Join Robert Bonakdar, MD, in this Masterclass about how nutrition plays a role in approaching pain. The prevalence of pain has increased by 25% in the U.S. over the last 20 years, and Dr. Bonakdar discusses how nutrition promotes that pain along with inflammation. He will also present a comprehensive approach to reduce pain and how nutrition, including detoxification, is a major helping factor.

Finding a way to achieve and maintain a healthy weight in a sustainable way can improve multiple long-term health parameters, and weight loss is a journey with which many people are familiar. Between 2013 and 2016, nearly half of all U.S. adults attempted weight loss within the previous year, with a majority being women. Medicinal herbs can help break through the wall of weight loss resistance, support the body throughout the weight loss process, and provide other health benefits.

Everyday life includes exposure to many toxins, including cigarette smoke, dyes and paints, and cleaning products, as well as preservatives in our foods. Removing these toxins in a systematic, nutritionally supported program can help support overall health. During a metabolic detox, the primary objective is to support the body’s natural, innate detoxification system. The human body is capable of identifying, targeting, binding, and removing toxins from the body but there are steps that can help this process.

Zeolites are porous minerals born out of changing temperature and pressure conditions of volcanic rock deep below the surface of the earth. Their relevance in human life comes from their ion exchange capacity, which gives life to useful properties like adsorbence and detoxification, modulation of inflammation, and antioxidant activity.1 There are more than 100 known zeolites, but clinoptilolite is the most widespread type of zeolite and the most common subject of zeolite-related research. Additionally, clinoptilolites have been studied in depth for their in vivo consumption safety profile.13

The most common type of natural zeolite, clinoptilolite, provides an effective example of zeolites’ main effects relevant to human health: ion exchange and surface adsorption. The therapeutic connection between clinoptilolite and human health thus also offers an effective approach to reduce toxic burden on the human digestive system.

With the seasonal transition to spring comes a sense of renewal and rejuvenation that is witnessed throughout the natural world, and herbs for spring cleansing become a relevant consideration. The shift from cold and cozy nights to warmer and brighter days is a time when plants are busily photosynthesizing, and the energy stored beneath the soil within their root systems spurs towards the sun. This cycle that occurs every spring has been observed by many traditional peoples and models of healing as a time when the body is also adapting to the changes reflected in the natural world. The potent energy of spring brings with it an opportunity to invigorate and revitalize the body and, in particular, to support the ability to detoxify through our primary organs of elimination.

The modern world exposes the human body to a daily multitude of metabolic toxins including heavy metals, pesticides, and herbicides. It has been estimated that there are between 25,000 and 84,000 chemicals currently in commerce in the United States, and biomonitoring has shown that hundreds of circulating synthetic chemicals make their way from the environment into the human body.1 Such a high chemical burden can put pressure on the body’s natural metabolic detoxification capacity, and toxicant exposure and bioaccumulation of xenobiotics may be a significant contributor to the increasing prevalence of chronic disease observed within the past several decades.2,3 Some conditions for which the improper clearance of toxins has been associated with include: