‹ All episodes

Get Your Shit Together

Your Hair is Full of Secrets: Using the HTMA to Get You Feeling 100

June 13, 2023 Adina Rubin Season 3 Episode 89
Your Hair is Full of Secrets: Using the HTMA to Get You Feeling 100
Get Your Shit Together
More Info
Get Your Shit Together
Your Hair is Full of Secrets: Using the HTMA to Get You Feeling 100
Jun 13, 2023 Season 3 Episode 89
Adina Rubin

In this episode of Get Your Shit Together we chat about: 

🧡 When to do lab testing, and where to start
🧡 Popular tests and strategies we avoid with our clients 

🧡 What is the Hair & Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) and why do we love it? 

🧡 How Diane uses the HTMA with 1:1 clients 

🧡 Client stories and listener questions 

 

Episode Show Notes: www.getyourshittogetherpod.com/podcast/episode89   

 

Follow us on Instagram @getyourshittogetherpod  

 

Order an HTMA Results Review with Diane
Schedule a 1:1 Nutritional Therapy Intensive with an HTMA with Diane (+ option to add bloodwork) 

 

Connect with Adina: 

Instagram: @adinarubin_  

Website: www.adinarubincoaching.com
Enroll in self-paced Strength Training for Happy Hormones (STHH)
Get on the waitlist for Adina’s postpartum program 

 

Connect with Diane: 

Instagram: @dianeteall 

Website: www.diteawellness.com 

Enroll in Root Cause Reset (self-study): www.rcrprogram.com
Order an HTMA Results Review
Schedule a 1:1 Nutritional Therapy Intensive with an HTMA (+ bloodwork optional)
Comment end  

Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast Stitcher Castro Castbox +
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of Get Your Shit Together we chat about: 

🧡 When to do lab testing, and where to start
🧡 Popular tests and strategies we avoid with our clients 

🧡 What is the Hair & Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) and why do we love it? 

🧡 How Diane uses the HTMA with 1:1 clients 

🧡 Client stories and listener questions 

 

Episode Show Notes: www.getyourshittogetherpod.com/podcast/episode89   

 

Follow us on Instagram @getyourshittogetherpod  

 

Order an HTMA Results Review with Diane
Schedule a 1:1 Nutritional Therapy Intensive with an HTMA with Diane (+ option to add bloodwork) 

 

Connect with Adina: 

Instagram: @adinarubin_  

Website: www.adinarubincoaching.com
Enroll in self-paced Strength Training for Happy Hormones (STHH)
Get on the waitlist for Adina’s postpartum program 

 

Connect with Diane: 

Instagram: @dianeteall 

Website: www.diteawellness.com 

Enroll in Root Cause Reset (self-study): www.rcrprogram.com
Order an HTMA Results Review
Schedule a 1:1 Nutritional Therapy Intensive with an HTMA (+ bloodwork optional)
Comment end  

Adina:

Hello.

Diane:

Hello. We're back. We're back after some tech hiccups as you do.

Adina:

we're back with attempt number two after attempts number 1, 2, 3, and four as well.

Diane:

Yeah. So third or fourth times the charm. Right. And we are attempting video, so fingers crossed you can see all of our nonverbals. This, this time. I feel like I have to have, show and tell if we're gonna have video.

Adina:

Um, I got nothing up here, but our faces just tell all

Diane:

Yeah. Nothing to show, but a lot to tell. Yeah.

Adina:

it's good stuff.

Diane:

We're also recording on Sunday, which is not typical for us, but there was a, a very fun parade, a very gay parade all weekend long there in Tel Aviv. Right? Which, super fun, but not for recording with ambient noise.

Adina:

Yeah, pride is like, A full week rager here. So there was the parade on Thursday that went down the boardwalk, which is a block from my house. And so we chose not to record that night, but it ended up being for the best. Not even just the sound wise, but ri was a bit under the weather. So,

Diane:

Buddy.

Adina:

uh, yeah, I was like already sleeping during our usual recording slot,

Diane:

Good. Go to bed. Go to bed. Stay in your bed. Um, I saw this meme for Pride month and it was like making fun of how all businesses, restaurants get in on pride and then af like July 1st. They don't care, but it was Olive Garden. When you're here, you're gay.

Adina:

Do you know there's actually some really good memes like that. First of all, there's that bow burn song, which is great. Um, I'll send it to you after. What'd you say?

Diane:

Sing it for us.

Adina:

I don't remember the details, but I'll send it to you. Um, And then also there's that one about breast cancer awareness month too, where it's like all,

Diane:

pink.

Adina:

everything's pink. But it's also like all these products that cause cancer, you know?

Diane:

All right. What a weekend. What are you consuming over there?

Adina:

Okay, so last we spoke, I had mentioned that we finished Mrs. Maisel, the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and that was a season finale that was a series finale on a beloved show

Diane:

It's done forever.

Adina:

for those of us who love us, some Amy Sherman Palladino. if you remember also creator of Gilmore Girls your favorite show.

Diane:

haven't heard about that in a while?

Adina:

I know it, it has been sometime. Um, so yeah, I know there's someone out there just like, what did Adina think of the finale? And they need to know. So we're gonna give them that

Diane:

I don't mind spoilers. I probably won't watch it. So tell me,

Adina:

Okay. So I had mentioned that this season wasn't quite doing it for me with all the flash forwards. It just like, it wasn't for me. I just loved being in the world so much. I didn't need to know what happened to the kids 20, 30 years later, you know? Um, but there were a lot of moments that I loved. I really liked the Gordon Ford Show stuff. Those of you who watched, like, I loved the, her being on fifties talk show television, like writing for that. That was really fun. Actually. It was the sixties by now, but. That storyline I loved and I loved seeing, like Old Midge. Old Susie, mostly old Susie. I think that was like really wonderful and exactly how that character would've aged. It was fine. It wasn't my favorite season. I enjoyed the storytelling. I get what Amy wanted to do there and like, it was fun, but it was like n i, it was fun. It wasn't my favorite season. Could have done without the flash forwards.

Diane:

it have ended last season? Was it one of those.

Adina:

No, I think like there was still stories to tell, but like, yeah, I really liked the talk show stuff. It, if it had ended with that, I would've been really happy. And I did feel a little bit sad that Alex Boorstein will no longer be playing that character of Suzy Myin because what a perfect character. Um, yeah. And outside of

Diane:

any of this, but I hear people like it and I'm glad that they like it.

Adina:

Thank you Diane. That's so sweet and supportive of you. Um, outside of that, we both started and finished, Dave, by the time you were listening to this and last time I had mentioned that we were having some glitches with our Hulu and it was like messing with the sound We weren't able to watch. We got those sorted out. And this season of Dave, just like every season, season of Dave was excellent.

Diane:

Silly, laugh out loud, funny,

Adina:

Loved it, laughed, felt my heart. I loved it. I loved Dave. I think it's such a fun TV show and I was actually thinking about, um, it's not appropriate, you know, and I was thinking back to that review we got from. Yeah. Remember we got a review from someone who was like, love the show, but like some of the recommendations you make for television are filthy.

Diane:

Has she met us And maybe she doesn't follow, follow us on Instagram cuz it's, there's some adult jokes in there.

Adina:

Yeah. No, she was so kindhearted, like it was not, it was just like, this was not for me. This recommendation. Yeah.

Diane:

That's fine.

Adina:

But know that going in Dave is hilarious. It is unique. It is a unique piece of television. Very different than everything else on the air right now, but it is filthy at moments.

Diane:

It sounds like my kind of show. Well, that kind of leads into, um, the theme for some of my, what I'm consuming, I am. I, I'll read all kinds of different books. This one that I just finished this morning was something that was on a display. It was a summer reads display at the library. And the co the cover caught my eye. It's

Adina:

you touched a book by its cover.

Diane:

Yes, I did judge a book by it's cover, but the inside was just like the amount of weird and crazy that I needed. Um, so it's called the Pisces. And on the cover it's a woman embracing a fish. And I thought, how does this fit into summer reading? Well, this woman, she is a 38 year old Lucy, breaks up with a man after nine years and he was kind of like this lukewarm, like just kind of a shitty boyfriend. And yet she's trying to get over him. So she goes to Venice Beach in California to watch her sister's dog while she's out of town. And she's also going to, um, group therapy for her anger issues for what happened at the end of that relationship. And I really liked the vignettes of the group therapy because it actually had me laughing out loud, like her and these other women who are getting over love addiction, sex addiction, relationship issues, because the way she describes other women in the group, it's mean. And, but funny. I feel like if you've read, and I know Donnie's read books by this author, o Tessa Moshfegh, I think that's how you pronounce her last name. So kind of an unhinged woman, very pick me girl. Like she really just wants to be seen and understood and like move on and feel, um, chosen by these people she's going on dates with, but also trying to work things out. And somewhere along the way, going to the beach, she meets a merman, a merman. Or so we think. And so the front half of the book was pretty funny, the kind of just hilarious laugh out loud stuff that's rare for me to find in a book. The latter half when she starts to have this encounter relationship with this merman a little different. But I kind of knew going into it, it was gonna be weird fiction. There was definitely some graphic sex. And I, I'll admit, I always wondered like, how would you have sex with a mermaid or a merman? Well, now I kind of know. Um, yeah, now I know at least according to this person's, this author's imagination of what a merman's anatomy would be like. But it was a little weird. But I think ultimately the message of the book was like, how do we deal with breakups and love and the point of life and what's she doing with this midlife middle life crisis? It was, it was enjoyable. I liked it more than I thought. I thought it was just gonna be some weird, silly fiction. Um, I could have done without some of the scenes in there, but, I think the front half of the book was, the scenes, the encounters were pretty funny and then sometimes it was alternating funny and dark. So I dunno, a, an easy summer read. I'm also reading, so two sides of one topic. I just finished like a Mother by Angela Garbas, which I picked up in May and didn't know that the author was Filipino. So that was like an accidental a a p i, um, moment. And she's talking about her experience through pregnancy, but also the culture of pregnancy in America. And before any nosy Ellis like get all excited, like I chose this to kind of understand more of what my clients, my friends go through, what that experience is like of pregnancy here in the States. But also I learned a lot. There are things that I knew kind of going into it already, but learned about like microchimerism, all the amazing things placenta does. Really cool stuff, but hearing her perspective on it and her perspective through her birth was really cool. So it was a really fast read. And on the other side of that, I just started Women Without Kids. That's by Ruby Warrington, who also wrote, uh, sober Curious. I know some clients, some friends have picked that up. So, you know, regardless of your relationship with alcohol, I heard that that's a really, um, really good read. So I like her perspective, her style of writing so far. And it's cool to see different sides of pregnancy or not to pregnancy. Yeah. So nonfiction and weird fiction happening over here.

Adina:

Weird fiction. Is that a section at the library?

Diane:

It should be, I'm sure Barnes Noble has been getting really silly with their displays, I think inspired in part by book talk, but, um, I could totally see that their unhinged female main character,

Adina:

I love that for Barnes and Noble, are they like hiring Gen Z?

Diane:

I think they are. Yes.

Adina:

Good for them for moving into the future.

Diane:

Please do. Yeah, I still like paper books, so that's quite nice on the food front. Nothing really that new here except Oh, made Challa french toast. That was amazing. With homemade whipped cream, and it's now strawberry season here in Michigan and they're extra juicy this year. So good.

Adina:

Do you know my take on French toast?

Diane:

no,

Adina:

about that before?

Diane:

let's hear it.

Adina:

I just, I can eat a piece of French toast, but I don't really get it.

Diane:

What don't you get about it? Is it that it's eggs? Your bread is soaked in eggs and milk.

Adina:

It's not texturey enough for me. Like I can get down with a crispy waffle, but french toast is kind of like a So fest.

Diane:

Ooh. So I like to bake mine in the oven, like not completely toast it, but I had thick slices and I put it on a wire rack and toast it for like 15 minutes. So that it's not so soggy when you put it into the custard. And I really like that texture a lot more. Yeah. But I'm, I think given the three choices of a pancake waffle or a french toast, I would go waffle.

Adina:

Waffle every time.

Diane:

Yeah. But I rarely make it to the bakery on Fridays. And they actually like, they're like, oh, we only have Challa on Friday here. I was like, oh, okay. See you.

Adina:

Mm-hmm.

Diane:

that loaf.

Adina:

Well, we're

Diane:

I'm gonna get that loaf. Yeah. You didn't tell us what you're eating.

Adina:

Oh, what am I eating? Okay, so on a previous episode I had talked about my sourdough regula. And this past weekend I ran out of cocoa powder. So I made little cim, cinnamon regula or cinnamon rus as we call them in my house. And they were basically like a cross between arugula and a cinnamon bun.

Diane:

Yum.

Adina:

And they were excellent. Everyone around these here parts loved them.

Diane:

Yes. Intuit, big fan. What do your kids call? I think I said something like cinnamon roll. And then Abe was like, they're cinnamon buns.

Adina:

Yes, cinnamon bun

Diane:

I was like, okay, tomato tomorrow. Abe, I love

Adina:

let it slide. He'll correct you

Diane:

They're cinnamon buns.

Adina:

He's been doing this hilarious thing also where you know how many's obsessed with hominems, you know about this.

Diane:

Yeah.

Adina:

So she's always like talking about her hominems, and Abe tries to get it on the action. So he'll be like, oh, I have a homonym. I'm like, okay, what is it? And he goes, um, blue, like my pajamas are blue and blue, like the sky is blue. I'm like, dude, that's just two things that are blue. Or he'll be like,

Diane:

Close.

Adina:

blue, like blue and two, like two. And I'm like, I'm buddy. That's a rhyme.

Diane:

So now he's a poet. Cute.

Adina:

he'll say like two things that are nothing like, he'll be like, hotel and beach, that's a hominem. And I'm like, no. And he goes, he goes, oh, that's a rhyme.

Diane:

He's like, it's one of those,

Adina:

It's nothing.

Diane:

I'm sure of that. You don't wanna like take that one out of his sales. Yes, you're right.

Adina:

It's, it's a good time.

Diane:

So fun. You know what else is fun? The review that we had from a listener about last week's episode

Adina:

Oh yeah.

Diane:

is so cute. Well, I guess it wasn't a review, but if you're the one who wrote this in our dms and made our eyes wet, um, you could put it, you could put it in a review too, if you wanna copy paste that, but, so, If you didn't listen to episode 88, we were talking about burnout, about stopping the doom, scroll about adding more color to our lives, which we could all use more of, right? So this person said, episode 88 hit me. Different healing has become my whole personality. My hobbies and every spare moment of my day is spent researching and trying to make myself better. I was made redundant and um, stuck as to what career to move into. So I fallen prey to treating healing as my job. I really needed to hear this up and the reminder to stop scrolling and let my creativity flow, I was using the excuse of learning to justify scrolling for hours face palm emoji. Thank you so much for talking about this. I've been wanting to get back into embroidery, but put it off thinking I should use that time reading wellness books instead, or I should listen to an educational podcast while doing it. I miss the days where I would just be with no pressure to produce and to improve. I've also been putting off moving as a hobby, like hiking, golf, et cetera, because I wanted to get strong first. In doing that, I've said no to so many experiences for fear of not being fit enough. Definitely lots to think about. Keep up the great content.

Adina:

Yeah, I loved reading this message and we got a lot of similar messages about this past episode. I think it was like we didn't realize how important of an episode we were recording, and it seems like it hit a lot of you in a similar way, so I'm really, really glad for that.

Diane:

Yes. I mean, we both. We said this at the top of the last episode, we, it was kind of on both of our minds having gone through some of this ourselves too, and thought, all right, if we're both thinking about this, I'm sure that someone else out there would benefit from hearing it. And I've had some, likewise, some messages from some of you who are like, I needed this episode. I'm halfway through. I'm really liking it. So thank you for giving us that feedback and sharing a little bit of your story and that vulnerability. So here's your permission slip to play, and if you do end up making some embroidery, I would love to see it because that's something, you know, as I get into sewing and collecting thread, would also like to try myself. So I would love to see what you make.

Adina:

Yeah, we love that. Let's all create a little more this year. So this episode kind of the opposite, but we are going to approach this topic in a gentle and approachable way, and also, This is a great example of something that if you sign up to do this with a coach, take so much of the research and the doom scroll frenzy off of your plate. So today's episode is all about our favorite gateway functional lab test. And

Diane:

Oh, owk.

Adina:

the H T

Diane:

T M A.

Adina:

Yeah.

Diane:

a sound effect there.

Adina:

Yeah.

Diane:

the hair and tissue mineral analysis.

Adina:

and one of our mentors when we were learning to first interpret this test was Australian and called it the H T M A.

Diane:

H t a. Yes.

Adina:

And I love that.

Diane:

Uhhuh. We're gonna do the rest of this episode in Australian accent.

Adina:

I don't think that we should, my kids, by the way, you know how I, they're obsessed with that show Bluey.

Diane:

Yeah.

Adina:

Which if you have not watched Bluey, like watch Bluey, it's great for adults too,

Diane:

The theme song, we got really

Adina:

so good. The theme song is so good. And also every episode is amazing. It's art, it's cinema, it's so good.

Diane:

a Real Go to the Theta movie.

Adina:

um, the characters are Australian. It's an Australian show, and my kids like try to do Australian accents when they're like, role playing bluey and it's so funny.

Diane:

Please record that for me. I love to see it. Uh, I actually did see, oh, this is a, a sec. Why do I wanna say Segway a tangent? Um, so it was like, she lives in England. My daughter's been watching some kids' show so much that she has an American accent and she had her say a bunch of different words and she's like, you're so clever. Sounded just like a little American. So funny. Um, anyway. Where were we? We're talking about the H H T M A. The H T M A or the hair and tissue Mineral analysis. Your hair is full of secrets, but in this episode we're gonna talk about why if you are someone who is ready, is equipped to dive deeper in your health, why? This is where we like to start with most people. And if you've been with us for a few years, you may have heard me talk about things like the GI Map, stool test and some other tests, but having implemented this into my practice with one-on-one clients over the last couple years, I really like it for a number of reasons. But before we get into that, we need to talk about who this episode is, four. So this episode and this topic, this test is for you if. You're someone who has no energy. Maybe you're thinking ahead to preconception and to pregnancy, or maybe you feel stuck with your metabolism, perhaps all of those things

Adina:

Mm-hmm.

Diane:

and mainstream advice. So let's say that you listed off those three situations and you went to an appointment and they might tell you something like, take iron, take your prenatals.

Adina:

low energy, you gotta take iron.

Diane:

low energy. It must be that you don't have enough iron and you're like, I've been pounding steak grilling all summer. But that's another story. And or maybe you're on the holistic side and you hear them shout about organ meats and you are mustering up the courage to fear factor, to fear Factor yourself and eat some of those. But what is your body asking for? So we'll talk about that when we talk about this test. Or maybe you're someone who has graduated one of our signature programs, whether that is mine root cause reset the course, or the plus coaching, or you went through strong foundations with Adina and you want to dive deeper with more customization now that you've been through that track. But that said, what we don't want you to hear is okay, I can skip the basics and jump to customization because we've had this conversation so many times in the dms with folks, they're like, no, no, no, no, I'm too advanced. I did do a whole 30 in the past. I did aip, uh, I I eat

Adina:

I've been on Instagram for the last five

Diane:

Yes. And this is it me just like trying to give you a hard time. I, I always want for my clients to make, to maximize the resources and to stress themselves, but not like fire hose themselves. If they would be better suited starting off with something smaller. And so oftentimes I know a Dino, you'll agree with me here is like, Maybe there are people in your dms who are like, I need this test and this test, and that one. But then we look a little closer, ask them some questions about their routine, and there are some things that maybe we would want for them to dial in before they go deeper. Right. So

Adina:

Yeah, I think that's really important to mention because Diane and I will always consult about like difficult cases with clients and you know, we have like a little bit of a hive mind with some other practitioner friends when we have like a really nuanced case or a really difficult case. And sometimes I'll get a text from Diane that's like, oh, I have a new client intake coming in, and they mentioned that they're really advanced or they've been on this journey for a few years, so I might need some support, or I might need to talk through some of the protocol stuff. And then, Immediately upon looking at a food journal or an intake, it is so clear, like 10 opportunities for optimizing before even looking at their labs

Diane:

Right, exactly. So, um, I hope someone hears that's like, all right, okay, maybe I don't need to go full in, um, really is in your best interest because what we don't wanna do is dive into, say, a complex eradication protocol, chase sibo or a parasite or something, or go hard on supplements, but we're not eating breakfast or not eating balanced meals, or we're undereating over training. So we're going to have to do those to do those basics anyway. So we always start there. Yes. Even if you think you're advanced.

Adina:

advanced.

Diane:

Yes. Be open to always being a beginner, like even Adina and I go back to basics, uh, throughout different seasons. So how to put that little disclaimer in there first before we move on. Um, doing something. Like a, an htma is maybe for you if you're someone who values efficiency, you've already done some of those basics. You've committed to those consistently, and now you wanna customize your plan a little bit further and see what's going on down to a cellular level. Your, your hair's full of secrets. So the htma really helps us look at what those are. And maybe you're someone who has heard a lot of advice on Instagram about minerals. They're having a moment, and I'm happy that they are. But I still will talk to people in the dms who have tried to focus on minerals for a while, but they still feel like shit. So, for example, maybe you're pounding milk and orange juice because you heard finally for the first time and what feels like the last 20 years. Oh, milk is great, but you still don't feel well. Or maybe you went really hard on some of those foods or started to implement some minerals, magnesium, some electrolyte packs. I don't know. But you're still having histamine issues or you just don't have the resources, your body doesn't have the resources right now to deal with some of those symptoms.

Adina:

Yeah, and this is, it is wonderful when certain things are becoming more widespread, especially with Instagram and even TikTok. Like I have heard from some young folk like, oh, I heard I'm supposed to be eating X, Y, Z, and I'm like, that's great that that's getting out there. But also, do we have the pre-reqs in place? Is our body processing histamine in the way it needs to be to be chugging orange juice or organ meats? You know, like there's.

Diane:

Or did we go 20 years without eating milk and now suddenly we're bringing that in? Oh.

Adina:

Yeah, like you said, like are we pounding magnesium? But our body does not have the resources to deal with that, and then we're like depleting our sodium and potassium, like there's nuance and layers to it, and so yes, some of these things are super wonderful and we're gr glad that they're becoming more widespread. However, if you have tried implementing those things and it is not working for you, then we need to dial it back, do a little customization and figure out how to best support your body to be able to progress and introduce some of these things.

Diane:

Yeah. Or are you also burning your magnesium, burning your minerals, and trying to brain a protocol from doing DIY testing or just trying to figure out where to start? I've certainly heard that from women who chose to work with me one-on-one, and an intensive. One of them was like, I tried to start doing this test on my own and was like, I don't know what I'm looking at. So instead of just banging my head against a wall or Google or my keyboard, I'd rather someone figure it out for me.

Adina:

It can be really overwhelming. Right, and that's a lot of what we were talking about on our episode with the overwhelm and the doom scroll and the burnout is like sometimes if we're trying to do this on our own, we are down this rabbit hole and it's just taking more energy than it's worth. You know?

Diane:

Yeah.

Adina:

it really, really frees up your time, your efforts, your energy, your head space to outsource something like this.

Diane:

I mean, transparently, the first time I did an H T M A, it was after I finished up, or maybe it was while we were doing our continuing ed together. So of course I'm gonna be the first Guinea pig of mine to go through, do my own test, made my own protocol and I did it. But I think I was a little stretched thin for a number of reasons then, and I know we talked about some of this stuff in our last. Doom scroll burnout episode. But one of the last times I did a retest, I had someone give me this, a second opinion, someone who I trusted as a partner to look at it with me. Because yes, I know these things and maybe you've done a lot of research on your own, but having someone who, someone professionally look at your labs, at your current situation and make a blueprint, a plan for you, really can take a weight off your shoulders and free you up to do other things. So that was some nice Cara that I'm really happy that I, I gave myself this time around.

Adina:

Yeah, and an outside pair of eyes can just be more objective. Like when you're looking at your own stuff, you have so much emotion wrapped up in it. And also, so sometimes we lie to ourselves about what we're capable of or we lie to ourselves about what's actually going on. You know, like we always talk about in the show, we never look at labs in a silo. We look at labs, we look at the person, the presentation, the history. There's so much there. And we can totally lie to ourselves about that stuff when we're looking at it from our own perspective.

Diane:

hold ourselves to a different standard because I definitely, even though I would tell a client that, that we're not going to chase labs, I remember getting one of my H TMAs back and I was like, mine should be different my, because I know this, I know this stuff. But had to give myself that reminder again that we're not above basics. And it is easier to have someone look at this objectively and remind you of what's important or where to focus, you know?

Adina:

Wait, that's such a good point too because we'll get into this, but one of the reasons we love the H G M A, and we've mentioned this on the show before for sure, is it is so great for the high performer, high achiever who's like, I'm not stressed.

Diane:

And then you feel like Morrie and you're like, You said you're not stressed, but this determines that that is a

Adina:

paternity test.

Diane:

Your vitality in your nervous system ratio are a mess.

Adina:

exactly. It is such a wonderful, like peel back the curtain and help you face your own stress. I think like that's been the experience that I had with clients when I was running this test more regularly. I know you've mentioned you've had that experience too, like sometimes it takes looking at the labs for you to be like, Oh, you're right. I am burning through the resources and

Diane:

crazy what it

Adina:

stress hormones.

Diane:

Yeah, it's wild. What I, I can, I mean for like looking at someone's ratios and their patterns on their H T M A and then they tell me, oh yeah, I had this big like three months ago, this job change and this huge life event, and then this happened. And then when I see a retest, like hearing what has been going on situationally in their life compared to how their bodies' interpreting it is really. Kind of cool to see. Um, but before we dive too deep into the H T M A, I'm sure there's someone listening who's wondering, okay, well what about this against this test? And how do I really choose tests if I am ready for it? So when to do lab testing. Get this question so much. So maybe you're someone who is dealing with imbalanced hormones, hormone issues, you're thinking ahead to preconception fertility, for example. I'm just gonna use that because it's so common. And so maybe you're thinking, all right, I need a hormone panel. I need a Dutch test. Obviously that's really common in the holistic world, and it's one that Adina and I both can read, can order, but how often do you think we order them?

Adina:

Never.

Diane:

Not often. And why is that? Because in nutritional therapy, the approach that AD and I take with our nutritional therapy clients is we're gonna work north to south. So maybe you've seen some of the graphs I put on Instagram. You know, some of you nerd out on that. Some of you might see that and start burning your minerals like a graph. Ew. But simply put here is we want, ew, I think of Jimmy Fallon's character, you know, and ew, I don't remember the character's name, but I love a scene where, um, John Cena is like his girlfriend. Like they're both dressed up as like young girls in like blonde wigs.

Adina:

So

Diane:

Ew, so good. Which by the way, when we were in Italy, it's funny, like the likeness that people will see of Neil, like, especially if we're out of the states and someone goes, John Cena, you like John Cena? And I go, I don't see it. Is it like the short haircut and the jaw? I don't know. It's weird. Um, anyway, where was I? North to south process. So when we're working through nutri nutritional therapy, we want things to work more efficiently. We're going to always think about things like digestion first, things that when we focus there are going to move the needle for you elsewhere. So in focusing on digestion, food, blood sugar, things like your hormone health metabolism, figure this themselves out oftentimes. Right? So with that in mind, we're not gonna go start slamming seeds or hormone specific supplements. If our digestion, our blood sugar's a mess. So that's the TLDR of it. Do you have anything else to add There?

Adina:

No, just, I think that a lot of people think that, you mentioned it already, but I think a lot of people think that things are hormone issues, and oftentimes they're just like thyroid, me metabolic gut depletion issues, and like, It's very rare that the work that we do doesn't result in solving the hormone thing. I think also part of the hormone thing is that we've talked about this before on maybe our preconception episode, which if you haven't listened to that one, go back and listen to that one. We talked about the H T A a little bit on that episode as well, I believe. But I think part of why people get so stressed about their hormones is because the cycle, the issues are manifesting in cycle issues.

Diane:

Mm-hmm.

Adina:

And because many of us do not have a foundational understanding of our cycle, so like if something is off with our cycle, maybe our cycle's really long or really short or really crampy or

Diane:

a bloody

Adina:

for a really long time. Yeah. Or like we are not getting pregnant and we're not sure why. If we just were taking a look at like our basal metabolic rate, if we were taking a look at cervical fluid, if we were like confirming ovulation and looking more holistically at the cycle itself, as opposed to being like, what are my hormones doing at this exact day and this exact time? It, it doesn't, it doesn't usually come to that. Like that's really been our experience and many other practitioners that we've spoken to like it, it doesn't usually come to a Dutch chest.

Diane:

no, very seldom. And that's only giving you a peak at one system at your hormone health. And we know that your hormone health is a reflection of your overall health. Think of it as a report card for your overall health. So yes, it matters. And if you're dealing with really painful periods every month, or terrible p m s, yeah, we want for that to be better. But that's not where we start. So we wanna see what that liver do, what's what's going on with your metabolism? Are you giving yourself enough fuel in order to be able to make happy hormones? So all of those things are important, and where we would start, Upstream. Similarly, I'll talk to a lot of people about, you know, what? What are we gonna do about gut health? Do we need to start with a GI map? Do I have sibo? So I have to start with that breath test. It like grinds my gears that they're holistic providers out there who will start with a breath test for say, sibo. But are they, are they also thinking about the stomach and upping our defenses and our function there? Probably not. Do we need to go hard on a full eradication protocol or would you be benefited from looking more broadly at your routine and making tweaks? So that's why I like the H T M A because we're not just looking at one system. So whether that's digestion or we're not just looking at your hormone health, we're looking at the broad picture. So we'll talk about why we like that a little bit further, but let's also talk about some of the criticism of H T M A first. So we've been in some continuing ed where they weren't, the instructors weren't fans of the H T M A because they're like, well, We're all stressed. Congrats on knowing that maybe if we've even said something like this before, we really learned more about the HT M a. Right. But that's kind of missing the point of the test. Yes, we agree that you don't need a test to tell you that you are stressed. Like we, we can already have an idea. I mean, we did mention a few minutes ago that some people, the driven high performers might not know how they're stressed, but a lot of us are like, okay, I went through something stressy, I'm stressed. But seeing your unique picture of depletion on a mini manual, I try a mineral and cellular level. There's something to that. And H T M A also gives us a good picture in two systems that are going through it beyond just your stress response, beyond just your metabolic function.

Adina:

What's funny about that, I just thought about this, is that in one of those continuing edits where that was the criticism of the H G M A, they also were reading Dutch panels and looking at adrenal output. No, not just that. Like they're looking at cortisol production as like a very important marker. And

Diane:

yeah,

Adina:

getting a, this is getting a little nitty gritty, but it's so funny that someone who's critical of the HT M A can care so much about your cortisone and cortisol output. You know, like, okay, we get it. Stress, stress hormones, like,

Diane:

yeah. Just say you just don't like, or maybe are not familiar with this test and something you need to know about My approach and I'm and Adinas as well. I know that we both are on the same pages, uh, about this is we don't go into say, one continuing ed program and then like adhere to it as if it were religion and what we do. And doing this for like five years now more or more is we do these different continuing ed programs and we're always learning. We are committed to being learn at alls, not know-it-alls, but we also take into account our clients' experiences and what has been tried and true for them. What works well

Adina:

Mm-hmm.

Diane:

of just taking, like, going by the book, like that's, it's great to learn to memorize things, to pass a test, but then how does that apply to the real world and to real people, you know?

Adina:

Yeah. And the body's so dynamic and people are coming at it from so many different areas of expertise. You know, like take for example, my expertise with strength training. You cannot convince me that someone should not be strength training no matter what stage of healing they're in.

Diane:

Wait, do you remember in that continuing ed we did together? Is that where you're, where you're going? Okay. I'll let you tell it.

Adina:

like we've had so many mentors who are really focused on metabolic health, who will tell people that exercise is too stressful in a healing phase, and it is simply not the case. Like it just

Diane:

Yeah, they said they were, I remember we were kind of like just itching hearing, um, in a lecture where they're like, string training. It's just, it's just too stressful. I'm like, we're all, we're talking about metabolic health here. Can you see, can you go play on Pubbed for a second and see just how important muscle is for your metabolic health? Like, how are we missing this huge point

Adina:

uhhuh and I don't need to study. I also just need to look at every single person. That has muscles, you know, that has strength and has access to strength and aerobic fitness versus the people that don't like our cells just do better when we are fit. And that's, you can't, you can't sway me on dad. Oh yeah. I was saying, oh, my microphone.

Diane:

How are we gonna have video? And you're not gonna flex.

Adina:

oh, I flex every week on Diane in the Zoom room when we're just sitting around, I'm always like, I really wish we had

Diane:

Wait, this reminds me of a TikTok I saw this morning where this, I'm getting Japan content now because that's when the next big destinations we want to go to, right? So this couple accidentally stumbled into this bar and you just see like this very uncomfortable man and. Servers around him and they're like flexing around his face and he's like awkwardly, like doesn't know what to do. So he like pats their arm. And so one of the comments was like, I wouldn't know what to do. I'd kiss it or like some other intrusive thought. But they basically stumbled into the male version of Hooters in Japan where it's all buff guys.

Adina:

that

Diane:

there is also, so there's, there is a bar where it's all buff servers. And so this one guy was like juicing and orange and then they were just flexing and it was hilarious. But apparently there's a similar place you can go where it's all buff women. So you know, go to both. Go to one or the other, whatever your preference. Happy pride. Yeah. So thought that was fun. He looked so uncomfortable. Ugh.

Adina:

All right, shall we continue talking about the H M A?

Diane:

Yeah. Where were we? Is this a muscle mommy episode?

Adina:

Every episode's a muscle Mommy episode,

Diane:

Yeah. So, oh, we're talking about, so what is the H T M A and why do we like it? We've kind of sprinkled some things in here, but we haven't done like a dedicated H T M A H T M A episode,

Adina:

H T M A.

Diane:

so H T M A, she's the Hair and Tissue Mineral Analysis, and we like it. I love it because it is an overview not only into your metabolic health and your stress response, but also there are some markers on there that can tell us about hormone health, about blood sugar balance, about inflammation, how you're detoxifying. Also a look at heavy metals, what you may be encountering in your environment that can be affecting your health. There's some digestion markers on there. I can also look in H T M A and know if you're eating enough protein. I can look at your food and mood journal too, but you can tell me maybe in a food journal, like, yeah, I'm eating protein, and then I look at your phosphorus and I'm like, According to this, you are not. So that's fun and nervous system and vitality ratio. So there are markers and patterns on the HTM A that can tell us about how you're feeling, which is pretty wild. Like, are you tending towards anxiety? Are you easily angered? Like things that, I mean, you can try to try to look good in the, in the consult and tell me like, yeah, I'm Gucci, I I'm feeling level and great all the time. And then I see a pattern on your H T M A. I'm like, it's all right. If you're not okay baby, your hair will tell me.

Adina:

Your hair will tell me all of that. And that's what's really cool about it too, right? Like we're looking at the last 90 days, we're looking at the cell, which you need to understand why this is so important because our cell is like how we make energy

Diane:

The mitochondria has the powerhouse of the cell.

Adina:

ain't that the truth? And does everyone remember that from middle school? When? Was it middle school or is it high

Diane:

For me, it was middle school, but I also would hear it in high school. Yeah.

Adina:

I think you do it in both. I think you like learn it for the first time in like seventh grade or something. Anyways, most of the lab tests that your doctors are going to run are blood tests. Okay?

Diane:

Mm-hmm.

Adina:

Your blood is just a highway around your body. So if something is not in transit at the moment we run that test, we won't see it all.

Diane:

if it's hiding in your tissues.

Adina:

Yes. Imagine you walk into a hotel and you look in the elevator and you say, oh, I guess only three people are staying in this hotel that is not a full picture of the hotel. So to go into your body and to look at a little transit highway and say, oh, I guess she doesn't have any iron. Um, not the whole picture.

Diane:

I'm imagining Magic School bus. You watched that as a kid, right? Aren't we all, wheres Miss Frizzle? And I saw Meme, which we're gonna have to put on our feed. I need to make a note. And it was like the Magic school bus could be in your ass and you right now, and you wouldn't even know. Did you see it

Adina:

have no idea. You know what, but if it was, you'd probably be itchy.

Diane:

itchy, blocked up

Adina:

Yeah.

Diane:

Would it be able to move if you are clenched? So here is your mid episode or minor to unc Unclench, your butthole,

Adina:

Just go ahead and unc unclench it.

Diane:

Yeah. So love that analogy of the hotel because that is like the only, if they will run blood work at your doctor's appointment, it's not gonna be what we want. Maybe it'll just be ferritin. And then they'll say, oh, you know, you're fine. But yeah, there's, there's another test that I like to pair often with H T M A functional blood work that gives us a picture of more of that. But we're talking, we're, we're highlighting the HTM A here. So yeah, this test looks at what's going on inside the cell or what's not going on inside there. And we like it because as Adina said, it looks at your last 90 days. Your last three months, whereas there are hormone panels which may have a time and place, right, but they're only looking at the last 30 days and they're only looking at your sex hormones perhaps. Whereas this is looking at a lot of other stuff, which is cool.

Adina:

Which also just side note. If you're at a doctor and they wanna tell you that they're gonna test your hormones via your blood on one day of your cycle, one random day of your cycle, just know that that is not nearly the whole picture. And if you were gonna test your hormones, you should definitely do that via your urine over the course of a month.

Diane:

Yeah, because hormones fluctuate, as we've illustrated for you in past episodes, that will link below. And if you need a fight with your, your doctor, we have an episode for that too.

Adina:

Uh, two episodes.

Diane:

Yeah, I guess we had a lot to say about that one. And a lot of you who are now equipped to fight with your doctor, so we also like the H T M A because it's an easy-ish. We wrote on the outline here, easy-ish sample collection. So what you'll

Adina:

Depends who you ask, I

Diane:

yeah, because some, I mean, we can all get attached to our hair. I've certainly been there. It took me like so long just to chop my into a bob. You know what? It grows back. But anyway, one teaspoon of hair from your head, one teaspoon of hair from your head. People have asked sometimes that, can I submit poop? Pubes, I must say poop. Poop pubes. Pubes or armpit hair. It's not ideal. They want scalp hair, so

Adina:

like for a bald man, that's how you would submit this test.

Diane:

Yeah. And I know that some obstacles to that sample collection of a hair chest is many of our clients that come to us, they're dealing with autoimmune stuff, hypothyroidism, diagnosed Hashimotos, maybe they're postpartum and their hair is falling or thin. And so I understand for those women, it like cutting some of your hair can feel like a really tall task. I get it. So I usually send along a video to my clients, my one-on-one clients when I'm showing them how to cut their hair. There is some instructions that come with a kit, but it's like this really terrible illustration, you know what I'm talking about. Um, so I try to show them that we're thinking about how we style our hair and we cut it from back here. You may have seen on my Instagram story a blooper when Neil was recording me. It was like my second or third time taking the sample. But in my, my zest, my haste in my zest or haste to do the sample, I accidentally took way too much. I should know better, but it, it made for a funny blooper. So I'll share that again. So yeah, you're taking a little bit from a few areas on your scalp or if you're a knee and trolling me with a rat tail last year, you could cut off that as well. So yeah, some obstacles too, if

Adina:

haven't seen a haircut moment from Neil in a while.

Diane:

No, he hasn't done anything that traumatizes me with his hair lately. Um, I don't know if there are any polarizing haircuts out there. He's tried the mullet, right, but, Yeah, he's been kind of going tradit, which I'm grateful for. Um, but yeah, if you have short hair, that might be an obstacle too. Maybe have a cutie little pixie cut or, I just worked with a couple of male clients in a one-on-one intensive, and they usually have enough. If you got like an inch of hair, probably good. Some other obstacles. If you're someone who dyes your hair, you'll have to wait six to eight weeks because we don't want that new growth to be all covered in hair dye.

Adina:

Yeah, that won't be helpful.

Diane:

Yeah. I've had, I had someone who was like, oh shit, I forgot to have my stylist take the sample before we died. So then we had to wait a while before she could do that again. So,

Adina:

too, is if you know you are going to get your hair did then ask your stylist to do the cut for you.

Diane:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I, I've had people, I mostly work with women, right? And they're like, I'd rather have my stylist than my husband or my partner take this, this cut. So

Adina:

As long as you got good shoulder mobility, you can do it yourself.

Diane:

I mean the first time I did it, I, I should have pinned it up in the back and then I took too much there. And you know what? Sometimes it pokes out and it's kind of funny, but you really can't, you really can't tell

Adina:

with me, you just can't tell,

Diane:

There's so much,

Adina:

take what you want.

Diane:

it'll grow back. It's hair, it'll grow back. Another consideration too for this test is if you have really hard water. So you can test that by looking up the city water report wherever you live. Like last year, so say 2022 Grand Rapids. Here we have Beyond Hard Water. We have very hard water. So something like, I mean, I saw the scale, right? And it was well beyond that. I can see when we wash our dishes and there's like spots, that's another telltale sign. Spots on your glasses. Maybe you taste the tap water. It tastes disgusting.

Adina:

Yep. Don't taste that. Tap water.

Diane:

My breath, my best friend. My best friend, oh my God. And I were chatting, she's dating again now, and she's like, oh my gosh, I met this guy. I went on a date with this guy, and he's like, you, he was disgusted. When I drink tap water, some people are like, what's wrong with that? But sometimes it tastes nasty. And then often if it's nasty,

Adina:

you. It's fine.

Diane:

and often if it tastes really gross, like it's hard, it's gross. Um, so you can look at your water

Adina:

It's viscous

Diane:

blah. Yeah, that's something I've been to someone's house where it's, ugh, smells like eggs. Ugh,

Adina:

jersey.

Diane:

so gross. Um, but filtering your water in a shower filter like Burki is great. If you can do that for a couple weeks before your test. And also if you're using like, I dunno, head and shoulders or an anti-dandruff shampoo that can work against you in your lab results, so,

Adina:

And in your life.

Diane:

mm-hmm. Yeah, that itchy blue,

Adina:

Oh

Diane:

is it? Sen blue.

Adina:

seared in my nose.

Diane:

very distinct for sure. Yeah. Um, there's some other considerations for this test that will give clients, like stopping certain supplements if they can. Um, but those are the basic top of mind is that maybe people are worried about the amount of hair, um, timing their haircut or their hair color appointments. But otherwise, I would say compared to other tests we do with clients non-invasive, you're not shitting in a french fry container like you would for a stool test.

Adina:

Yep. If you've done a GI map with us, you know that life.

Diane:

Yeah. Yeah. There's just, oh, there's, it's worth the data sometimes, but you're, you're like, I'm still shitting in a french fry container and then putting it into a little

Adina:

Oh, that, by the way, you just neglected to mention the worst part. It's not just, yeah, you have to actively scoop it into a cup after.

Diane:

Yeah. And if you have diarrhea, like they don't give you a funnel like.

Adina:

No,

Diane:

my goodness. Yeah, the dry map very worth it. But if we're like, would you rather shit in a french fry container or cut with, cut apart of your hair apart with a little bit of it, like a teaspoon. That's all we're asking for a teaspoon. Yeah, So common questions before we move on. How, how does this test compare to others? How does it compare to others?

Adina:

Well, what do you mean by that? Do you mean price? Because it's definitely cheaper than other tests.

Diane:

I mean this is a very general question, but it came up like three times in my question bugs, right? And I go, well, what? Be more specific. So someone asked, how does this compare to the oats test? Or someone listed another test, they're testing completely different things. So like oats testing, people often go to that for like looking at candida. Yeas, Steve b sts, other stuff like that. Um, but yeah, this one, as we've illustrated for you here, we're looking at a lot of different systems, what's going on with'em. Um, and it's a lot cheaper. So GI Map, even if I'm giving practitioner rate to my clients, can be like$500 plus the program fee on top of that. Still a time and a place for it. But yeah, this with practitioner rate, I wanna say is like 100, 1 35, somewhere in there.

Adina:

Yeah.

Diane:

At the time of this recording, the next most common question that we get about the HTMA is, can I get my doctor to order this?

Adina:

L o l.

Diane:

Lol? No, LOL is all we put in the outline. Um, this isn't us trying to gate keep or trying to get you from using the, the, that insurance coverage, like by all means, like. Whenever you can use it, use it. Maybe you could use your HSA or fsa. So that's another common question that someone asked me in my, in my box last week was, she goes, when are you gonna start accepting hsa? I was like, oh girl, I've been accepting it. But it depends on your coverage. So if you're someone who has health insurance with one of those accounts, you might be able to use it on elective testing supplements, so H T M A and other stuff, maybe even towards working with a coach like me or Adina. So that's really cool. Check with your insurance, but your doctor as, as we illustrated in the how to talk to your doctor episode when I fired mime.

Adina:

do you talk to your dumb doctor? Correction.

Diane:

Talk to Your Dumb Doctor. Yes. Um, that one Kelly, we'll call her a Kelly cuz that was, her name was so dumb and she was like, what is this? I don't know what this is. Yeah, of course you don't. Um, so don't, don't bring it into your doctor's office and don't ask them for

Adina:

Learn from, from Diane's. Mistakes don't bait them like that.

Diane:

Hear the whole full story there. That was my mistake and it was Lu Lu Lucy's mistake. Let's be real.

Adina:

She be making mistakes.

Diane:

So how do we use the H T M A Adina? How? How do we use it? Because it might vary from other coaches out there.

Adina:

Yeah. This I think is really important to discuss because I think people hear lab tests and it's like, cool, we'll get those receipts and then we'll just supplement the sheet out of whatever is missing from my labs

Diane:

Yeah. That binary look at things. Mm-hmm.

Adina:

and that ain't it. That's not at all how we read this.

Diane:

We don't chase markers.

Adina:

Yeah. It's so important to understand that when it comes to nutrients in the body, when it comes to minerals in the body, they are a team. And the relationships are the most important part. The ratios, how minerals are interacting with one another is the most important part. And it's not just like, whoop, she's got no calcium. Let's just give her some thumbs as

Diane:

I know that you're gonna use that. Just get her a Costco sized bottle of Tums and Adina can chew on those Smoothie calcium smoothie flavored calcium pills.

Adina:

Those chalky tropicals.

Diane:

Oh, the tropicals. Yeah, that's, that is what I would choose, because sometimes you had to switch up, I don't know what the regular flavor was, but then I would think, oh yeah, this could be yummy.

Adina:

Mm,

Diane:

It was like a really bad, sweet tart. I used to love Sweet Tarts. Did you ever eat those?

Adina:

So chalky pineapple.

Diane:

Ugh. I could like feel it in my mouth.

Adina:

I, I'm, I'm drying up right now.

Diane:

So yeah, we're not gonna chase down markers. And I know, I mean, this is, we got a visual element hopefully with this podcast. Um, but we, I don't know if we could have shared screen. Oh, we could have, you know what? It's too much work. But anyway, and on h d A you'll see these different minerals. And maybe if you ordered this yourself, trying to DIY it ball on a budget, you might look at that and think, okay, low calcium, throw calcium on it. We're not gonna do that because we want our minerals to have buddies. We don't cha we don't chase down. We try to attract more minerals. Working smarter, not harder. Right?

Adina:

And also I think something really important to understand too is like minerals are really interesting and the way they present in the body isn't always this like linear thinking, right? Like sometimes we see super high calcium, like a calcium shell on someone's HTM A and that doesn't mean that they've just been slamming milk and they just like have so much calcium, you know, like,

Diane:

Chugging a gallon a day,

Adina:

yeah.

Diane:

you'd have other problems if that was the

Adina:

Do you know about Go mad. It's like a power lifting diet. Gallon of milk a day. It's like, oh, go mad diet.

Diane:

so if it's spread over the day, they're not gonna vomit. They're just gonna like,

Adina:

No, they just walk around with a gallon of milk. Go mad.

Diane:

very interesting. No, I've never heard of that. I've heard of the gallon of water or two that people will carry. Ew.

Adina:

go mad tb. T

Diane:

Oh, I would be mad. Yeah. And then similarly too, like let's say magnesium is really high on your H T M A doesn't mean that we don't need anymore. It means that we're, we're burning through it. You've heard us probably on past episodes talk about burning through minerals. That's what we're talking about. So we want to bring minerals into balance and finesse routine. The customization of it when we work one-on-one with clients, by looking yes at these tests, but also at the presentation of our clients. So the context, the presentation, what else is going on in her life? What are her goals? What are her top concerns? So if we were just to look at what's going on on paper, that doesn't tell us the full story.

Adina:

Not at all.

Diane:

No. So again, and I think that we've mentioned this before, but maybe not explicitly in this episode, is that we are using all functional lab testing, but especially something like this gateway test in one-on-one environments. This is not something that is included in strong foundations or in, um, strength training for happy hormones. It's not included in root cause reset because we are so serial about starting with the basics first. And this is really for more of that finesse. And the way that Adina and I use H T M A is maybe perhaps a little different than other practitioners. We like to. Make sure that we are as food focused as possible, supplements where needed. And I like to see where I can like, bring in supplements that are going to be for a shorter period to help us bring more things into balance, but also that maybe can be a bit more versatile. So like we said, we don't like unopposed supplementation. That's where you're, for example, just, I dunno. Oh my sodium's low, so I'm just gonna eat spoonfuls of salt or take a element electrolyte pack day in, day out. We wanna think about, um, a more holistic, well-rounded approach here.

Adina:

I just wanna say one thing about electrolyte packs because they're so trendy right now, and I, we love to see it. We love to see people not stigmatizing sodium and like actually focusing on electrolytes, but we do caution you because the very popular ones with the influencer budgets behind them.

Diane:

yes.

Adina:

I have looked at many of them and they're, first of all, shitty forms of these electrolytes most of the

Diane:

Liquid iv.

Adina:

Second of all, not. Nearly enough potassium, no one is coming close to the potassium that we need opposing our sodium.

Diane:

Nah, no one,

Adina:

how is this getting by so many brains, like surely there's a product production team looking at this like, who does not understand the relationship of minerals so much so that these are all so drastically imbalanced.

Diane:

They are all of them. I'm really glad that you brought that up because Element is one.

Adina:

It's

Diane:

Element or is it L M N T? How are we

Adina:

It's so popular that I thought for sure they had gotten it right and I looked at it and I was just alarmed by how little potassium was in there.

Diane:

I like that for, so I like it for some scenarios, so, Again, I don't like to, like, let's say you push play on this episode thinking we're talking about minerals. Like, okay. Okay. Got it, got it. So element, I need to add these packs, not so fast. Some scenarios in which I think element. Okay. If you are someone who's sweating a lot, I think it's best maybe for people who are training, sweating a lot sauna ing. But even so, like you were saying, the balance of sodium, potassium, not great. Um, for other people who are adding things like that, not just element, but other electrolyte packs too fast too soon might have diarrhea or like what are your imbalances, your mineral imbalances looking like. Um, I have had some htma where the potassium is higher or sodium is really high. Maybe we wouldn't wanna be adding in these all willy-nilly. So yeah, remember we don't want you to hear minerals. Need to focus on them. I need electrolyte packs. It's not it.

Adina:

I know and like there's so nothing good on the market. That part of me is like, oh my God, if I cared at all to be in the product production space, like me and Diane should make an actually yummy electrolyte package with like proper balanced nutrients and no monk fruit and stevia, and just like, I don't know why people are still using that as sweeteners. It's so, it tastes so bad.

Diane:

I know. Well, yeah, I think there is stevia in elements. So sometimes like if I'm traveling or if I'm really dehydrated or you just had the stomach flu, I might think, okay, good, better, best I might choose this. But

Adina:

readily available.

Diane:

right, the way influencers position it, they're like, you can order boxes of this, and I like to have two a day. So no, you don't need to go. You don't need to go that hard.

Adina:

And it's like so many people are talking about how they felt so shitty before and now they finally feel like they have energy. But it's like, yeah, cuz you just like, were not getting nearly enough salt, but

Diane:

how are we salting our food?

Adina:

Yeah.

Diane:

Do we have a variety of different foods, so that's why we're always going to be food focused. And when I am working one-on-one, one-on-one with someone, we do an H T M A, perhaps functional blood work alongside of it. We have some supplements during the healing phase, like for a couple months. But I also like to build client plans now versus like a few years ago when I was doing the GI map most of the time in approachable like phases. So what I mean by that is when we did GI Map, maybe we're doing pathogen era eradication, a lot more gut healing specific stuff where. A consistent 12 week protocol. Bunch of different herbs that might be more indicated. Now, the approach that I take when people do one-on-one with H T M A is we do a phased plan. And so phase one we're focusing in dialing in the low-hanging fruit. Oftentimes more finesse with food, even if they've been at this for a little while. Cuz like we said earlier, how many times do people say, I'm so advanced? And there are just some things that we as practitioners would want to dial in first. We get the hang of that. Maybe there's some functional support, some stuff we're working on with getting the gut back online and getting it flowing and juicy. Maybe phase two, we're layering in some more things after we've had time to work on some other main minerals. Phase three we're really finessing things. Maybe we're also thinking about changes to her environment. So upgrading things there, that's not where we start. So the reason that I build in phases is to honor someone's bandwidth. If they're doing an H T M A, they're really stressed. We don't want to just go all in fire hose ourself with changes in the beginning. I wanna make it sustainable. So that's how I build an approach to, um, customizing after the H T M A and I like that a lot more,

Adina:

Yeah, makes it really approachable, sustainable, doesn't like scare you off in the beginning. And also it doesn't make it so that you can only do this in the intensity of like a 12 week healing phase. Like I think when it's all in, it's like, okay, I'll commit for 12 weeks and then like you can't sustain that past that point. But if you haven't heard this from this episode already, what's really cool about the H T M A is that you can almost think about it as your body's unique fingerprint for managing and. Dealing with your stress. It's basically telling us like what resources your body is tapping into when it's stressed. And so it gives us the opportunity to build out a protocol to replenish those resources and make sure that like you're gonna face stressors, you're gonna be stressed, life is stressful. There are really good stresses, there is training, there is having a new baby, there is getting a new, exciting job. Like there's moving, there are stresses that are wonderful and are part of life, but we still need the resources inside of our body to be able to deal with those and to come out more resilient and stronger on the other side of it. So how cool is that to have like a roadmap of H, which resources to give your body to better tolerate the very normal stresses that you face in your life.

Diane:

Yes. And I like that position versus thinking of like, oh, I need to take all these settlements for this. 12 weeks and just chase down these low, um, low markers or out of range markers. And then after that time, I just abandoned it all. So yeah, the, the plans that I build for folks, the front end's going to be more healing focused. Let's, especially if they're really dysregulated, really out balance, but then I'll tell them, here are some things that I would suggest that you incorporate longer term, or things that you can bring in when you're experiencing more stress. So it becomes a blueprint for them, um, for their new adjusted routine. And it's not so all in crazy intense.

Adina:

Okay. So let us share, now we understand like what the ht m a is, kind of how we look at it. Why don't we chat a little bit about like what can you expect, what results are possible when we are running this test, putting a type A protocol like this in place? Like can you share maybe some case studies, client case studies,

Diane:

Yeah. Yeah,

Adina:

in the right direction.

Diane:

I have a couple that are fresh in my mind because I'm coming to this recording after doing a couple of intensivess and HTM a reviews this past week. So I wanna start first with, I guess, answering a common question that I've had around this test, which is, can I really change my metabolism? Maybe you're thinking, okay, I'm getting older, I'm over 30, I'm approaching my forties. It's just, it's gonna slow down. It's going to slow down. And that's not necessarily true. It's common that people will experience slower metabolism, slower thyroid activity as they grow older. But what also is happening are we also. Dealing with years of depletion. And so of course it's going to slow down. I have seen it change. And remember that we want our metabolism to be flexible. So when we're thinking about the H T M A, there are eight different metabolic types that you'll see at the top of your test when you do this. And I think that sometimes people go into this like, I wanna make the grade, I wanna have like the perfect, the perfect juicy metabolism. There's no, yeah, yeah. There's no perfect type. But, um, okay, so there's slow, 1, 2, 3, 4, fast. 1, 2, 3, 4. So what we want is to hopefully be closer towards that middle. We wanna be flexible. We wanna be able to go into the fight or flight mode, the sympathetic nervous system state, but also into parasympathetic. So kind

Adina:

Wait, can you pause there for a second? I know people need to hear this. I think it's so common in the holistic space to be like, oh, we are trying to get ourselves into a parasympathetic state. We're spending so much time in fight or flight. We're trying to get ourselves into a parasympathetic state. And what people are not understanding that, that often comes from the holistic health world who are also not recommending training. Because we need to understand that our nervous system states are supposed to be dynamic and we are supposed to be able to go into and out of all nervous system states. And yes, if we have been chronically stressed or chronically depleted, we might be spending a lot of time in. Only the parasympathetic state or only the sympathetic state that fight or flight. We need to be able to do both. And so to have the tools to do both, we need these resources to tolerate stress and we need a properly functioning metabolism, a properly functioning thyroid, and you know what else? We need to provide a little healthy stress, a little healthy cortisol with some strength training.

Diane:

Yes. Right. Yeah. You know, we can't go an episode without talking about strength training. I'm glad that you brought that up because I mean, I know I definitely can have talked so much about the parasympathetic, the rest and digest nervous system state, because I also historically have talked a lot about digestion, and that's the state that we wanna be in, relaxed, chill, so that we can digest and absorb our food. But like Adina is saying, we wanna be dynamic and go between the two outside of digestion. So let's say someone has been that parasympathetic, but in the context of they. Um, are very tired. They're very fatigued all the time. So on the htm, alc, they're more on that slow side of slow metabolic type. Um, calcium's high, I mean, we can get more into the nitty gritty if we were to have a lab in front of us and do a, a actual case study. But practically here, like those people who are hypothyroid, sluggish metabolism, they're kind of stuck on that side. And maybe they do feel right now exhausted. If they were to go to your, I'm gonna say typical, but like your common strength training class, and then they're still just so depleted that they can't have that balance that we want. But as far as what's possible, yes, you can change your metabolism. So for example, this past week I had a retest. I did a one-on-one nutritional therapy intensive retest with a client that I've been working with for, gosh, over a year now. But she implemented a lot of things after that first test a year ago. And then we've had follow-ups. But when we first. Met when we first did her H T M A, she was a fast four. So remember those eight types? She was on that really heavily dysregulated side, the fast four, that's showing a body kind of at its limits. She had also gone through a lot of stressors through her physical health, but also through a lot of life changes. So since meeting with her, she's made a lot of con changes with the phase plan that we had. And now she's a slow one. She's a lot closer to that middle. But what else does life look like for her now? She, she was like, I wanna start this, this session, this consultation with wins. She said, when I came to you last year, insomnia, anxiety, both through the roof, right? And she's like, I sleep so much better. I considered myself a light sleeper. Also has two small kids, but she's like, I'm sleeping more through the night. And that's a big part because my anxiety that I was experiencing not waking me up anymore. And I wasn't surprised that she was feeling that way because a fast four. Minerals, very depleted. They're just burning through them, bottomed out, right? Like she had like hardly any left kind of across the board, at least on that front half too, because she was under a lot of stress. So her body's like, we're, we need to mobilize all of our resources to run from this threat. But then on the opposite side of that, she was having so much trouble sleeping. She was having a lot more, um, like skin issues, itchy scalp, a lot more going on with digestion. And now a lot of those things are quiet. But the big takeaway, I want for you to hear her hear what this client who went from fast forward to a, to a. So one is she said, I still have stress in my life. Like some big things have happened for her good and bad in the last three months. And she said, I, but I feel more resilient now, like she said. And it like almost made me cry. Almost makes me wanna cry now. She said I'm still gonna have stress, but I feel like I can hold it more

Adina:

That's awesome. That's what we want. You know, like that's, I think that's the big thing people are missing too. It's like we're not gonna be able to avoid all stresses. Yes, there are certain stresses that it is important to remove from your life if you are in a really toxic relationship or a toxic job, or you live somewhere that just like sucks and you hate it like that. That was, you know, a big thing about me moving to the beach. That did remove a huge stressor. But moving was also a big stress. Moving to a foreign country was a big stress. So like it's about picking and choosing and then building out your resources and becoming as resilient as possible for the stresses that are normal and will be present no matter what. And the stresses that are come come outta the blue. Cuz that happens too, right? Like life has surprises.

Diane:

curve balls. And she mentioned too, so she, I remember putting like in phase three, because she had a lot of stress when we first started, right? Was I think she might have just switched her job or was thinking of it. And so I thought, okay, I know she'd benefit from strength training Right now, the top of mind when we first started working together was. You need to calm some things down. Like she's been, I mean, her minerals were bottomed out. She had been through so much stress. So we worked on finessing her food a little bit. And then I said, down the line, I would love for you to get back to strength training. And she told me on our last call, she's like, I started strength training of her happy hormones, her joint pain, so much better. And she also works with a physical therapist too. And she told me they were really impressed by your programming.

Adina:

Those are my favorite

Diane:

of course. Uh, so the joint pain we solved, I know from building strength, but also with balancing minerals, working on calming down her gut because that was going through a lot. And if that's really inflamed right, and you are bottomed out your minerals, like you have no magnesium, like yeah, her siren was, oh my gosh, joint pain. So she said it's manageable. She's been able to get back to some things that she likes, like I think she's like kayaking or some other outdoor activities. So that made me so, so happy to hear and. She's someone who is very in tune with her body too. So it was like really cool hearing, um, what changes she's made. She still has some things that she wants to work on, but we've gone so, so far. Um, so really happy to hear that. Another quick case study I'll share with you is,

Adina:

Wait, pause for a second. I actually wanted to back up cuz you did mention skin stuff and I think that's a really important thing to spend a moment on because you know that's a big part of my story. If any of you have been here for long enough to have heard me share my story. In some of our earlier episodes, I struggled with eczema all over my hands, all over my face when I was pregnant with Abe and in the past. I would've been like, oh, I gotta run a food sensitivity test because obviously that is what is triggering my skin stuff. And now last few years, my approach would be run an H T M A and dial in those minerals because this is the body showing us how stressed it is and showing us how dehydrated it is too. So much of the time when we get that like flaky eczema flare on our eyelids and our lips and our cheeks and our fingers, like it's our body not being able to hold onto hydration and those minerals are gonna be a huge factor there. So the, from the stress side of things, because we know those skin flares are often stressed from the histamine side of things, because a lot of times that mineral imbalance is not giving our body. The ability to process histamine in the way that we need it to and from the dehydration side of things. And so the last time that I had an eczema flare, I was able to calm down my own with minerals, upping that protocol and focusing on what I needed. And so if you're a person who needed to hear that, now you know, don't just run to removing dairy and sugar and

Diane:

Or harsh

Adina:

you think the things are. Yeah,

Diane:

Yeah, certainly like the right topicals are gonna be helpful, like avoiding fragrances, especially with eczema, really reactive skin. But the, the internal piece is huge.

Adina:

Uhhuh. And also, if you are a person who's struggling with eczema, I feel for you. I'm just gonna say a quick tip out loud. Cause I just said it to a friend of mine who is struggling and I hope that you are using cold water and not hot water

Diane:

Oh yeah. Don't dry it out.

Adina:

don't wash your face or your hands with hot water if you are

Diane:

Or your body, like, not me in the winter though, where I know that I know that, but then I wanna burn my sh my skin off. I'm like, why are my shoulders so dry? And maybe like the moisture barrier is damaged here on my shoulders is, could it be cuz I stood

Adina:

Scalded my shoulder.

Diane:

Like I know this, but then I get in there, it feels so good. Um, yeah, sometimes we don't take bite. When it's cold.

Adina:

it's

Diane:

Umno, another quick example I have to share with you, especially if you're someone considering this test and you're thinking towards preconception. I've had many clients who will go through root cause, reset my nutritional therapy course and work on their basics, their baseline there, and then we dive deeper with functional blood work and or the HTM a HTM a at minimum. I would definitely prioritize this over say like just blood work. So yeah, that would be where I would start. So one client I have in mind was got got off the pill, wanted to think towards actively trying to get pregnant in the next few months. So we did an HTM a and I think if we hadn't done that and she had gone the conventional route, she might have thought, like we were saying earlier, oh, I need iron. But her iron between her blood work, blood work and her H T M A were high. And so I definitely would not be like, okay, you're tired, let's add more iron, or oh, let's add Oregon meats because it's not based on her. Lab results. I wouldn't have added either of those in just yet. So it was cool to see, um, how we could customize her routine going into nourishing pregnancy. Another similar case of someone who wanted to get pregnant. We did, she did rcr, did root cause reset. Her first HTMA was more on the fast side, kind of like that first client I mentioned. And then was it six months later she did a retest and she was much closer to that middle and it was lovely to see her. Copper came up key for pregnancy, but key for metabolism. And we did pair of blood work with that. And her vitamin A was more imb, magnesium also. So other things that I also would like to see kind of in that ideal optimal range headed into pregnancy. So really love to see that. And it was reflected in her cycles. More regular. She had no more PMs, which is amazing. Um, so those were like those downstream benefits of the, the foundational work that we did together, which is really cool.

Adina:

Amazing.

Diane:

Yeah.

Adina:

All right, so you've all heard about how great the H T M A is the H T M A, um, but do you need it?

Diane:

Yeah. Some people are like, I need it. I want it. Those are the same thing. So we'll give you a quick low fire, rapid fire here. Of course, you'll consider unique situa your unique situation. Um, I hope we gave you a good roadmap, but start with the foundations in Root cause reset it pairs nicely with strength training for happy hormones. Like start there, especially if you're someone who's new to making food and lifestyle changes. Even if you're someone who has done a whole 30 aip, P loosely, done an elimination diet, both of those are for you. Those are still for you. If you've had experienced training or lifting before,

Adina:

Oh yeah. Even if you've worked with a coach, like if you worked with a bad one, like our programs are probably still the best place to start.

Diane:

try working with a good coach. Uh, root cause reset and or string training for happy hormones are for you too. If you're in a busy and stressy season of life because you have lifetime access to those well parts of those I know in strength training for happy hormones, you still have your program that you can still iterate on and still do after the, um, program ends, right? So that's a place to start. If you're kind of new or if you've been at this for a little bit, you could do an htma results review with me. Um, if you have done rcr, I guess I should tell you what an h TMA results review is. That is where you're doing the test. I wait for the results. You do intake forms, I review all of those and I give you a custom plan. A phased plan that you can focus on over the next 12 weeks and a video Spark Notes walkthrough. So we're not doing in that scenario one-on-one with like Voxer or follow-ups, but that is for someone who maybe wants a custom plan, they're maybe a go-getter and they want a plan, but they can't yet invest in or don't wanna invest in the full one-on-one. So I've been kind of sharing those behind the screen. The scenes. Yeah.

Adina:

Or maybe you have like, um, time difference constraints and having someone just prerecord a video is helpful for you.

Diane:

Yeah, so my alumni especially, it's been popular with Root cos reset students who they also have the course content to refer to for the basics. And most of their questions are answered there, but they're like, I would like the results. I would like H T M A, but can't go all in on one-on-one. That's cool. Um, as far as time difference, I've been able to do consults with someone in Amsterdam, uh, on the west side of Canada. Like it really varies, but H T M A results is kind of like a blend of customization, but without one-on-one time. Or you could go all in with a one-on-one nutritional therapy intensive. That's for you. If you want premium one-on-one done for you plan, we do a deep dive, 90 minute consult. You have Voxer access for a little bit. Um, and this is also if you want to add on functional blood work just because it. Takes more time to go through. So that is the environment, um, in which I would suggest to you to do a one-on-one intensive. So kind of choose your own adventure here based on where you're at, your bandwidth, your budget, what kind of experience you want. So we have some options.

Adina:

Mm-hmm. If you really wanna have a hot girl summer and get that metabolism fiery, get in on S T H H, self-paced. Get yourself a results review with Diane and just get yourself together, you know?

Diane:

Yeah, get yourself together or as we say, get get your shit together, get your hair together. So if you're not sure, uh, hopefully this gave you a great picture. This whole episode, this last bitty here gave you a good picture of what route's best for you. But if you're not sure you have more questions, then DM me. I don't know. Hair secrets DM me, hair secrets to chat about what's best for you or H T M A and I'd love to chat. Love to chat about what secrets your hair holds.

Adina:

Oh yeah. We hope you enjoyed this one. If you like these more like nerdy deep dive episodes, let us know. Um, you know, stay hydrated out there, truly on the cellular level, and, uh, UNC Unclench that bee hole.

Diane:

there it is. I was hoping you would say Unclench your butthole. We'll see you next week.

Adina:

We love you.

Diane:

Love you. Bye