Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is an incredibly valuable screening tool and the first step to Mineral Nutritional Balancing (MNB).

HTMA gives insight into how the body responds to stress and how stress affects the organ and gland systems in the body. This is done by taking a 1.5” sample from the root of the hair and analyzing it using mass spectrometry.

Using mass spectrometry the wavelengths emitted from the hair sample are recorded to determine the mineral and heavy metal makeup of the sample. This shows what minerals and heavy metals have been excreted in the hair over the past three months (hair grows about 1/2” each month).

Dr. Paul Eck combined his own decades of research with the work of several other innovative doctors and researchers to ascertain the physical and emotional implications of the levels and relationships between minerals and heavy metals in the body and determine the ideal ratios and levels for each. 

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The body very tightly regulates the levels of blood markers because it has a very small range of safe levels.

Markers in the blood may only show changes once a disease state is already well under way, while hair testing can show developing patterns before symptoms may even arise.

The blood is purely a transport substance used to transport nutrients to their needed locations. The body will store excesses in the tissues or draw resources from tissues as needed to keep the blood balanced.

A tissue that is not essential to life (like hair) gives us insight into what the body is lacking because the body will always prioritize the most important survival processes over something like hair, skin or bones.

As well, saliva has been found to not be fully accurate for hormone testing because tissues can hold up to 100x more hormones than saliva. The mineral interactions in hair can tell us far more about what’s happening in the whole system than blood, saliva, or urine. 

Mineral Nutritional Balancing (MNB) is a holistic protocol including supplements, diet, and lifestyle recommendations to support detox, healing, and nutrient replenishment. All components of the protocol are important for healing.

This program is not a quick fix. Healing takes time.

As you’re moving through the program, it’s likely you’ll experience healing reactions and/or retracing. As your body begins to feel safe to release heavy metals you may experience new symptoms or old ones may briefly return (usually milder than previously). Healing reactions occur when the body releases heavy metals that were stored in the tissues and bones. This requires the liver, kidney, and skin to do extra detox work to get them out of the body.

Sometimes it doesn’t feel great and sometimes people don’t even notice it happened but we see it show on the next hair test. This can cause a variety of symptoms like headache, fatigue, sleep disruption, allergies, skin issues, aches and pains, to name a few.

These are the times to ramp up detox support and treat yourself kindly. The healing process is not linear, but you’ll almost always feel better than when you first started.

Mineral Nutritional Balancing heals and replenishes the body on the deepest level. As the body’s systems are given the foundational elements needed to function optimally, they can come back online and return to optimal functioning.

Most people see a gradual reduction in symptoms over time, although healing is never linear. Some people just feel gradually better, some feel a little worse then better. Individual bodies have very individual healing paths.

If you’re on any symptom managing medications it’s important to work closely with your doctor to ensure they are still serving you as intended.

Everyone’s experience with healing is different.

Some bodies start to release heavy metals within weeks and some take years. Some people feel better almost instantly and for some its a very gradual improvement and one day they wake up and realize they haven’t had symptoms for a long time

Unfortunately, due to the state of agriculture today and how pervasive heavy metals have become in the environment, it doesn’t seem possible to get everything we need from food.

Due to a number of factors including the use of NPK fertilizer, factory farming, mining and industrialization, mono cropping, and rampant pesticide use, our food sources have a small fraction of the mineral content that they did even just a century ago.

While a nutrient rich diet is essential to supporting healing, many of us wouldn’t be in the depleted state we are in today if food were enough to reverse the imbalances we’re now faced with. 

Yes! We absolutely encourage the whole family to mineral balance together. We find that healing happens more quickly as the whole family’s nervous system moves and grows concurrently. Children get a very pared down supplement protocol, and we’ve seen incredible improvements in kids’ nervous system and regulation from mineral balancing.

The amazing thing about this method is that it allows the body to release heavy metals when it’s ready. The body has incredible intelligence and is always seeking balance. When we give it the nourishment it needs it can detox on its own without harsh herbal protocols or medications.

Heavy metals are constantly in our air/water/food/care products, and with adequate mineral stores the body is able to move them out of the body (barring acute extreme exposures). But when mineral stores get low due to stress and nutrient imbalances from diet or supplementation, the body holds on to heavy metals in place of nutrient minerals. Through a phenomena called ionic mimicry, certain metals are close enough in structure to nutrient minerals that they can fit the enzyme binding sites and fulfill some of the necessary functions of the missing minerals. This saves the body from short term disfunction, but over time the metals have negative impacts that damage our body’s ability to thrive.

With Mineral Nutritional Balancing and proper nutrition, we provide the body with the foundational nourishment it needs and over time it releases the stored heavy metals, restoring proper function the organs, glands, and bones that they were stored in.

My introductory offering includes two hair tissue mineral (HTMA) tests with an initial virtual consult and one follow-up over 6 months. Consults are via video chat and will review HTMA findings, go over nutritional recommendations, lifestyle recommendations, and supplement protocols.

I require a two session package to get started because this work is a long low/slow re-nourishing from very deep levels, and we usually recommend a full year to really see the potential for results but we need a minimum of 6 months to really get into it. We always retest every 3 months because the hair sample shows the past three months of hair growth, and we shift the custom supplements and protocols as your body is replenishing. 

When you’re ready to get started, reach out to me and I’ll send you a test kit with sample/shipping instructions. It takes about 10 days for the lab to receive and process your sample. Let me know when you send the sample and I’ll send your invoice and intake forms. Once I have your forms completed and the lab results we can schedule your initial virtual consult. There I’ll give you recommendations for diet, lifestyle, and supplements for the next three months. I’m available for questions via the client portal during your protocol, and after three months you’ll send another sample and we repeat the process for the next three month cycle.

The initial package is $555 for two sessions which includes the lab fees and two test/consults over 6 months. I do offer discounts for families working together.

On top of practitioner support, supplements cost around $130-200 per month with my discount codes, depending on your individual program. These are practitioner grade supplements, in forms far superior to something you’d find in a grocery or health food store. If this feels like too much we can discuss a skeleton protocol with just the bare minimum to start out.