Minerals, Stress, & How To Heal The Gut
What does the gut, our metabolism and hormones all have in common? …They all need MINERALS to optimally function!
What does it feel like to have suboptimal minerals?
Long term stress on the body drains our mineral stores and slows down energy production which can present in our bodies through uncomfortable low energy, slow digestion and imbalanced hormone symptoms.
Bloating, gas and poor digestion
Constipation or loose stools
Acid reflux or heartburn
Skin issues such as acne or eczema
Low thyroid function
Fatigue
Trouble sleeping
Feelings of overwhelm
Anxiety or racing thoughts
Minerals have been an optimal part of my own healing journey and are something I’ve invited into my everyday routine. Understanding minerals in my clients is also a foundational tool we use in practice with all of our clients to optimize their digestive health, energy and overall metabolism.
So what do minerals do in the body?
Minerals are the key to turning on energy production in the body and play a pivotal role in digestion, energy, hormonal health and metabolism.
Minerals are in charge of making our digestive enzymes, stomach acid and bile - so it is key to optimal digestion and detoxification.
Minerals play a role in optimal hormone balance impacting multiple hormones including our thyroid function, supporting our adrenals (aka stress organs) and even helping to optimize blood sugar and insulin balance.
Minerals also play a large role in our metabolism - metabolism describes how efficiently our body creates energy and having optimal levels of minerals in the body ensures more efficient energy production to feel more vital, improve focus and optimize body weight!
So you can see why I like to stress the importance of minerals on your journey to heal the gut and optimize our overall feelings of vitality!
How do we assess mineral balance in the body?
Believe it or not the best way to measure mineral status is actually through the hair!
Yes, a hair mineral test or HTMA test uses a hair sample to assess your unique body's utilization and status of minerals from the past 90 days. Testing for your unique body’s needs around minerals takes the guesswork out of wondering what your mineral status might be.
Low minerals levels suggest that an individual has been experiencing more chronic long term stress that has drained their mineral reserves and often presents as low energy, constipation, dry skin, hypothyroid, stubborn weight and overall feelings of low vitality.
Where as high minerals can suggest someone is experiencing more acute stress in their body and may be experiencing more racing mind, heartburn, loose stools, anxiety, feeling wired but tired and easily drained of energy or overwhelmed.
Our bodies are always navigating through some degree of stress, optimizing our mineral status and understanding our unique bodies demand for minerals is a major tool to creating resilience in the face of life's inevitable stressors to maintain our vitality longterm!
Testing gives us concrete answers on how to build customized nutrition, lifestyle and supplement plans to restore optimal levels and reverse frustrating ill-health symptoms before they become more entrenched ill-health dynamics!
Inside of our membership we utilize the HTMA tests with clients to help build better stress resilience, address digestive symptoms and optimize metabolism and energy.
One of the pros to this test is that it looks at the mineral status on a cellular level. Conventional bloodwork from your doctor only assesses mineral status in the blood at one point in time. While that can be helpful, by the time your blood labs are showing any depletion or elevation, there has been a long term impact on minerals - so our goal is to test and assess BEFORE there are any long term impacts.
The HTMA shows us more of a blueprint of how your body is utilizing minerals and evaluates the level of stress your body is experiencing and how it is compensating. The HTMA gives us a closer look into mineral imbalances and how these might be contributing to your symptoms and a roadmap for how to rebalance those levels.
If you’d like to learn more about how we use HTMA testing to address the root cause of your symptoms, schedule a free 30-min strategy call below:
