Recently I interviewed Hope Pedraza, and we talked about hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) and tying it into thyroid health. If you would prefer to listen the interview you can access it by Clicking Here [1].
Dr. Eric Osansky:
I’m excited to chat with Hope Pedraza, as we will be talking about hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) and tying it into thyroid health. I’m going to give Hope’s bio. She is a certified holistic nutritionist, nutrition coach, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner, a hair tissue mineral analysis expert, and a comprehensively certified Pilates instructor and founder of inBalance Studio. Hope helps women heal their body from chronic gut, hormone, thyroid, and autoimmune issues; balance the mind; and live in alignment. Hope is also the host of the fast-growing podcast Hopeful and Wholesome. Thank you so much for joining us, Hope.
Hope Pedraza:
Thanks so much for having me.
Dr. Eric:
Appreciate you being here. Excited to chat with you about the hair tissue mineral analysis. Why don’t you start out with your journey? How did you get started helping people with hair tissue mineral analysis and doing everything that you do today?
Hope:
I think we all have our own health journey that leads us into this space. I initially got into wellness from my love of dance. That got me into Pilates. I opened my own Pilates studio. With my Pilates studio, I wanted to create this comprehensive experience for people, where they could get their movement and nutrition and everything all in one spot. That led me into the nutrition space.
Initially, it was me doing nutrition coaching. Then it was me realizing that a lot of the women coming to me wanted to “lose weight.” They wanted to lose weight, or they wanted to tone up, or whatever. Working with these women, I’m realizing there are so many deeper things at play than just the weight. There are hormone issues they have been dealing with for years. Thyroid things they have never dealt with. Inflammation. All these things that are the real problem. The weight is just a side effect.
That led me down the path of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition, really being able to reach people where they need to be reached, which is at a much deeper level than just talking about calories and weight loss. It’s a much more complex equation than that.
Through my work in FDN, I got into HTMA, realizing what a huge piece mineral balancing plays in the wellness equation. I realized that we talk about vitamins and minerals all the time. We hear about them all the time. I don’t think we really understand the role that minerals play. You have probably heard of the term “the spark plugs in the body,” which sounds great. But what does that mean? They are literally starting the reactions in your body. Without minerals, nothing is functioning.
Understanding that piece at a deep level, understanding that minerals are the building block for everything else. This is a piece that is missing in most practitioners’ work. Most practitioners aren’t looking at minerals in a deep way. You may do a blood panel, and that’s the extent of it. Also, giving them a valuable protocol to know what to do with it. “My magnesium is low. Now, what do I do?”
Dr. Eric:
Why not just test for minerals in the blood? What’s the difference between hair testing and testing for minerals in the blood? You can test for nutrients in urine. If you could dive a little more into the significance of the hair mineral analysis.
Hope:
For sure. It’s a good question. This is the piece that sets this specific test apart from other labs and what makes it such a great functional lab. When you are getting a general blood panel, testing there is a very acute measure. It’s a small window of what’s going on with your mineral levels. Not only that, but a lot of our minerals are intracellular, meaning they are in your cells. When you are measuring the blood, it’s not an accurate picture of what’s going on, especially at a cellular level.
When you are doing the HTMA, you’re submitting some of your hair, which is a tissue. You are seeing what’s being pushed out into your tissues, which gives you a look at what’s going on chronically, over time with your mineral levels. It’s much more accurate because it is what’s going on at a cellular level. You get more detailed information at what’s going on.
I have had so many clients I’ve worked with get a blood panel, and their potassium is too high. Potassium is an intracellular mineral. It’s supposed to be in your cells. If it is that high in your blood, it actually means you’re deficient because it’s not in the cells being used. There are a lot of things you can see with the HTMA that gives you a more accurate picture of what’s going on and can help correct the imbalances and chronic symptoms people are dealing with.
Dr. Eric:
Is what you see always what you get on the hair test? If you see low minerals, is it always low? If you see high minerals, does that always mean you have too much of a mineral?
Hope:
Good question. No is the short answer to that. It’s not always that simple. Typically, if it’s low, it’s low. Often, when it’s high, that doesn’t mean it’s high. For example, I feel like magnesium and calcium are two of the big ones there. A lot of times, the magnesium is high in the HTMA. That actually means it’s being pushed into your tissues, so it’s not bioavailable, which means deficiency.
With calcium, same thing. Calcium is a structural mineral. 98% of it is supposed to be in our teeth and bones. When it’s coming out in your hair and tissues, that means it’s being pulled from our bones and teeth and pushed out into the soft tissue. That’s a problem.
It’s not always straightforward, which is why you don’t want to just treat the lab. You want to treat the person. We are looking at symptoms, comparing symptomology and looking at the labs, connecting pieces with other labs we have done to connect dots and see correlations.
Dr. Eric:
Pretty much just to summarize: In the case of calcium, magnesium, if it’s elevated, it could mean not that it’s too much, but the opposite, where you are actually deficient.
Follow-up question: Can other factors influence it? If someone has hard water, could that also be a reason why the calcium is high?
Hope:
Not typically. There are other things that could show up from hard water. There are some other trace elements that the HTMA measures. I’ve had some clients where their uranium is through the roof, but they are drinking and bathing in well water, or they are in a place where granite is in the water. It can happen that way.
If calcium is that high, it’s not from the water. It’s from a calcium build-up in the body. This is veering off subject here. Elevated calcium is indicative of other more serious things. One of those could be copper toxicity, which I know we’ll talk about. Really what it means when the calcium is that high, especially when it’s off the charts literally (it can’t measure it)—I have had clients all the time with that—we are looking at what’s called a calcium shell. We have this calcium build-up in the soft tissue, and it starts to affect cellular permeability. This calcium shell builds up around the nerves and cells in the body. It starts to prevent things from going in and out of the cells.
Often, I have clients with hypothyroidism, and that’s a big thing. The hormone has to get in your cells, so if you have this calcium build-up, it’s not having an easy time going in and out of the cell. The high calcium is a big deal because that will affect all of your other minerals. It’s affecting what’s going in and out, and it’s affecting all the other levels.
Dr. Eric:
Before we get to copper, can you talk about magnesium, sodium, and potassium? They’re all important, but those are the macro minerals.
Hope:
We have the big four: calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, the ones we need the most of and you hear the most about. In my experience, typically, more people have excess than deficiency in calcium.
With magnesium, most people have a deficiency. I’ve never to this day had someone who had excess magnesium in their body. It’s always a deficiency. Magnesium is one of those that it’s used in so many reactions in the body, 500-600 reactions. Because it’s used so much, it’s so easily depleted, especially by stress. The adrenals zap your magnesium supply really quick. Magnesium is easily depleted when your body is stressed. I’d say 99% of my clients, there is a deficiency there. That is one I always look at.
Potassium is similar. More deficiency than excess. Excess is not really a thing from the labs I do. I don’t ever see an excess. Deficiency is usually a thing. I have a lot of clients who deal with thyroid issues. That is a big one connected to the thyroid. Potassium helps with the sensitivity of the cells to the thyroid hormone. Most clients I work with who have hypothyroidism have totally tanked potassium. That’s a big one we have to look at and build those supplies back up.
Sodium, actually similar. Typically, 99% of the time, that is more deficient than it is in excess. This is a weird one. It’s a hard one for people to wrap their heads around. Sodium is one of those carbs. It has a bad rap over the past, more than carbs. Are there issues caused from high sodium? 100%. When you look at it deeper, it’s really not the sodium. It’s where you’re getting the sodium from. Our bodies have to have sodium to survive. It’s what helps things cross through cellular membrane.
The issue with sodium that we hear, high blood pressure, stroke, etc. You can go down a rabbit hole like I have in the studies about sodium. If you go really far down the rabbit hole, you’ll see that most of the studies out there actually do not pinpoint sodium as the true underlying cause of high blood pressure and stroke. The studies that have been done that look at different cultures that are high in sodium, they do not deal with high blood pressure. It’s not a thing.
What causes high blood pressure is where you are getting the sodium from. You know what causes high blood pressure? The Standard American Diet. It’s the processed food, and it’s getting sodium from refined salt. That’s the real piece. Refined salt, like table salt, is the equivalent of white sugar. It had all these chemicals put on it and stripped everything away, so it’s just sodium chloride. There are no other minerals in it.
If you look at an unrefined salt, like a Celtic salt, which is always my recommendation because it has the most trace minerals in it, or a pink Himalayan salt, it has 84-95 other trace minerals in it. When you are eating that salt, it has these other trace minerals in it that help push the sodium where it needs to go, so it’s not your body just soaking up sodium chloride and nothing else.
Long story short. I’m answering your question. The sodium piece is a tricky one. Most of the time, my clients have low sodium, the reason being your adrenals use more sodium than any other part of the body. When your adrenals are tired, when they are constantly churning and burning and pushing out cortisol, that’s zapping your sodium supplies. That will cause a lot of issues in the body. That’s one thing I work on with my clients.
My clients are always scared to eat salt because they have been told their whole life all these things about salt. My first recommendation is to add Celtic salt to your water because it supports your adrenals and sodium levels. That feels weird to them, because they have been told not to eat salt. It’s tricky, but it’s always huge in the labs.
Dr. Eric:
I agree with everything you said regarding sodium. My wife and I use Celtic Sea salt on pretty much everything. I think we get plenty of salt. I encourage my patients to also use either Celtic Sea salt or pink Himalayan salt.
As far as the problem with sodium, people are eating a lot of refined foods. Every packaged food pretty much has sodium. If that’s what someone is living off of, they probably are going to get too much of the refined salt. Not that I tell people to have a couple of tablespoons of Celtic Sea salt, but even a half teaspoon or teaspoon per day is perfectly fine.
Hope:
Totally.
Dr. Eric:
You said as far as the hair test goes, you never see it high. It’s almost always low. Is that correct?
Hope:
Almost always low. I have never had a client who has it high. Sometimes, people’s potassium is where it needs to be. But for the most part, deficiency is most common.
Dr. Eric:
With magnesium, it sounds like it’s pretty much always low. As we mentioned earlier, even if it’s high on the hair test, it doesn’t mean that it’s elevated. Regardless of whether it’s elevated or low, someone usually is deficient in magnesium.
Hope:
Yep, pretty much.
Dr. Eric:
What’s your favorite source of magnesium, if you do recommend supplementation? I’m guessing you do if people are deficient.
Hope:
Yep, I do. Magnesium glycinate is my go-to. It’s most easily absorbed. It’s easiest on the gut. I sometimes recommend a magnesium chloride, like a good magnesium chloride soak. I have my clients do that sometimes. It’s twofold, too. It gives them a way to get their mindfulness practice in. Let’s sit in the tub or get a foot soak or do meditation. The magnesium chloride is highly absorbable by the body. Glycinate is usually my go-to.
For those who are wondering how much I should take, typically, it’s 5x your body weight is how many mg you want to get. For the average person, it’s usually between 500-700mg, depending on your body weight.
Dr. Eric:
Getting back to potassium, you mentioned that potassium also is important with regard to thyroid health.
Hope:
For sure. That’s a big one that I see. Every client that I have ever had that has hypothyroidism or even Hashimoto’s, potassium is always low. Potassium is responsible for the sensitivity of thyroid hormone in the cells. We need potassium. Your thyroid really needs it.
There are so many things that can affect stores of potassium. I keep going back to copper, but it’s one thing that always pops up because it’s so common. Copper can really hurt potassium supplies. I have quite a few clients who have copper toxicity with hyperthyroidism. It’s a double whammy. It drains your potassium supply, that excess copper. Potassium is a big one we want to look at.
I think it’s important to know how to supplement that one well. There is a tolerance level that your body has to supplementing potassium. It doesn’t absorb it after a point when you are taking it in a vitamin or pill.
My first recommendation is always to get it from food first. Then we can supplement from there. Avocadoes, bananas, and coconut water are the three best sources in my opinion. That’s what I typically recommend to my clients. From there, we’ll supplement. Not fully relying on a supplement to get potassium, as it’s absorbed best through food.
Dr. Eric:
To reinforce what you said, there is a time and place for potassium, but unlike magnesium, where it sounds like most of the time you will offer supplementation, and you will still do things through diet as well. With potassium, it’s more focusing on the diet: avocadoes, bananas, and coconut water.
Let’s chat about copper toxicity. You mentioned it a few times. How does that present on a hair mineral analysis?
Hope:
There is a checklist that I go through. There are 12-13 boxes I’m checking as I’m looking through someone’s HTMA. The big red flags for me are the calcium first and foremost, the really high calcium, the calcium shell. Even if I don’t look at anything else, I already have that going.
Here’s the thing. This is also kind of a weird one. You have to look at the whole lab, not just individual pieces. You also have to look at the client and the symptoms. With copper toxicity, copper can either be super high or super low. If it’s super low, it’s like your body is holding onto it. A deficiency can cause a copper toxicity, which I know sounds completely counterintuitive, but that’s how it works sometimes. It’s not bioavailable. Your body is holding onto it. It accumulates in your tissues. First in your liver. The big issue comes because once the liver is full, then it goes to your brain. That’s when it can become dangerous.
Looking at the HTMA, we are looking at the calcium levels for sure. Calcium is a big thing. We are looking at potassium, sodium, zinc, some ratios. We are going through and checking these boxes off.
Again, we look at exposure. I work mostly with women. I usually know the answer before I ask them these questions. If they have ever been on birth control or have a copper IUD, that is typically where it’s coming from. It’s one of those two. If the answer is no, then we look at if you’re drinking from copper pipes or using copper cookware. I’d say 99% of the time, it’s a birth control thing or an IUD thing. That’s where the toxicity is coming from.
Dr. Eric:
How long does it take to get out of the system? Does it get out of the system on its own? If a woman had a copper IUD 10 years ago, or if she took oral contraceptives 15-20 years ago, can she still have a copper toxicity 15-20 years later?
Hope:
You totally can. I’ve had clients who have that. “I haven’t been on birth control in 15 years.” Some people can totally get it out of their system. I’m not saying everybody who has ever been on birth control, it stays in your body for that long. But it is possible.
The problem comes, especially when there are stressors on the body, when you are considered a slow oxidizer, meaning your body breaks things down really slowly. Your body holds onto things. We look on the HTMA at a fast oxidizer versus a slow oxidizer. It’s your metabolism. When people are slow oxidizers, your body is slow at getting rid of things. This typically means you’re holding onto things.
When there is additional stress on the body, especially when there is that big calcium shell, sometimes it can get built up from stress. It’s a stress response in the body. It’s a protective mechanism. When that calcium shell is in place, it’s almost impossible to get rid of things. There are multiple factors at play. You can’t say just because you have been on a copper IUD you will have copper toxicity. When there are other factors at play and other sources of inflammation and stress, especially other mineral imbalances, there is a really good chance that 15 years later, it could still be built up in your body and cause issues.
Dr. Eric:
How big a role can a zinc deficiency play since zinc and copper go together? As far as balancing copper, I imagine it’s important to make sure you have adequate zinc levels.
Hope:
Exactly. That’s one of the things as I look at on the HTMA. We are looking at zinc levels. If it’s super low or super high, that’s a huge red flag. They do work together. That’s part of the protocol. We are getting rid of the copper. We have to be careful because too much zinc doesn’t sit well in the stomach sometimes. We amp up the zinc a lot. We work our way up to getting a pretty good dosage of that a few times a day with the copper toxicity protocol because it is a huge player there.
Dr. Eric:
I think it’s important to mention there is no good or bad minerals. Everything is important. Even copper.
Hope:
Yeah, your body needs copper.
Dr. Eric:
Exactly. We’re not saying copper is bad in everybody. Obviously, if someone has a copper toxicity issue, you want to address that. How about selenium with the HTMA?
Hope:
Good question. That one is hit or miss with my thyroid clients. Our thyroid needs selenium. I have yet to have some sort of thyroidism that doesn’t have deficiency in selenium. That’s always a big one. It’s easy to pick up right now. Sluggish thyroid, your selenium is waiting. That’s typically what I see in thyroid. A lot of our other clients that don’t have thyroid things going on, their selenium levels are fine, 80% of the time. Selenium is a big one we have to address with my thyroid clients.
Dr. Eric:
Do you usually address it through supplementation, Brazil nuts, or a combination?
Hope:
It’s a combination. Brazil nuts are my go-to because it’s so easy. It’s a combination of both because when I am working with my clients, I work with the lab directly that can customize the mineral protocol to the HTMA. I add the selenium in there, but I like to do both. Food is always first and foremost. When they are specifically on the mineral protocol, we are taking a mineral supplement. I always like to add a little bit in there. But I definitely like to do food first.
Dr. Eric:
Can you talk about the importance of the mineral ratios in the HTMA?
Hope:
An important thing to understand, which is why I like the question you asked earlier about if it is low, does it mean it’s low, and if it’s high, does it mean it’s high? This is why you want someone who is trained to understand the lab. Just looking at the lab, you could interpret it 28 different ways. It’s important to understand this with minerals as well. Yes, we are looking at the individual minerals, but we are also looking at the ratios between minerals. Understanding how the minerals are working together.
For example, you could see that some mineral levels seem okay. They’re not really high or low. They may be trending one way or the other. You can’t really tell until you look at the ratios. Our calcium:potassium ratio is the thyroid ratio. You look at it face value. The calcium levels aren’t off, nor are the potassium. But when you look at the ratio, your ratio is really high. Now, we see the thyroid is functioning a little slow.
It’s important to look at the relationships between the minerals as well, not just each mineral individually, because it will give you a better picture of what’s going on with your thyroid, adrenals, nervous system, vitality, immune system.
Dr. Eric:
In those with hypothyroidism, do you commonly see that calcium:potassium ratio high then?
Hope:
For sure. Their potassium is so depleted. It’s putting that ratio out of whack. Then you add on where so many people have the calcium in excess, so it whacks out the ratio. Almost every single time, we are seeing that ratio being pretty high.
Dr. Eric:
I don’t know if you see any hyperthyroid patients, but would you expect it to be the opposite, a lower calcium:potassium?
Hope:
Yeah. I don’t have a lot, but I’ve had a handful. You have the ones where it’s hypo, then hyper; it fluctuates back and forth. You would see the opposite. For faster thyroid activity, you would see a really low ratio, which is a good indication of hyperthyroidism.
Dr. Eric:
Sometimes, I’ll see the opposite that it should be. Someone is hyper, and the calcium:potassium ratio is high and not low. Same thing you mentioned. Slow oxidizer, fast oxidizer. You would think that most people with hyperthyroidism are fast oxidizers, but a decent number of them are slow oxidizers.
Hope:
Very true. That one trips people up. I am explaining what oxidation means and metabolism. People think metabolism means you’re fat or skinny. No, it’s how your body is breaking things down. It has nothing to do with your weight really. People think they have to be a fast oxidizer, but it doesn’t always work this way. I find the same thing, that I’ve had hyper, and they are slow oxidizers. Tricky one there, looking at the oxidation rate and helping people understand exactly what that means.
Dr. Eric:
How about heavy metals on the HTMA? What is the significance of high and low levels?
Hope:
Depending on which lab you’re looking at, a couple of good ones in my opinion. The one that I use measures quite a few, maybe 15 or so. When you’re looking at, speaking of oxidation rates, a slow oxidizer, I typically expect to see at least some heavy metals show up. Your body isn’t able to get rid of them very fast, or not at all. Your body is holding onto things. The heavy metals are definitely something we have to look at to work on that oxidation rate, to help your body get rid of those heavy metals, because it will start to cause issues with the other mineral levels.
The big ones I see, aluminum is one that almost always shows up. Showing up is one thing because a lot of them will show up, but they are not cause for concern. Yeah, we could do some things to help with the aluminum. If it’s super high, now we need to address it. Aluminum, mercury, those are the two most common that I see.
Mercury is another one of those red flags for copper toxicity. That’s also a reason to look at copper levels. The heavy minerals, we want to address those. I put into the protocol to support bile flow, gallbladder, liver, all those things to help your body get rid of heavy metals and help the oxidation rate, so we are pushing things out.
Dr. Eric:
What are some of the common sources of mercury being high, from what you’ve seen?
Hope:
Eating a lot of fish can be one, especially if you are eating high mercury fish. There are some fish that are lower in mercury. If you’ve ever had tattoos, if you’ve ever had vaccines, using some common cleaning agents. Things like Lysol and Ajax have mercury. There is unfortunately a lot of really common brand soaps for your body, which is scary to think about that they are putting mercury in soap that you use for your body.
That is the first thing I ask my clients. Let’s look at your cabinets, your cleaning supplies and personal care products first before we look at anything else. That is a place that we can look to limit our toxic exposure to these things. Aluminum is another one that is in antiperspirants. That’s an easy one. We can lower that one easily.
I find that’s the easiest place to start, looking at what you’re using to clean your house and what you’re putting on your body. It can be built up from a lot of those things. Cleaning through those can be a good way to limit your exposure to it.
Dr. Eric:
How about if someone has a lot of mercury amalgams? Can that be a reason?
Hope:
Totally. I forgot to mention that. I have a client who is going to get rid of hers in the next few weeks. That’s a huge one. I hear tons of stories about this from other FDNs’ clients who have gone to get rid of their amalgams, and it changes their life. It’s almost like a switch flips off, and they don’t have migraines anymore.
Dr. Eric:
Getting back to aluminum, because I see aluminum high consistently, too. Some of these people say they are doing everything to avoid aluminum. They are avoiding deodorants, aluminum pans and pots, eating canned foods, or foils. There has to be other sources of aluminum in the environment. Just about everybody has aluminum. It sounds like you see the same thing, where most people are high. As you said, I wouldn’t say not a concern, but like you said, if it’s really high, definitely a concern. It’s always a work in progress, trying to reduce someone’s toxic load.
Sticking on the topic of heavy metals, what do you think about detox therapies such as sauna or colonics or coffee enemas to help reduce one’s toxic load?
Hope:
All those are great. I love a sauna. I love the infrared sauna. I love it for myself. I have my sauna blanket at home.
I have to be careful with saunas for some people. While it’s a really great way for detox, if someone’s adrenals are really struggling, especially if I have clients who have really low sodium. I’ve had some clients where it barely even shows up on the HTMA. If somebody is that deficient in sodium, I won’t recommend sauna to them. If they are what’s called a 4 low, those big four, if they are all low, I won’t recommend a sauna to them. Their body is so depleted, that they will just sweat out what’s left in their body.
I do recommend the sauna strategically, depending on the person. For somebody who can handle it, I love it.
Colonics, same thing. Coffee enemas, same. People who are okay doing all of those things, I think it’s helpful. When we are detoxing, especially when we are looking at the buildup of heavy metals, copper toxicity, I think implementing multiple strategies, helping the body out wherever we can, we are helping increase bile flow and helping the gallbladder. Colonics and enemas and saunas, they are all just helping add to everything else that you’re doing to support the detox process. I’m a huge fan.
Dr. Eric:
I’m a big fan of sauna therapy as well. Even if someone doesn’t have low sodium, you want to make sure that you replenish electrolytes.
Hope:
Totally.
Dr. Eric:
Extremely important.
Can you talk a bit about the hair collection procedure, as far as how much hair is required? If people color their hair, or things they should avoid before collecting the hair sample.
Hope:
The sample itself is a teaspoon of hair. It’s this very archaic scale they send you. You measure out the hair. You’re cutting it as close to the root as possible. You want what’s closest to the root. You measure out a teaspoon of hair.
I encourage my clients to avoid, if you are using an antidandruff shampoo, that before cutting your hair because it will mess up the selenium levels on the reading.
As far as people who color their hair, and I work with many ladies who do, the lab will tell you- Honestly, I think they say two weeks. I don’t think two weeks is long enough. I tell my clients to wait a good 4-6 weeks if possible, so you have some good hair growth from the root that is not colored. I have my clients wait about 4-6 weeks after they have colored their hair to do the sample. I feel better about doing that. If you color your hair, you can still do the sample.
Sometimes, when you get the samples back, some heavy metals will show up a little higher. Unless they have used an all-natural color. Knowing that the heavy metals will be off a little bit for those.
Dr. Eric:
How about if someone wants to do a hair test, but they don’t have any or very little head hair? Can they use other parts of the body?
Hope:
The lab says it takes nails. Things will be skewed a little bit for that, so I don’t love that option.
The pubic hair is an option. There are a couple minerals that you have to look at differently for that one, but it can work. If it’s a man who shaves his head, or I have had women before where they have very thin hair, and they are very scared to cut what little hair they have on their head, which I get. We can work with it.
Dr. Eric:
If someone has a water softener, can that also throw off some of the minerals?
Hope:
Yeah, it can. We were talking about hard water before. Hard and soft water can throw off a few things. Well water. I’ve had one of my more recent clients whose levels were crazy. I asked her, “Do you drink tap water?” “Yeah, every day.” Why? Her levels were so crazy. My recommendation there is to stop drinking tap water. Hard, soft, and tap water all can throw off the levels.
It always goes back to not treating the lab; you’re treating the person. Looking at the lab, but also being able to ask questions, looking at symptomology. Understanding a person’s environment is a good thing to know.
Dr. Eric:
Is there anything I didn’t ask you that I should have asked you? Or anything else you want to chat about? I know there is a lot you can talk about with the hair test. Or did you want to summarize for someone who might be thinking about doing HTMA and is still on the fence?
Hope:
Honestly, I would say if you are thinking about it, when I first started out as an FDN, I wasn’t taking HTMA at first. It wasn’t one of my foundational labs I did with my clients. I have been able to see such a huge shift in how my clients respond to the protocol by doing the HTMA and including that really specific mineral balancing with the protocol. I have had clients where nothing else has worked ever, but we work on the mineral balancing, and that’s the thing.
I have had clients come from other functional practitioners, who have had similar labs done, but they have never done the HTMA, which was the missing piece. For a lot of people, it is the missing piece. It’s not something a lot of practitioners are looking at. It’s not an important piece to address for some. Sometimes, I feel like they need to look at bigger things. They want to look at the gut, the hormones, which are all important obviously, but minerals all affect the gut and hormones. If you don’t get granular enough with how the human body functions. It should be the first place we look. The minerals are the driving force for every reaction in the body. Knowing that for a lot of people, this is the missing piece because they haven’t looked at the mineral levels.
If you haven’t done the HTMA, and you won’t do it in the near future, if you want to look at general practices to balance things out on your own, look at the big four: calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
I am very hesitant to recommend “Everybody needs a calcium supplement.” So many people have elevated calcium. I don’t give point blank recommendations.
For magnesium, potassium, sodium, that’s an easy recommendation for me. 99% of the time, those are deficient. That’s a good place to start. Food sources of potassium and sodium. Switching your salt out, going to Celtic salt or a more unrefined salt. Adding some salt to your water. Getting a good magnesium supplement.
Tackling those little pieces is a good place to start if you want to work on mineral balancing on your own. If you’re dealing with hyper or hypothyroidism, potassium is a big piece of that. Knowing you want to protect your potassium levels and your thyroid.
Dr. Eric:
You shared some amazing information about the HTMA, Hope. Where can people find out more about you?
Hope:
You can find me on Instagram, @TheHopePedraza. I have a free Facebook group, Live Wholesome and Healthy. It’s all things functional nutrition, functional health. Those are the two best places to find me.
Dr. Eric:
Do you have a website as well?
Hope:
HopefulAndWholesome.com.
Dr. Eric:
That’s the name of your podcast as well?
Hope:
Yeah. My podcast is all things health, wellness, and inspiration. You can learn more there with all the free content on the podcast.
Dr. Eric:
Thank you so much. This was the first deep dive I’ve had on the podcast discussing HTMA.
Hope:
Awesome, I love it.
Dr. Eric:
I was very excited to chat with you. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge.
Hope:
You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.