My Story

Hello and thank you for visiting this site!

My name is Joyce Choe and I'm a board certified ophthalmologist living in the Pacific Northwest. It's been a lifelong fascination of mine to learn about how diet and lifestyle choices affect chronic disease and how to use safe and natural remedies to further promote healing. This interest has grown deeper, as it has become more personal. In 2011, after years of struggling with chronic pain and fatigue, I was told that I had a condition called "leaky gut" and that I had multiple food sensitivities. 

My conventional training caused me to receive my diagnosis with a healthy dose of skepticism and doubt. However, with time, experience, and research, my views changed. I set about to learn as much as I could about how to improve the microbiome and to heal my gut in the most natural and safe way. I now believe that there are many suffering with chronic disease, who have as an underlying issue, the problem of poor gut health. 

In January 2016, I visited a lifestyle center in central California, called Years Restored, founded by Mercy Ballard. There, I was able to close some of the gaps in my understanding of my condition. My autoimmune crisis took years to develop and the road to good health takes time and effort, but the good news is that I no longer struggle with the pain or have the debilitating weakness that I had for much of my 20's and 30's. 

In 2018, Mercy and I started a small group on Facebook, called Gut Health with Dr. Joyce and Mercy. We teach principles for eating that we believe will be the most anti-inflammatory and most likely to heal the gut. We share practical information, recipes, demonstrations, and tips. Members in the group range from those who are simply looking for more information on health to those who are critically ill. Some have attended the program at Years Restored and continue to need information and encouragement to continue their healing journey.

Mercy and I are interested also in producing organic and gluten free convenience foods that are healthier than some of the foods currently on the market. Our partnership is called Wholeness Enterprises, as we hope to help people find Wholeness in all areas of life. 

I truly believe that there are forces at work in each of our lives. One force exists to bring chaos and destruction and the Other to bring clarity and life. One thought that has inspired me on this journey is to remember the words of Joseph, as quoted in the book of Genesis. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” I believe that God can bring goodness out of any situation. As a physician who believes in a Creator and in the power of God, I hope to be able to use the experience that I have been given to help others find the root cause of their problems, to regain and maintain faith in God and humanity, and to have courage to hope again.