Two decades ago, the hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) test was the only lab I used—and it helped me heal my gut for good.
Since then, functional gut testing has exploded in popularity. The GI Map stool test, for example, is excellent at showing what’s out of balance in the microbiome: parasites, yeast, or H. pylori. I’ve used it personally and with clients for years.
Here’s what I discovered:
These “bad bugs” are not the root problem.
They are the symptom of an internal environment that allows them to thrive, like weeds in an untended garden. You can pull weeds (or use killing protocols), but if you don’t tend to the soil, they’ll always return.
That’s why killing protocols often fail, except in people who already have strong “terrain.” For most, the first step isn’t killing, it’s rebuilding.
Why HTMA Goes Deeper
The HTMA is my favorite tool for identifying why the gut is vulnerable in the first place. By analyzing mineral patterns, it reveals hidden imbalances in:
Thyroid Function
- Low thyroid slows gut motility, lowers stomach acid, enzymes, and bile, weakens the gut lining, and reduces nutrient absorption.
- This sets the stage for bacterial and yeast overgrowth.
Adrenal Health
- High cortisol keeps the body in fight-or-flight, shutting down digestion.
- Cortisol thins the gut lining and also weakens gut immunity and repair.
- Both thyroid and adrenal imbalances can cause motility issues, constipation, diarrhea, and leaky gut.
Liver & Toxins
- HTMA tracks heavy metals and mineral stressors (like mercury and cobalt) that burden the liver and thyroid.
Nervous System Stress
- HTMA uniquely shows whether someone is stuck in fight, flight, or freeze. Many clients are shocked to see on paper how depleted their adrenals truly are, even if they “feel fine.”
Stress, Minerals, and the Gut
Your body burns through minerals under stress. And stress isn’t just emotional. It can show up as:
- Blood sugar swings
- Inflammatory foods
- Poor sleep
- Repressed emotions
- Weak boundaries (energetic or personal)
HTMA exposes these hidden drains so you can remove the real stressors that keep your gut from healing.
My Four Roots Approach
Over the years I’ve trained in and use functional medicine testing (GI Map and SIBO test) with clients. Some improved, but many stayed stuck because we skipped the foundation.
I suggested starting slow to rebuild healing resilience but many people are in a rush to heal. They wanted the strongest killing protocol, at the fastest speed. So we didn’t prepare the body for healing first. I stopped working like this because giving people want they want does not always produce the best results. Everyone is disappointed.
I created The Four Roots Coaching Method to identify hidden stress patterns (“healing blind spots”) across physical, emotional, mental, and energetic layers. When you address the most stressed system, the whole body begins to heal. This actually speeds up the healing process, even if it seems slower.
This method helped me overcome SIBO, mold illness, Lyme infection, thyroid issues, yeast, anxiety, depression, and menopausal symptoms. And it’s based on what I did to reversed my severe IBS more than 20 years ago.
The Self-Healing Body Revolution
What’s often called “root cause healing” still doesn’t go deep enough. True healing requires slowing down, investigating, and supporting the terrain and systems that allows the gut to flourish. Maybe you have bacterial imbalance, but don’t you want to know WHY you have it? So you can address the reason it’s there in the first place, or your body has not cleared it on its own.
If you’re a seeker like me, someone who wants to go deeper than symptom chasing, my Self-Healing Body Group Coaching Program will guide you to uncover YOUR unique root causes so you can unblock your healing blind spots, and finally allow your body to do what it was designed to do: heal.
Join the Waitlist
The next round of The Self-Healing Body Program is starting September 27th.
I am giving you what I know you need, not what you think you need to heal.
Join the waitlist here.
