Identifying and eliminating heavy metals was no doubt one of my most pivotal steps to recovering from chronic illness. Once they were removed, the parasite that I had been trying to get rid of for five years went away, and other health issues decreased. It's not an easy process, and it's a topic many doctors don't discuss, but I am passionate about educating people on what I have learned through experience because it helped me so much!

Dr. Joe explains how toxins damage the immune system by not allowing it to kill off infections as it normally would. He uses the example of how breathing in benzene from pumping gas impairs our white blood cells from doing their job or how eating food high in pesticides prevents us from making antibodies, a key part of our immune system that enables us to kill off the harmful organisms that try to get into our bodies.

He says researchers are just starting to become aware of toxins' role in autoimmunity. In utero, we learn what normal proteins are. The problem comes when we're exposed to high environmental toxins that are binding to normal proteins. This process changes what normal proteins look like to the immune system, which leads to autoimmune disease. The immune system becomes so compromised and confused and ends up using its extra energy to go after our own bodies.