Today, I would like to give you all a special insight into two therapeutics that have impressed me, personally and professionally, in the last year.
They are:
Mineral balancing
Neurofeedback
What are these therapies and why am I so impressed by them?
"Mineral balancing" is actually a term coined by my friend Clark Engelbert. Clark had his own long and difficult health journey, which he's discussed on podcasts in the past, that finally found its resolution in what he now calls mineral balancing.
Mineral balancing began with a physician in Arizona named Paul Eck. Eck began analyzing hair tissue for its mineral content over 50 years ago. He noticed how much hair tissue might vary in mineral content from one sample to another, and he kept close records on his patients, including their mental state, levels of stress, and outlook on life.
Eck began to notice clear patterns in the hair results corresponding to how his patients felt, and to certain disease states.
But what revolutionized his practice was the realization that just replacing minerals that were low in hair tissue was only the beginning.
And this is where mineral balancing gets interesting...
The person who introduced me to hair tissue mineral analysis, Morley Robbins, essentially preaches replacement therapy, with aggressive doses of copper, sodium, and potassium.
He's churning out HTMA practitioners left and right who have this all backwards. Which is a shame, because it means that this space is largely dominated by people who have no idea what they're missing. They should be forgiven - the nuances of mineral balancing only became apparent to Eck after hundreds if not thousands (or even tens of thousands) of tests. I only proved it to myself with hundreds of measurements of blood, urine, and hair levels.
I tried Morley's approach several years ago and was not impressed. Morley is missing so, so much that is found in Eck's original work. Which is a shame, because Morley has become one of the loudest voices in the holistic health and wellness space. Much, if not most, of what you hear about minerals today on social media is coming from his very, very misguided and mistaken school of thought.
Why did I become so convinced that Morley was so, so wrong? And that replacement therapy was, at best, only the beginning?
My own case.
I followed Morley's advice on minerals when I first started to test my own hair. I was not impressed by the results. I recommended it to some patients and family members. Again, I was not impressed by the results. I then started to test patients for mineral levels. When I tested patients, I began by running 1) a hair test, 2) blood mineral levels, and 3) an organic acid test.
What I found was that the hair levels and blood levels didn't just vary widely, they were often the opposite of one another! For example, a low iron in the hair is almost always what we see in someone who has a high level of iron in the blood.
Why am I so convinced Morley is dead wrong about copper? Because we often see that people with low copper in their hair have high copper in their blood.
This is why I’ve written numerous articles on this topic:
And it’s why I’m not worried about estrogen, because I have concluded that the problems we are blaming estrogen for are truly due to unbound copper:
I became increasingly fascinated by hair tissue mineral analysis. How could I not be?
I reached out to Clark Engelbert, who has now made a name for himself as one of the most vocal proponents of Eck's original work. Clark studied directly with Dr. Larry Wilson, who (I think this is fair to say) picked up the torch from Dr. Eck.
He and I spent hours discussing what hair mineral levels really mean.
And then I tried the protocols that he recommended, rather than the ones I had been using before.
The key to the protocol was high-dose zinc. Over 70 mg per day. Along with my diet, I was probably eating about 90 mg of zinc daily. That’s far, far more than most practitioners use. I can understand why. You can certainly get too much zinc, so I don’t use doses like this lightly. I only use them because I have seen incredible results with these protocols.
The rest of the protocol I began consisted of B-vitamins, manganese, chromium, selenium, magnesium, and calcium.
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Within a matter of weeks, I felt more confident, focused, calm, and empathetic. My employees noticed. My friends and family noticed.
I will say that, around the same time, I started neurofeedback. I can't know to what degree my results were due to neurofeedback or to mineral balancing. More on this later...
I was hooked. I started to test my hair every month. I started to recommend hair testing to more and more patients.
I started to see better and better results with mineral balancing. The new protocols for hair tissue mineral analysis that Clark shared with me were just as effective as the old protocols that I had based on blood and urine testing.
What's more, the testing is more affordable, more convenient, more accurate, and more comprehensive. Hair testing is a quarter of the price of most functional medicine lab tests. I get more data too, like aluminum, nickel, and chromium levels, and I can indirectly infer a person's stress levels, mental state, and more.
Could it get any better?
I became so fascinated by this that last summer, Clark and I put together a course on it.
The course consists of six episodes where Clark and I break down how the HTMA pertains to different illnesses.
Then we launched a course with coaching, that includes hair testing for participants and weekly coaching calls to review results.
We're opening coaching again this Spring - join our waiting list here. People who buy the course first get the first notifications of when the course with coaching becomes available again.
We'll also be offering HTMA testing to members of our Fundamentals of Wellness coaching program this Spring. Learn more and join the Fundamentals of Wellness today to find out when we open this opportunity.
I mentioned earlier that I started neurofeedback around the same time as I started mineral balancing. To what degree did the results I saw come from mineral balancing, and to what extent did they come from neurofeedback?
This post is running a bit long, so I am going to turn it into a two-part series. Part two will tackle neurofeedback.
Until next time, be well,
Dr. Stillman
Dr Stillman, in your book you mention that you only drink mineral water could you advise what kind of water do you drink in the USA. In Europe there are many kinds of mineral water used for different health problems but what should we buy here in America?