Wellness, Health Restoration, and Healing
How My Journey Started
In 1999, at 29 years old, I was earning my master’s degree in teaching English, eager to travel the world. I believed health was about being fit and slender, so I counted calories, exercised, and made what I thought were smart food choices—frozen vegetables, frozen fish, low sugar, and occasional wine or ice cream.
pain from past injuries flared up, I took painkillers. When my menstrual cramps became unbearable, I took Aleve and suffered through. Lying on a cold bathroom floor, crying, vomiting, sweating, and gasping for air became routine.
But I assumed this was normal. Everyone had something, and pills were the answer.
Dr. Bonnie (far right) having dinner with a colleague and two Korean students learning English. Pohang, South Korea 1999.
After graduation, I landed my first teaching job in South Korea, requiring a handful of vaccines. The nurse handed me information sheets with fine print, but I didn’t read them—I trusted her. A few months later, exercise felt harder. My breathing became labored.
I dismissed it as stress from adjusting to a new country. Then came food sensitivities. Certain meals left me gasping for air, but I shrugged it off. It was frustrating, but manageable.
Then, while visiting a friend on a remote island in the Philippines, I had to take an antimalarial drug. That’s when my body spiraled.
One night, an invisible force crushed my chest—I couldn’t breathe. Desperate, I stumbled to the freezer and stuck my face inside, the icy air forcing my lungs to work again. The next morning, my friend casually mentioned that others had bad reactions to the drug. Some just stopped taking it. I thought it would leave my system over time.
I was wrong.
Back in the U.S., I resumed life, but my health was unraveling. My breathing worsened. One day, climbing the stairs to my office, I had to sit down, gasping for air. Concerned, a colleague asked if I was okay. I wasn’t. A hospital ran tests, declared my heart fine, and sent me home. I trusted them. They were the experts. But deep down, I knew something was wrong.
Then came the pain. A deep, gnawing ache spread through my joints, intensifying each year. I exercised but needed three days to recover from one session. Painkillers barely helped.
By 35, I was infertile, struggling to sleep, and surviving on coffee to wake up and wine to calm down. Doctors had no answers. I was told I was “fine.” One specialist dismissed me entirely: “There’s nothing wrong with you. I’m referring you to a psychiatrist.”
That was my breaking point.
I had spent my whole life trusting experts. Now, I realized I had to trust myself. If no one could help me, I would find the answers myself. One sleepless night in the middle of my suffering, I cried out to God— "Take me home or help me figure this out."
People saw a healthy, fit woman. They couldn't comprehend the pain.
And in that moment, I made a decision. I chose to fight. At the time, I kept it to myself, but I knew I could only lean on Jesus, the ultimate healer, because no one else believed my suffering.
Dr. Bonnie looking healthy, fit and happy. Behind the scenes, she was in significant pain.
Dr. Bonnie Juul (left) with Dr. Ruth, attending the Renaissance Weekend in Charleston, South Carolina, New Year’s Eve 2009. According to Dr. Bonnie, “When this picture was taken, I was in chronic pain and barely sleeping. You can see the inflammation around my face. I was living in Dallas but had traveled to New Hampshire (on my way to Charleston) for my first visit with Dr. D’Adamo, Sr., founder of the Blood Type Diet. He taught me about the common misunderstandings of food quality and how that affects health.
The search for answers became my mission. Over the next two decades, I spent thousands of dollars and countless hours researching, experimenting, and healing. I discovered that nearly everything I was taught about health was either making me sick or preventing me from getting well.
It took ten years to feel better than my peers and another ten to fully reclaim my health.And then, in 2020, I realized. My suffering had ended. And I knew why. And I knew how. And I would do whatever I needed to in order to never go back.