Brief History of Nutritional Balancing

TEI vs ARL

• Both TEI and ARL have protocols that help people
• Some people do better with ARL, some people do better with TEI

There are two labs that offer the Nutritional Balancing program, TEI and ARL.

For a very brief overview of how the labs got started, see the article
Brief History of Nutritional Balancing.

There are differences in their approach, sometimes drastic. The differences come down to:

• Interpretation of Hair Analysis
• What minerals and supplements should be used to correct imbalances

Each lab provides a report complete with diet and supplement recommendations.

Here is a report from TEI ---> TEI Full Report

Here is a report from ARL ---> ARL Full Report

There are many Doctors, Osteopaths, Chiropractors, etc that simply follow the program exactly as recommended by the lab.

However, there are many service providers (practitioners) that have a deeper understanding of Nutritional Balancing. Many have trained with a more experienced practitioner for an extended period.

Using hair analysis to determine what is going on in your body is not at all straight forward. The more experience .... the better.

Going Tribal

It is always amazing how people separate themselves into groups and look negatively upon people that are in other groups.

Have you ever heard vegetarians discuss meat eaters ... or vise versa? They are each shocked at the beliefs of the other side.

It can be a little like that between the two camps of Nutritional Balancing. It can be confusing for the average person trying to decide.

If you listen to TEI practitioners, they will say that ARL uses the completely wrong approach, Dr. Wilson pushes detoxification to fast, and ARL gives the wrong supplements at the wrong times.

If you listen to ARL practitioners, they will say that TEI doesn't work because it doesn't encourage detoxification , and people never get better on the TEI program. They also believe that TEI tends towards replacement therapy, supplementing with what is low, and avoiding what shows high in the hair, indicating a lack of understanding of how hair analysis can not always be interpreted directly.

It can be hard to find a view that is not extremely one sided. Here is quote from someone on the Curezone.com forum explaining their experience talking with a TEI practitioner.

  I've spoken with two TEI practitioners, one of whom ranted and raved for about 20 minutes about how evil ARL is, how my practitioner had no idea what she's doing, and how I was basically going to die because I eat a banana every day.¹

And the opinions about TEI from ARL practitioners can be just as negative.

Even though I am working with ARL, my confirmation bias is not so strong that I can't see TEI helps people as well.

Note: The article Success with NB shows quotes from forums and Facebook showing success with both labs.

So ... TEI or ARL?

Although I have been using ARL / Dr.Wilson's protocol since Sept 2012, I am not too tribal to admit that TEI seems to help people as well.

Probably the most fair and unbiased comparison I have seen about the two labs is the following post on Curezone.com by Ori.

Ori is a practitioner that uses both TEI and ARL, so he is not against either lab or protocol.

After this long and excellent post .... I'll add a few comments.

  A short disclaimer first - I express my own personal views here. They have not been validated by others and not scientifically tested. This view is based on my own experience as well as talking to a good number of practitioners from both sides. Like with every generalization, some practitioner will not fall into my way of describing things.

So, Now that that's done, let's get to it:

Hair Sampling : Both labs hold high standards when it comes to doing their work. Meaning that they're both certified and regulated. They are tested regularly to determine reliability and accuracy and as much as I know the pass those tests with flying colors. This means that if you send your hair, at a given point in time to both the labs, you will get essentially the same raw results.

The Work in Context : This is an interesting area to look at. Wilson considers NBS as a fundamental way to get people more "advanced" on their spiritual path. Many articles on his website talk about different aspects of this. TEI practitioners don't deal with that aspect, or deal with it much less.

The nature of the Work : As a spiritual and deeply healing undertaking, Wilson considers being on the program as something that would involve uncomfortable times as someone is undergoing healing reaction, and these are a natural part of the program, and a requirement if one is to experience deep healing.

TEI on the other hand have much less tolerance to feeling bad on the program, believe that HR are rare, and so if someone doesn't feel good, something needs to change on the program.

Supplementation Differences: These exist and can be substantial. Wilson gives Paramin (Ca Mg B and Vit. D) to slow oxidizers when TEI will not in many cases. This is based on a difference in views when it comes to interpreting the analysis - Wilson believes that even if you have high Ca, for example, the calcium is not bio-available so you need to supplement. There are more, but the they're outside the scope of this message.

Technical differences : Wilson determines oxidation status by looking at Ca/K and Na/Mg ratios, when TEI looks at the Ca/P ratio. Further, TEI doesn't have a mixed oxidation rate. Ideal values for different minerals tend to vary somewhat.

I don't want to get too technical (and long), but instead to provide you guys with some info to guide you on your own healing paths. Listen to your bodies, and listen to your intuition with regard to what is the next step for you. You need to feel very comfortable with whomever you choose to be your practitioner, Wilson or TEI.

I have experienced healing reaction and saw them with clients, and so I know they exist and most times people feel much better after them. But not every worsening of feeling is a healing reaction and you need to be sensitive and see over time if there's a worsening or improvement in overall feeling and health status. Another way to know is to retest and see what the minerals say.

As I do in my practice now, I suggest ARL or TEI based on some client characteristics:

Willingness to go through healing reactions

Willingness to undergo diet & lifestyle changes

Spiritually inclined

Those would indicate for me a probable match with Wilson

Comments on Ori's post

You do not really need to make spirituality a major part of the Nutritional Balancing program if you chose ARL. Dr. Eck did not make it part of the program. Dr. Larry Wilson added it.

I work with Pam Killeen, who trained under Dr.Wilson. She has good success helping people while working with ARL. She does not stress spirituality at all.

Whether you call them healing reactions, or simply detox symptoms, ARL, and especially Dr.Wilson put an early emphasis on detoxification. Coffee enemas are a great way to reduce detox symptoms (See Coffee Enemas for Adrenal Fatigue).

Detoxification can be a rough ride, and many people (including me) find the coffee enemas allow you to go through it more quickly, with less suffering.

Pam often posts on her Facebook group that If you don't initially feel worse, you are not doing the program right.. i.e .... you need to go through detox symptoms to get to the other side.

TEI takes the approach that you should first balance your mineral levels, and your body will detoxify when it is ready, so don't force it too soon.

Summary

Both TEI and ARL provide protocols that are above average for adrenal fatigue treatment.

Is one better than the other? .....Probably. But I don't think anyone really has enough data to know for sure. They likely both have some imperfections.

No program has a 100% batting average. Adrenal Fatigue is complicated, and very hard to dig yourself out of.

But I have been around the adrenal fatigue forums long enough to notice that they seem to be the best two adrenal fatigue treatment protocols around.

Nutritional Balancing is helping people on the forums that tried everything and made no progress.

Probably the most important choice you need to make is picking a practitioner (service provider). Pick someone who promises and encourages lots of feedback and questions.

If they have a support group (Facebook or other), even better. There are lots of strange things that occur during detox. It is very helpful to hear that others are going through, or have experienced the same things.

References

1. Post from user name onedaysoon