How we nourish ourselves doesn't end with us and the more I study mineral balancing, fertility and women's health, the more profound this becomes to me. Here's something I think we need to talk about more: We are all, in part, a reflection of how nourished our mothers were. And our grandmothers before them.
The nutritional status of our mothers during pregnancy helped shape the environment in which we developed. And their mothers' health helped shape theirs. Our earliest nourishment matters. From the nutrients available to us in the womb to the nourishment we received as infants, including through breast milk when breastfeeding was part of our story. Minerals are involved in the development of our bones, teeth, organs, nervous systems and so much more.
And while that inheritance is not our destiny—we can absolutely replenish, rebuild + nourish ourselves throughout our lives—there's something sobering about recognizing how much of our foundation was being laid before we ever took our first breath. Right now, as women, we have the opportunity to tend that foundation ourselves.
What does mineral balancing have to do with fertility? Quite a lot, actually.
Minerals are involved in hormone production, thyroid function, ovulation, energy metabolism, nervous system regulation and the countless physiological processes that support reproduction. When the body is significantly undernourished, reproductive function can be affected. We see this, for example, when inadequate energy availability disrupts menstrual cycles and ovulation. We can’t separate fertility from the broader conversation about nourishment.
And while I don't believe the body simply decides whether or not we have enough minerals to make a baby, I do believe we need to take seriously the resources that reproduction requires. Because creating life asks something of us..a lot, actually, and pregnancy is only the beginning.
Motherhood requires resources, too.
We talk so much about getting pregnant, but what about the woman who has to carry the pregnancy? Give birth? Recover? Breastfeed, if she chooses? Raise the child? Navigate the sleepless nights, hormonal shifts, emotional demands + enormous transformation that comes with motherhood? What about her reserves?
Minerals matter for our bones, nervous systems, energy production, thyroid function, mood and recovery. And while postpartum depression is complex and cannot be reduced to mineral deficiencies, nutritional status is one important piece of maternal health that deserves attention. I don't want women simply getting through pregnancy and emerging on the other side completely depleted.
I want us thinking about how deeply we can nourish the woman who will carry what comes next.
Not just for the baby, for her. For her ability to recover, to feel resourced, to navigate hard moments, to have the emotional and physical capacity to meet the life unfolding around her because it takes resources to create life, and it takes resources to raise it.
This is where HTMA comes in.
I think of HTMA (Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis) as soil testing for the body. It gives us another window into our mineral terrain—patterns and relationships that can help guide a deeper conversation about nourishment, supplementation + lifestyle. It's not a fertility test, and it doesn't tell us whether we can conceive or precisely measure the nutrients available to a future baby, but within a broader picture of someone's health, it can be one tool for exploring how we approach mineral nourishment and that's valuable, especially for women preparing for pregnancy or rebuilding after birth.
Not because we need to create some perfectly mineralized body before becoming mothers, but because we deserve to enter these enormous thresholds of womanhood as nourished, fortified and resourced as we can.
This is generational health.
We can't control everything we inherit. And we certainly can't control everything we pass on. But we can tend what is ours to tend. We can nourish ourselves more deeply, address genuine deficiencies, eat enough, support our nervous systems, make informed decisions about supplementation, build more nourishing environments for ourselves and our families and in doing so, create more nourished conditions for the generations that follow.
There is something profoundly hopeful about that. If HTMA is soil testing for the body, then I think of mineral balancing as a form of regenerative health. Replenishing what was depleted. Tending what was neglected. Fortifying the soil from which something new can grow. Not because our children need us to be perfect, but because how we nourish ourselves matters and what we nourish in ourselves doesn't end with us.
If you’re feeling this, I was recently on a podcast talking about HTMA and some of these topics listen here: Podcast