we move right into the program.
The next step varies from client to client. With the iridology and talking with
[the client], we address physical aspects and emotional aspects and usually we find a good
place to start. For most people we will start with nutrition and metabolic typing, but if in
the initial session the people start gravitating to what is going on with them emotionally -
looking at the expressions on their face, asking them questions like, “You show weakness in
your kidneys; this is usually a forgiveness issue. Does this ring true for you?” or anger
with the thyroid, or sadness with the pancreas - right away you see it in their face. I’ve
had people, when going through the iridology report, just start crying when we discuss the
emotions tied into it.
[With] someone like that I would go right into doing EFT work. But [for] most
people [I] go into metabolic typing first.
Chip: What is metabolic typing, exactly?
Dr. Depke: Metabolic typing was put together by Bill Wilcott, who wrote
The Metabolic Typing
Diet. Bill is a researcher and developer who spent the last 40 years of his life studying
the research and extending the research of others - people like Dr. Westin Price, Rudolph
Wiley, George Watson, Dr. Kelly. And these doctors invariably, since the 1900's, have
put together research as to what we need nutritionally, and they came to the conclusion
that there is no one-size-fits-all meal plan. A lot of it ties into genetic markers, your
environment, your health levels, your stress levels, where your struggles have been... Bill
has put together a system to assess the 10 different homeostatic controls of the
body, but the main two are tied into your autonomic nervous system and your
oxidative system.
What this metabolic typing does is assess whether where there is balance or imbalance,
and then we use certain purine level foods to balance where you are imbalanced. [Purines are
a class of double-ringed, crystalline organic-based chemicals found in such foods as: beef,
some fish and scallops, organ meats, game meats, and meat extracts. –Chip] Some of the
different metabolic types are the carb type, the mixed type - there’s three different
variations of the mixed type - [and] the protein type. That’s the starting point, and from
there you work out a plan. It’s an in-depth system. We have a questionnaire that ties into
these homeostatic controls - as I mentioned , the autonomic nervous system, the oxidative
system, then also the endocrine system.
It’s a great tool. It’s something that’s relatively accurate to the point of 90 to 95
percent with the people that I work with. The only place where I feel there is any
inaccuracy is that the test is filled out by the client. Sometimes the client is not in
touch with their own body and how they react to foods, their own personality and
psychological traits. That’s where the plus or minus comes in. But I find that even if
they are not highly accurate when they take it the first time, they start to pay attention
to what their foods are doing to them. When you reassess their metabolic type, you get it
right on.
In short, it’s a way to assess what foods are right for the individual. As I mentioned
before, there’s just so much information as to what is right or wrong for us. And I’m the
perfect example, because years before I ever knew about metabolic typing I ate what I
thought was a really good mainstream meal program. I focused on organic and grass-fed meats,
and I cut back on red meat and fats, and I ate a lot of vegetables. I juiced every day. At
that point I thought I was doing about as well as I could. I was surprised, though, that
I wasn’t having the success that I thought I should have. I had to eat 5 or 6 meals a day
to maintain an energy level. And I’m not talking about small meals. And it just never made
sense to me. Then when I learned about metabolic typing, I was the first person I did it on,
and I came out as a fast-oxidizing protein type. And when I started eating right for the
protein type, I realized that I was eating the exact opposite of what my body was starving
for. When I changed and started eating more red meat - and I increased my fat content, I cut
back on the amounts of fruit I was eating, I cut back on some of the different types of
vegetables I was eating, and stopped juicing regularly - and when I did that, I went from
eating 5 or 6 meals a day down to eating three meals per day, and maintained a higher energy
level. When I switched to more raw foods, I now eat two moderate meals per day or three
snacks per day. I maintain my 190 pounds, where I feel the healthiest.
It’s amazing how little you need when you focus on what’s right for you. Once people
start addressing their needs from their metabolic type, they are amazed at how little food
they need. Your body, contrary to what people think, is not hungry for quantities of food;
it his hungry for quality of foods and the right types of foods. And when you get the
macro-nutrients that your body is starving for, you can produce adequate energy. When you
can produce adequate energy, your hunger is cut off. If you are eating poor quality foods,
or if you are eating quality foods that are wrong for your metabolic type, you’ll still
continue to be hungry. Your stomach may be physically full, but you still haven’t produced
adequate energy. What would happen is your body would trigger a sweet craving, because sugar
is a quick fix for energy. It’s a cycle that most of society lives on.
I’m always open to a better system, but until someone comes up with one, I’ll use Metabolic
Typing.
Chip: What is EFT then?
Dr. Depke: EFT is - Emotional Freedom Technique - based on traditional Chinese
medicine. It’s a system of using acupressure points to free blocked up energy. I generally
explain to my clients that we all have a flow of energy in our body. Different traditions of
medicines call it different things. Most people have heard it called the chi, ki, or prana,
or your life force, the list goes on. [Western (U.S.) science in the 1990's dubbed it the
bio-field. –Chip] It doesn’t matter what you want to call it, we all have this flow of
energy in our body. It’s naturally flowing, and that creates a positive energetic body. If
your energy is blocked or stagnant it will create a negative energetic body, and typically
that is going to manifest negative health conditions. EFT is a tool to use to free-up
blocked energy in the body. Most of the time our blocked energy is created by suppressed
negative emotions. Our culture has a problem with suppressed emotions. We’ve all been taught
very early on in our lives - and even more so as men - when a little boy maybe 4 years old
starts to cry, he gets a chuck on the shoulder and is told to grow up and be a man. We’ve
all been taught, from very early on, to repress these emotions. It’s the suppression of
these emotions that creates a block in the energetic flow. And that creates a lot of
other challenges, vibrationally, with organ systems in our body, typically where we are
weaker. And our emotional reactions play into the blocks of energy.
People tend to think that when they go through a negative situation they will have a
negative reaction. It’s not automatic - it’s just when you have a block within your energy
that you create the negative emotion. You can have a negative situation, you react to it,
you work through it and you move on - and that’s it, without the negative emotional aspect
to it. But most people believe that if you have a negative situation, you will have a
negative emotion. That’s the way our society has taught us.
People refer to the natural aging process. Once you get into your 40's and 50's, your
memory starts to dissipate, you start to lose your mental clarity, you get foggy and
lethargic - to me, that’s just watching sick people get older. It’s the same thing with
emotions. We just watch people with blocked energy throughout their body react with negative
emotions, and think, “Oh, that’s just how it happens.”
With EFT you are tapping on the pressure points that are the same as an acupuncturist
would use, that a shiatsu therapist would use. Some people refer to it as “acupuncture
without the needles.” I believe it has a very profound effect - moreso than acupuncture.
It addresses the component that is blocking [the energy], which more often than not is a
repressed emotion.
It’s amazing how many people claim that there’s nothing going on, they are not
blocking anything, there’s no stuffing of emotion. And I tell them that it is natural to
feel that. If you have a suppressed emotion, it’s - well, suppressed. That’s our body’s
defense mechanism to keep it from sitting on the surface for us to deal with on a regular
basis.
If you sit and tell a story of something that happened in your life, and if when you
tell that story you get angry, or a little frustrated, or a little bit of sadness, or
anxiety when you are telling that story, it’s a good sign of a stuffed emotion that you
suppressed with the story. Once the client understands this, they are able to open up and
get to their emotions.
Sometimes I just use EFT for food issues, but you have to be prepared when doing EFT,
because you never know where it is going to lead. I remember one person - we were tapping on
cravings for potato chips, and 10 minutes later she’s telling me how she never enjoyed
living with her husband. You have to be prepared to help those people through those
challenges.
Chip: So let’s just continue suit. What is iridology?
Dr. Depke: It is the study of the iris of the eye and the other external structures
of the eye, to assess where there are potential strengths and weaknesses throughout the
body. It’s an assessment of the body, both physically and emotionally. I use it to help the
client gain wellness overall, by addressing the particular weaknesseswhile focusing on their
strengths. To me, iridology is the ultimate preventative medicine tool. It is an assessment
of genetic pre-dispositions before they even develop. You can work with a person to create
and build optimal health by working with the areas they are weaker in. They don’t have to
go through the struggles, they don’t have to develop and manifest the various challenges in
the body. And one of the ways of doing that, as I mentioned before, is working with the
emotional component.
If someone is struggling, if somebody shows a genetic weakness in a certain area, and
you see the emotion tying into that, addressing the emotion is a great way to address it
before it manifests into a physical problem. It is so simple to recognize the strengths and
so easy to recognize the weaknesses and use the information...to help create optimal health
for the client.
Chip: How accurate is iridology?
Dr. Depke: I don’t have a figure, and in my perception, I don’t think anyone could
ever give it to you. You are looking at physical and emotional pre-dispositions. The only
way you could assess accuracy is if everyone who had a weakness in a certain area would
develop an illness there. That’s not always going to happen. We’re given the body we have
when we are born and it’s what we do with it that determines what’s going on
[with our health]. Even though the current paradigm likes to tell us how our challenges are
tied into our genetics, I believe that most of our challenges are what we do to ourselves.
There is a small percentage, maybe 4%, that is genetic, but that leaves 96% tied into our
nutrition, the water we drink, our exercise habits, sleep habits, the amount of sun-exposure
we are getting, any toxicity we might accumulate, and lastly and possibly the most
important, what’s going on with our energetic body.
I can’t put a number on how accurate iridology is, but it is amazing how many people
that, as you work through their iridology assessment - and a lot of people are already
sick - I have them fill out a form, but I don’t look at it until after I do their iris
report - it’s amazing how often when you pick out their weaknesses, they have already
developed problems in those areas. As an example, when
you look at the back, the upper, the lower, the middle back, and you ask them where they
carry their stress, I would say that almost every time they point to the area where they
are genetically weaker.
Chip: Is there anything you would like to add?
Dr. Depke: You asked in the beginning how I tie in being a naturopath, the iridology,
the nutrition and the EFT work. It’s just complementary - to be a naturopath, to help people
do what they have to do to achieve higher levels of health without medical intervention and
invasive procedures. My specialties are the metabolic typing and the EFT, and using the
iridology to assess and get my direction. There are other therapies that you can use as a
naturopath that can be helpful. I do occasionally use different homeopathics or some herbal
tinctures, occasionally I’ll teach people how to use different hydro-therapies - a lot of
the therapies that the naturopaths were using a couple hundred years ago in Germany. So much
of what’s missing from traditional health care can be found in natural therapies. If you are
working with someone that is really struggling in a particular area and you want to help
them react a little quicker, and you don’t want to wait until they react to changes in their
food, you might be able to help push them to a state of balance by using homeopathics or
herbal tinctures. But I try not to depend on anything like that, because - this is my
opinion - some practitioners use herbals and homeopathy just like some doctors use
prescriptions. They don’t do anything to address the imbalances in the body - get
[the client] on a good nutrition program or balance the energies in the body. They’ll
have no problem having them take herbs or homeopathics for the rest of their lives.
The other way to look at it is that not everyone is going to use my program. Not
everyone is willing to make a commitment to change their nutrition. Not everyone is
willing to address what is going on with their emotions. For those people it would be
a disservice to tell them not to use a homeopathic or herbal to improve their health, as
opposed to a prescription that creates other problems. It’s all in your perspective in
how you choose to work with you clients.
© 2007 Chip Engelmann
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