VJ Hamilton: The Autoimmunity Nutritionist

VJ Hamilton: The Autoimmunity Nutritionist I'm VJ, and I am a Nutritionist and Autoimmune Disease Expert.

12/11/2025

Your gut isn’t just about digestion — it’s the command centre of your immune system.

Around 70% of immune cells live along the gut wall, constantly communicating with your microbiome. These microbes teach your body when to defend and when to tolerate — the balance between protection and overreaction.

When the gut becomes imbalanced — from stress, antibiotics, less fibre or sunlight — this communication breaks down. The lining can become more permeable (leaky gut), allowing bacterial fragments into the bloodstream. This triggers low-grade inflammation that keeps your immune system on high alert but less precise — leaving you more vulnerable to viruses.

I see this pattern often in clients, especially through winter — increased fatigue, slower recovery, and more infections. Years ago, that was me too: recurring colds, sinus issues, psoriasis flares. Supporting my gut was the turning point — and I’ve never looked back.

Now, each autumn I winter-proof my gut before cold season hits 👇

1️⃣ Feed your microbes (prebiotics)
Stewed apples, leeks, onions, oats, and cooled potatoes feed beneficial bacteria that produce butyrate — a compound that strengthens the gut lining and regulates immune balance.

2️⃣ Top up beneficial strains (probiotics)
I rotate between a liquid probiotic proven to reach the gut alive, and a spore-based blend for microbial diversity.

3️⃣ Support postbiotics
These are the compounds your microbes make — like butyrate and urolithins — that reduce inflammation and boost energy. I use Urolithin A and sodium butyrate, or boost them naturally through fibre and resistant starch.

When your gut is balanced, your immune system can protect you — not overreact.

💛 Comment WINTER-PROOF below and I’ll send you my gut health tips

Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women, yet it remains one of the most underdiagnosed and misunderstood conditions in women...
11/11/2025

Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women, yet it remains one of the most underdiagnosed and misunderstood conditions in women’s health.

For years, it’s been framed as a hormonal or reproductive disorder — but new research from Oxford University confirms what many women have long suspected: Endometriosis and autoimmune diseases share a genetic link.

The study, published in Human Reproduction, analysed over 8,000 endometriosis cases and 64,000 immune conditions, showing that women with endo have a 30–80% higher risk of developing conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, coeliac disease, and psoriasis.

Researchers identified shared genetic variants driving both endo and immune dysfunction — even suggesting a causal link between endometriosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

In clinic, I see this connection daily. Endometriosis symptoms often go far beyond pelvic pain — they can include fatigue, bloating, joint pain, allergies, brain fog, and immune reactivity. It’s not just hormonal — it’s immunological.

When we support immune balance, gut integrity, detoxification, and systemic inflammation, symptoms often improve across multiple systems — not just around the menstrual cycle.

This research helps explain why endometriosis symptoms often reach far beyond the pelvis.

Pain that worsens around your cycle, bloating that flares mid-month, fatigue that feels immune-driven, or joint aches that ebb and flow with hormones — these are all clues that the immune system is involved, not just the ovaries.

Recognising endometriosis as a whole-body immune condition is what allows us to treat it more effectively — not just manage the pain, but calm the inflammation at its root.

💬 Comment “AUTOIMMUNE RESET” below to get my free guide and learn the first steps to support your immune-endocrine balance from the inside out.

When I first started lowering my toxic load, I didn’t suddenly empty my cupboards or throw away all my skincare. I simpl...
10/11/2025

When I first started lowering my toxic load, I didn’t suddenly empty my cupboards or throw away all my skincare. I simply began replacing the things I used most — my moisturiser, my frying pan, my water bottle — and each time something ran out, I made a slightly cleaner choice. It wasn’t about being perfect; it was about progress, and over time, I noticed small but tangible changes. My skin felt calmer, my energy steadier, and my mind clearer. It was as if my body finally had more room to breathe.

That, to me, is what detoxification truly means. Not the juice cleanses or quick fixes we so often associate with the word, but the quiet, consistent act of reducing the everyday chemicals that place an unnecessary burden on the body. These exposures might seem trivial — a fragrance here, a coating there — but they add up.

For anyone living with autoimmunity, this matters on a deeper level. Many of these compounds are known endocrine disruptors, meaning they can interfere with hormone signalling and disrupt the delicate communication networks that regulate our cells. Over time, this disruption can create oxidative stress, mitochondrial strain, and inflammation — conditions in which the immune system can begin to lose its tolerance and misidentify the body’s own tissues as the enemy.

By lowering that chemical burden, we’re not just helping our liver or hormones; we’re restoring cellular harmony. We’re creating an internal environment that is calmer, clearer, and more conducive to repair.

In this week’s episode of The Autoimmune RESET Podcast, I explore five simple, science-backed ways to detoxify your life without the overwhelm — starting with the items you use most. Because every small, intentional change lightens your toxic load and brings your body one step closer to balance.

If you’d like to listen, comment “Detox” below and I’ll send you the link to the episode.

06/11/2025

Most people don’t realise that hair shedding is part of a normal cycle — around 10% of our hair is always in the resting (telogen) phase while new strands quietly grow underneath.

But when the body is under pressure — illness, surgery, childbirth, calorie restriction, trauma, or even a big emotional shock — that balance shifts. Suddenly, a much higher percentage of hairs move into the telogen phase at once. Three months later, you start noticing them on your pillow, your clothes, and in the shower. That’s Telogen Effluvium — a temporary shedding caused by physiological stress.

For some, it resolves quickly. For others, it becomes chronic — especially if nutrient stores weren’t rebuilt, hormones remain imbalanced, or the stress response never truly reset. Cortisol, thyroid hormones, iron, zinc, vitamin D, and protein intake all play huge roles here.

I often see it after burnout, prolonged dieting, perimenopause, post-viral fatigue, or stopping medication. The trigger might have passed, but the body still believes it’s in survival mode — and hair growth is never a priority in survival mode.

If your shedding hasn’t slowed after three months, it’s worth exploring deeper: hormones, nutrients, stress resilience, and mitochondrial energy — because when those are restored, the cycle resets and regrowth begins.

Next week inside The Autoimmune Forum, I’m running a new mini-series — Vagal Tone and Nervous System Resilience — where we’ll explore how the stress response, mitochondrial energy, and immune signalling directly impact hair growth and recovery.

Comment AUTOIMMUNE FORUM below and I’ll send you the link to join.

05/11/2025

If you’re living with alopecia — I want you to know this: you don’t have to do it alone.

Hair loss is one of the most emotionally difficult symptoms I see in clinic. It affects your confidence, your identity, your sense of safety in your own body — and yet it’s often brushed aside or met with quick fixes that don’t go deep enough.

You might have been told it’s stress, hormones, or genetics. That it’ll grow back on its own.

Or you’ve already tried everything — steroid creams, elimination diets, expensive shampoos, biotin, collagen — and nothing feels like it’s really working.

But here’s the truth: alopecia is autoimmune, inflammatory, and deeply individual. And there is a way to understand what’s happening at the root.

That’s why I created the Root Reset™ Circle — a private membership for people with autoimmune hair loss who want a structured, supportive path forward.

Inside the Circle, I share everything I’ve learned — both from my own journey of living with alopecia as a child and overcoming it after 25 years, and from supporting so many clients through their own hair loss journeys.

We go beyond the surface to explore what’s really driving alopecia — from gut health and nutrient status to immune stress, trauma, hormones, and nervous system overwhelm.

Each week we meet live, dive into focused themes, and have honest conversations. It’s a space for real answers and real support — no fluff, no false promises. Just the kind of help I wish I’d had years ago.

If you’re ready to feel seen, supported, and guided through your recovery — you’re so welcome here.

💬 Comment CIRCLE to find out more. I’ll send you the link personally.
You don’t have to figure this out alone.

November always feels like the quiet before the rush. The light changes, the air cools, and there’s a natural pull to fo...
04/11/2025

November always feels like the quiet before the rush. The light changes, the air cools, and there’s a natural pull to focus inward — especially before the festive season begins. For me, it’s a time to steady the pace, take stock of what’s working, and gently recommit to what really matters in my health and routines.

Inside The Autoimmune Forum, I’m introducing two new mini series that have come directly from the conversations we’ve been having in the group. They’re short, practical, and rooted in both clinical experience and lived reality.

The first starts on 10 November and focuses on vagal tone and nervous system resilience — how your vagus nerve impacts digestion, inflammation and mood, and the simple daily tools (like breathwork, sound, food, and gentle stimulation) that can make a difference. This is something I come back to again and again in both my own healing and in clinic work.

The second series will look at stealth infections in the gut — low-grade bacterial and fungal imbalances that quietly drive inflammation, fatigue and immune dysfunction. These are often missed on standard tests, but they show up again and again in complex autoimmune cases. We’ll explore how to spot the signs and what to do about them.

Both series will be followed by a live Q&A so I can answer your questions and help you apply the tools in a personalised way.

On the podcast this month, I’m joined by Dr. Jill Carnahan to talk about histamine, MCAS and hidden immune stressors, and by Nagina Abdullah who’s sharing her insights on weight management and inflammation, especially relevant as we shift into winter.

And of course, the Root ReSET Circle continues — a space where we’re digging deep into the real drivers of hair loss and rebuilding health step by step, with guidance and community support.

Whether you’re feeling focused, frazzled, or somewhere in between, you’re not alone. November can be a powerful time to reset — not with pressure, but with clarity.

What’s something you’d like to strengthen or come back to this month? I’d love to hear.

Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting a Lamberts Health Lunchtime Webinar on Rethinking Thyroid Health: A Deeper D...
31/10/2025

Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting a Lamberts Health Lunchtime Webinar on Rethinking Thyroid Health: A Deeper Dive into Endocrine Function. It was such a joy to deliver because the thyroid is one of those topics that seems simple on the surface, yet the more we explore it, the more we realise how interconnected it really is.

The feedback afterwards was wonderful to read, with so many practitioners sharing how they were already putting some of the ideas into practice. That’s always the most rewarding part for me — knowing the information is useful, practical, and helps make sense of the more complex mechanisms we see in clinic every day.

One of my favourite things about this work is taking something complex and breaking it down in a way that feels clear, relevant, and meaningful. I’ve always been endlessly curious about how the body communicates — those subtle biochemical conversations between the thyroid, the adrenals, the liver, the gut, and the brain. When you begin to understand those connections, everything starts to make more sense.

That’s also why I love creating The Autoimmune RESET Podcast. It allows me to share what I’m learning in real time — translating science into something practical and human. There’s something so powerful about simplifying the complex without losing the depth. Nearly 200 episodes in, the podcast has become a space to explore everything from thyroid and immune health to menopause, fasting, fatigue, and stress recovery.

If you haven’t listened yet, you can find The Autoimmune RESET Podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. There’s a full library of episodes ready to explore, each one focused on helping you understand your body better and support healing from the root.

And if you’re a corporation, healthcare company, or practitioner organisation, and would like me to present a session for your team — on topics like immune health, thyroid function, menopause, or stress resilience — please do get in touch. I genuinely love teaching and creating spaces where learning feels both evidence-based and empowering.

A huge thank you again to Lamberts Health for inviting me to speak, and to everyone who joined live. Your enthusiasm, questions, and passion for understanding the body more deeply make this work so rewarding.

For as long as I can remember, my skin reflected what was happening inside my body. I had breakouts that never fully cle...
30/10/2025

For as long as I can remember, my skin reflected what was happening inside my body. I had breakouts that never fully cleared, dry patches that appeared without warning, psoriasis, histamine rashes, and even recurring ringworm. For years, I was told it was hormonal, immune-related, or simply something I’d have to manage — but over time I began to see the pattern. They were all connected.

What linked them all was a disrupted skin barrier.

The skin barrier isn’t just a layer of protection; it’s an active immune and metabolic organ that’s constantly communicating with the gut, liver, and nervous system. When that communication breaks down, the skin becomes reactive, inflamed, and unable to defend or repair itself.

For years I focused on the outside — changing products, eliminating foods, chasing every flare — but the real change came when I started supporting the barrier from within. I rebuilt my gut health, restored nutrients like glutamine, zinc carnosine, omega-3s and phospholipids, supported detoxification through food, hydration, and rest, and worked on calming my stress response because cortisol and barrier repair are deeply connected.

Gradually, my skin became calmer, more resilient, and far less reactive. It finally began to feel balanced again — and it’s stayed that way for years.

Our barriers — skin, gut, liver, even the brain — are the foundations of our health. When they’re strong, the body finds equilibrium. When they’re compromised, we see it everywhere: in our skin, our energy, and our immunity.

If you’d like to know the five nutrients I recommend most often for skin barrier repair, comment SKIN below and I’ll share them with you.

You can’t always tell by looking at someone what they’re going through.At 9 years old, I was living with alopecia — cycl...
29/10/2025

You can’t always tell by looking at someone what they’re going through.

At 9 years old, I was living with alopecia — cycles of hair loss that came and went with no clear explanation. I put a lot of pressure on myself at school, was a picky eater with ADHD-type tendencies, and had already started experiencing headaches, sinus congestion, and fatigue. I’d even been diagnosed with a dairy allergy (which I now know wasn’t truly the issue).

From the outside, I looked like any other healthy child. But on the inside, my body was whispering early signs of immune imbalance — signs that would later evolve into joint pain, chronic fatigue, and psoriasis.

That’s the thing about autoimmune and inflammatory conditions: they’re often invisible. You can’t see the exhaustion, the pain, the anxiety, or the courage it takes just to keep showing up.

So please — be kind to the people around you. We never know what someone might be carrying quietly beneath the surface.

And if you are living with an invisible illness and need support, understanding, or a community that gets it — come and join The Autoimmune Forum (www.theautoimmuneforum.com)

It’s a free, safe space to learn, connect, and start healing from the inside out. 💛

Perimenopause doesn’t happen overnight — it’s a gradual shift that can start years before your periods stop.And yet, so ...
28/10/2025

Perimenopause doesn’t happen overnight — it’s a gradual shift that can start years before your periods stop.

And yet, so many women are blindsided by it.

The fatigue. The bloating. The anxiety. The thinning hair. The skin changes.
Even the sudden loss of libido or new sensitivities to food, stress, or chemicals.

I see this every week in clinic — women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s wondering if what they’re experiencing is perimenopause, thyroid dysfunction, or the early stages of autoimmune disease.
The truth? It’s often both.

When your hormones start to fluctuate, it places extra pressure on your immune system, gut, and detox pathways — the same systems that underpin autoimmune health.

If your gut barrier is compromised, if your blood sugar isn’t steady, or if your body’s overwhelmed by inflammation, hormonal changes will hit harder.

That’s why, whether you’re dealing with alopecia, thyroid issues, or perimenopausal symptoms, the root work is the same:
🔸 Stabilise your gut
🔸 Balance your blood sugar
🔸 Address nutrient deficiencies
🔸 Support your liver
🔸 Calm your nervous system

When these foundations are in place, your body doesn’t just cope better — it becomes more resilient.

Hormones regulate more smoothly, inflammation settles, and energy and confidence start to return.

If you’re moving through this phase and wondering what’s “normal” — know that your symptoms are signals, not flaws.

When you support your body at the root, everything begins to make sense again.
Download my free guide, The Autoimmunity Recovery Plan (link in bio), to learn where to start.

Because the same steps that balance your hormones also calm your immune system and strengthen every barrier in your body.

​​

When I was diagnosed with alopecia at seven, no one was talking about barriers — or the idea that the gut, brain, and im...
27/10/2025

When I was diagnosed with alopecia at seven, no one was talking about barriers — or the idea that the gut, brain, and immune system could be connected.

Back then, the focus was on symptoms and suppression, not on why my body had turned against its own hair follicles.

It wasn’t until years later, through studying nutrition and functional medicine, that I began to understand how fragile our internal boundaries can be — and how restoring them could change everything.

In both my own recovery and my clinical work, I came across Dr Kristine Burke’s () concept of the Unified Barrier — and it changed everything.

Her theory proposes that the body’s protective linings — the gut barrier, vascular endothelium, blood-brain barrier, and skin barrier — aren’t separate systems.

They’re one interconnected network. When one breaks down, the others begin to follow.

When the gut barrier becomes permeable, endotoxins leak into circulation, triggering inflammation that damages the vascular barrier.
The blood becomes more reactive, the brain barrier becomes more permeable, and symptoms begin to spread: fatigue, brain fog, allergies, autoimmunity, even sensory changes like loss of smell or light sensitivity.
In clients with EDS or hypermobility, the effect is magnified.

And stress? It speeds everything up. Cortisol, infections, toxins, processed food, and nutrient depletion all erode barrier resilience.
The result is a body in survival mode — stuck in defence, unable to repair.

When you start rebuilding those barriers, the immune system can finally stand down.
Digestion improves, inflammation calms, the brain clears, and energy returns.

That’s the approach I’ve used to reclaim my own health — and it’s the foundation of the work I do with my clients today.
If you’re tired of chasing symptoms, it might be time to start at the root — by restoring the boundaries that keep your body safe.
I’ve outlined the exact first steps in my free guide, The Autoimmune Reset, which helps you:

🌿 Rebuild barrier integrity
🔥 Calm chronic inflammation
🧬 Support immune tolerance and energy from within
💬 Comment “AUTOIMMUNE RESET” below and I’ll send it straight to you.

17/10/2025

This week marked the start of the very first Root Reset™ Circle — and it honestly felt so good to talk. 💛

The first conversation I had was with a parent whose young son is going through alopecia. It brought everything full circle for me.

When I lost my own hair as a child, I remember how confusing and isolating it felt. My parents didn’t really know what to do or how to help — there simply wasn’t the kind of information or support that exists now. No one was talking about the immune system, the gut, or the emotional stress that can trigger these changes. We were all just trying to make sense of something that didn’t make sense.

So to sit with a parent now, decades later, and talk about what’s possible — about nourishment, hope, resilience, and how we can support the body to heal — was really moving. It reminded me exactly why I created The Root Reset™ Circle.

It’s not just about hair. It’s about helping families understand what’s happening beneath the surface — and empowering them to take action with compassion, clarity, and science on their side.
Because healing doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens through connection, understanding, and those conversations that make you exhale and say, “Finally, someone gets it.” 🌱

If you or someone you love is navigating alopecia, you’re not alone. Comment Root Reset Circle below to learn more or join us next time.

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Integrated Health: Health, Nutrition and Humanity

I have always had a interest in health and nutrition which probably started when I was young as my Mum was conscious about eating healthy food and trained as a nurse when I was a child, so I was familiar with illness and disease, and the fact that a good diet and a healthy lifestyle could help support these conditions.

I went on to study a BSc Honours Degree in Biochemistry and Immunology where I focused my studies on Vasculitis, an autoimmune disease which affects the vessels in the body causing inflammation and systemic damage in the body – it’s a tragic condition and made my passion to help people live a healthier life more intent.

In my early twenties, my brother discovered after a short illness that he had Multiple Sclerosis – it was a scary time as a family, but luckily my previous studies helped us understand what this strange illness was and ways to try to manage the symptoms. 12 years on, my brother still struggles with his illness, but he has managed to stay strong both physically and mentally since his diagnosis and is an inspiration to me everyday.

I was then engulfed by the corporate world for the next 12 years, as a Chartered Accountant, but I always stayed in touch with the science and health industry attending events on autoimmune disease, cancer, heart health, medicinal mushrooms and many more…