Dr Hendrik Toerien

Dr Toerien: “Eating is a bad habit. My mission is to motivate people, helping them to overcome their bad habits.”

Thirty one years as a general practitioner has given Dr Hendrik Toerien, owner of Face & Body Synergy in White River, a deep insight into the emotional and physical harm caused by out of control eating. The risks associated with obesity are well known and include heart failure, diabetes, lung and heart diseases, joint pain and disturbed hormones. Low self-esteem, depression, lacking self-confidence and a sense of well-being are just a few of the mental side effects suffered by men and women confronted by a scale and a mirror that doesn’t give them good news.

Concern about his overweight patients led the doctor to what he calls a “hobby”- helping them to lose weight. Impressed by the well balanced eating programme and supplements, he bought a Slender Wonder franchise in 1995 and hasn’t looked back. “It’s a programme for life,” he says. “Easy to follow and to stay on.”

The weight loss programme is the cornerstone of his thriving aesthetic business, bringing clients to White River from as far afield as Beira, Maputo, Zimbabwe, Piet Retief and Ermelo. He has two permanent and two part time Portuguese speaking employees to cope with the weekends when Face & Body Synergy bustles with Mozambican clients.

There is an extremely positive spin off for White River as a result of these foreign visitors, and we applaud his entrepreneurial foresight in employing Portuguese speakers to ease client language difficulties. For Dr Toerien’s inspirational and successful efforts in bringing people to White River, we are proud to award him a White River Star!