VJ Hamilton: The Autoimmunity Nutritionist

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VJ Hamilton: The Autoimmunity Nutritionist

I'm VJ, and I am a Nutritionist and Autoimmune Disease Expert.

13/01/2026

You don’t have to feel stressed for your nervous system to be under strain.

For years, I genuinely didn’t think I was stressed. I was functioning, coping, getting on with life. Looking back, the signs were there — I just thought they were normal.

I ground my teeth at night and assumed that was just how my body was. In a yoga class, I became aware of how tightly I was holding my jaw when I finally let it soften. Later, when I started training as a Pilates teacher, I was told I was breathing very shallowly — something I’d never noticed, but my body had clearly been doing for a long time.

None of these felt dramatic. But together, they told a story: my nervous system was constantly on alert, even though I felt “fine”.

When baseline stress is high, the body adapts. You stop registering it as stress. You might sleep, but not deeply. You can push through, but recovery takes longer. Tension shows up in the jaw, the breath, the gut — small signs that are easy to dismiss, but significant over time.

Now, I pay much closer attention. I track stress levels and heart rate variability using my Oura, not to obsess over numbers, but to notice patterns and catch things earlier. It’s one of the ways I stay connected to what my nervous system is actually doing, not just what I think I feel.

This isn’t about doing more or trying harder. It’s about awareness — and having simple tools to help the body switch out of constant fight-or-flight.

👉 Comment “stress reset” and I’ll send you my go-to tools for managing stress and supporting nervous system regulation.

I’ve also outlined the early foundational steps inside my free guide, The Autoimmunity Recovery Plan, including how to support your nervous system alongside immune, gut, and hormonal health. You will find this to download in my bio.

Save this if it sounds familiar 🤍

12/01/2026

This weekend, I celebrated my 43rd birthday.

I spent it doing some of my favourite things — eating nice food, being with people I love, opening a few presents… and watching Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and new docuseries. One of those days that reminds you what actually matters.

I first started listening to Taylor Swift back in 2012 when Red came out. I’ve always liked her music and even seen her live, but I’ve never really been a superfan. That’s changed a bit lately.

What struck me — especially watching her speak about her work — is that she never centres fame or success. She talks about people. About responsibility. About making every single show the best possible experience for the individual in the room. She knows exactly why she does what she does — and that clarity shows.

It made me reflect.

As I move into this next year, my focus isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the right things, well. Being useful. Being present. Making a meaningful difference where I actually can — with my work, my time, my energy.

If you’re in reflection mode too, a few questions worth sitting with:
– What genuinely deserves your energy this year?
– What’s become noise that you could quietly let go of?
– Where could more intention make things feel lighter, not heavier?

I tend to work in themes rather than rigid goals, and I talk more about that in this week’s Friday 5 if you want to listen 🎧

Have you set any intentions for 2026 yet?

09/01/2026

It’s my birthday eve today, and birthdays always make me reflective.
Not in a dramatic way — just quietly noticing how many times I’ve had to begin again.

Working with parents of children with alopecia often brings me back to my own childhood — that feeling of not having answers, of not knowing what the future holds. But that’s not unique to alopecia or autoimmunity. It’s true for all of us, in different ways.

When I look back at younger me, I realise something important. Even when I didn’t know how things would improve, I trusted that they would. Not because I had certainty — but because I kept moving forward in the only way I could.

What I learned later is that regrowth rarely comes from big, dramatic changes. It comes from small, consistent decisions. One meal cooked from scratch. One gentler choice. One step that feels manageable. Over time, those choices accumulate — and the ripple effect is far greater than it seems in the moment.

I feel proud of my younger self now. Conditions that arrive early often make you grow up faster, and while that can be hard, it can also plant a deep resilience. One that only makes sense looking back.

If you’re living with alopecia, or supporting a child who is, focus on the here and now. Do the best you can with what you have today. That really is enough.

I know that one day I’ll look back at this version of myself too — grateful for the choices I’m making now. How I eat. How I move. How I rest. How I show up for my clients, my family, and myself.

Regrowth isn’t about fixing everything at once.
It’s about beginning again — gently, and with intention.

If you’d like support, the Root Reset Circle is a weekly live space for those living with alopecia and parents supporting children with hair loss. We meet on Tuesdays at 5pm and focus on steady, supported regrowth — biologically and emotionally.

Comment ROOT RESET and I’ll send you the details.

08/01/2026

If you’ve been told your hair loss is “just stress”, yet you’ve addressed your lifestyle, prioritised sleep, eaten well, and the hair still hasn’t returned, it’s often a sign that stress is not the full story.

I say this not only as a clinician, but from lived experience. I had alopecia areata from the age of seven and lived with it for over twenty-five years. I’ve now been symptom-free for more than a decade, and what finally shifted things wasn’t trying harder or managing stress more perfectly, but understanding the biology driving the immune response beneath the surface.

Hair regrowth is an energy-dependent process. Hair follicles are among the most metabolically active tissues in the body, requiring constant DNA synthesis and repair in order to remain in the growth phase. When resources are limited, the body will always prioritise vital organs first, and hair is quietly deprioritised.

One pathway I see repeatedly in clinic is methylation. This fundamental biochemical process supports DNA repair, immune regulation, hormone clearance, and healthy hair cycling, and it relies heavily on key B vitamins — particularly B12, folate (B9), and B6. When these nutrients are sub-optimal, whether due to gut absorption issues, chronic inflammation, or genetic variants such as MTHFR, methylation slows and regrowth often stalls.

Food matters here. Sources such as liver and eggs for B12, dark leafy greens and lentils for folate, and salmon or chickpeas for B6 provide the raw materials the body needs to support this process.

This is why topical treatments alone so often disappoint. Alopecia is rarely a local scalp issue; it is systemic, and reflects what is happening deeper within the body.

Recovery isn’t about doing more or pushing harder. It’s about restoring biological capacity so the immune system can stand down and the body feels safe enough to grow again.

If you’d like to understand your own bigger picture, my free guide, The Autoimmunity Recovery Plan, is linked in my bio and walks you through the foundations of root-cause healing.

Or you can access it at www.theautoimmunitynutritionist.com/freeguide

07/01/2026

January doesn’t need to be about pressure, perfection, or dramatic overhauls.

For many people living with autoimmune disease, winter can amplify joint pain, stiffness, fatigue, and that sense of carrying too much at once. This month, inside the Autoimmune Forum, the focus is on joint health and inflammation, alongside practical ways to support your immune system and nervous system through the colder months — without adding more to your plate.

We’ll also be opening the year with a live Q&A focused on reducing overwhelm and building momentum. When symptoms feel layered or confusing, progress often comes not from doing more, but from simplifying, prioritising, and feeling properly supported.

Inside the Root Reset™ Circle, we’re continuing our work on hair loss and immune recovery in a community setting. It’s a space to ask questions, learn from others, and take steady steps towards regrowth from the inside out — without restriction, fear, or extremes.

Because in health, slow and steady really does win the race. Healing responds far better to nourishment than it ever does to restriction, especially when your body has already been under stress for a long time.

- This month, the intention is simple:
- Support rather than push.
- Consistency rather than intensity.
- Nourishment rather than deprivation.

I’d love to know — what’s one area of your health you’re choosing to focus on this month?

And if you’re looking for a nourishing reset to help you feel more supported in your health this year, comment “autoimmune reset” below and I’ll share more.

31/12/2025

As I say goodbye to 2025, I’ve been spending some time reflecting on the moments that really mattered.

There were milestones I’m deeply proud of — becoming a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner with IFM (a dream I’ve held since qualifying as a Registered Nutritionist), reaching 100,000 downloads of The Autoimmune RESET Podcast, renewing my vows with my husband surrounded by the people we love, celebrating family milestones, travelling, and a few unforgettable nights of music along the way.

Health-wise, I set myself a quiet but meaningful goal this year: to bring my Oura biological age to at least 10 years below my chronological age. I’m proud to say I achieved it — and I’ll be sharing more about how I did this soon, because it wasn’t about extremes or perfection, just consistency and care.

But highlights never tell the whole story.

They don’t show the more challenging days, the moments of worry or feeling stretched, or the small things I treasure most — slow walks with the dogs, feeding the starlings, magpies and robins in our garden, Saturday mornings reading in bed when life allows, or the comfort of being home with the people I love after time away. Those quiet moments matter more than anything.

Looking back, I’m glad I prioritised what matters most to me: relationships, adventure, and my health. It wasn’t perfectly balanced — it rarely is — and some things inevitably get sidelined.

One thing I’m taking into the new year is a desire to make more space for my passions. Amongst all the doing and building, I haven’t given enough time to writing for the sake of it, music, films, and unstructured creativity — and that’s something I want to gently invite back in.

As we step into 2026, it’s worth pausing:
What moments stayed with you from this year?
And what energy do you want to carry forward — more ease, more steadiness, more depth?

I’d love to hear.

Wishing you a peaceful, grounded and genuinely happy New Year ✨

30/12/2025

A pattern I see repeatedly in people with autoimmune conditions is prolonged restriction. What often starts as a single, sensible change gradually becomes layer upon layer of foods removed — gluten-free becomes dairy-free, then sugar-free, then grains, then legumes, until variety quietly disappears altogether.

And yet, despite all that effort, symptoms often persist. Fatigue lingers, hair continues to shed, joints flare more easily, recovery feels slow or incomplete. Not because food choices don’t matter, but because repair is an energy-dependent process.

Hair growth, cartilage repair, skin renewal, gut healing — all of these require adequate ATP, sufficient protein, & reliable micronutrient availability. If intake has been low for a long time, digestion is compromised, or nutrient reserves have been gradually depleted, the body simply doesn’t have the capacity to carry out the work of repair, no matter how “clean” the diet looks on paper.

In clinic, I see far more under-fuelled immune systems than overwhelmed ones.

This is why sequence matters so much in autoimmune recovery. Before taking out another food group — legumes are a common example — I’ll often look first at whether someone is actually being nourished well enough. Are meals structured? Is protein sufficient? Are nutrient-dense foods showing up regularly? Is digestion supported well enough for those nutrients to be absorbed?

Sometimes progress comes not from further elimination, but from adding back in: slow-cooked red meat, eggs, oily fish, well-prepared proteins, regular meals that stabilise blood sugar and rebuild reserves. Only once capacity has been restored does refinement start to hold.

I often explain it like this: you wouldn’t train for a marathon by sleeping less and eating less. You’d rest, fuel properly, and build resilience first — then increase the load. The body works the same way.

Elimination still has a role, but it works best when it’s targeted, time-limited, and paired with active repletion. One simple rule I come back to often is to add nourishment for a few weeks before subtracting anything further.

Build energy first. Stabilise capacity. Then refine.

29/12/2025

For a long time, I didn’t really understand why I was always asked whether I was hypermobile when I first started properly working on my health.

At the time, it felt like a side note. Almost incidental.

Now — with more clinical experience and a deeper understanding of conditions like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) — I see why it’s so vital.

Hypermobility isn’t just about joints. It reflects connective tissue integrity more broadly, including the barriers that help regulate the immune and nervous systems.
When those barriers are more permeable, immune signals can spill over where they shouldn’t — contributing to inflammation, immune activation, and the kind of fatigue and brain fog that doesn’t resolve with rest alone.

This is often described as a “leaky brain” pattern, closely linked to immune and nervous system load.

I also see this clearly in my own family. We’ve always described ourselves as “double jointed,” prone to sprains and injuries that take longer than expected to settle. For years it felt like a coincidence. Now it makes biological sense.

When connective tissue vulnerability (as seen in hypermobility and EDS) overlaps with immune dysregulation, symptoms stop looking random. They form a pattern — one that deserves to be understood, not dismissed.

This is why I never overlook hypermobility or EDS in clinical analysis.

💬 Inside The Autoimmune Forum, we’ll be focusing on joint health throughout January — looking at immune drivers, connective tissue support, and practical strategies to reduce flares and improve resilience.

If this resonates, you’re very welcome to join us.

22/12/2025

Burnout is often missed because it doesn’t stop you functioning.

You’re still showing up and getting things done — but underneath, your energy is thinning, your tolerance is lower, and recovery no longer happens quietly in the background. Rather than a breaking point, symptoms accumulate: fatigue that doesn’t lift, brain fog, digestive flares, frequent infections, a sense of depletion that’s hard to name.

Christmas is often when this becomes noticeable.

Not because the festive period is the problem, but because the pace finally softens. When momentum eases, the body has space to surface what it has been carrying beneath adrenaline and routine.

I recognise this pattern well.
Before retraining, I spent years in large corporate environments as a chartered accountant — capable, conscientious, outwardly coping. Perfectionism was normalised. People-pleasing was rewarded. Pushing through was simply how things were done.

But the body keeps its own account.

Burnout isn’t a personal failing. It’s a systems issue — a nervous system that has adapted for too long, until adaptation becomes strain.

Over the festive period, support doesn’t need to be elaborate. Often it’s about eating regularly and warmly, lowering expectations, keeping gentle rhythm to your days, breathing more slowly than feels necessary, and giving yourself permission to say no without justification.

Burnout recovery isn’t about adding more self-care. It’s about removing the quiet pressures that keep the body in survival mode.

If this resonates, you’re not behind. Your body isn’t failing you — it’s communicating.

If Christmas has highlighted how tired your system really is, The Autoimmunity Recovery Plan is there to support you — my free guide, focused on small, realistic shifts rather than more “self-care” to manage. You can download the guide here: https://theautoimmunitynutritionist.com/freeguide/

17/12/2025

Autoimmune disease affects women far more than men — and it isn’t random.

Around 70–80% of autoimmune diagnoses are in women, and for some conditions — like Sjögren’s syndrome — the ratio is as high as 9:1. That pattern shows up in the research, and it shows up every single week in my clinic.

Women’s immune systems are powerful. We mount stronger immune responses, produce more antibodies, and recover well from infections. But that same immune vigilance, combined with hormonal shifts, genetic loading, chronic stress, and gut–mucosal disruption, can tip the system toward autoimmunity when regulation is lost.

I see this time and time again in practice. Women who have been “coping” for years. Digestive symptoms brushed off. Recurrent infections. Dryness. Fatigue. Hair loss. Flares that seem to appear around pregnancy, postpartum, or perimenopause. By the time the immune system speaks loudly, it has often been whispering for a long time.

Autoimmunity isn’t a failure of the body. It’s often the result of an immune system that has been overstimulated and under-supported for too long.

One of the most overlooked foundations in recovery is nervous system regulation. The immune system takes its cues from whether the body feels safe. Healing does not happen in fight-or-flight.

If you’d like me to share how I calm my nervous system — personally and clinically — and how I build this into autoimmune recovery plans, comment “STRESS RESET” below.

16/12/2025

Today I’m hosting two webinar sessions for a large corporate organisation, focused entirely on autoimmune disease.

I still remember studying autoimmune disease at university as part of my medical science degree, at a time when very few people were talking about it. Outside of academic or clinical settings, it simply wasn’t part of everyday conversation. Fast forward to today, and the landscape looks very different — and yet, in many ways, it hasn’t changed enough.

Most corporate wellbeing talks I’ve delivered over the years have centred around menopause, energy, stress, or broader lifestyle themes. Important topics, absolutely. But this time, the company specifically asked for their employees to better understand autoimmune disease. And that matters.

Why? Because autoimmune conditions are rising, and most of us are affected in some way — whether we live with one ourselves, support a loved one, or work alongside someone who is quietly managing one. These illnesses are often invisible, fluctuating, and deeply misunderstood. People carry them in the background while still showing up, delivering, and pushing on.

I know this because I lived it.

When I worked as a chartered accountant, I did exactly the same. I would push through the working day, appear “fine,” and save what little energy I had for meetings, deadlines, and expectations. By the time I got home, I would crash on the sofa, completely depleted. I only had a finite amount of energy each day — and most of it was spent at work.

That’s why conversations like this matter. Awareness changes understanding. Understanding creates better support. And better support allows people to stay well, not just cope.

If you’re looking to avoid an autoimmune flare this holiday season, comment AUTOIMMUNE RESET below and I’ll share my 5-step plan for preventing flares and protecting your health.

15/12/2025

As the year draws to a close, it naturally invites reflection on what matters most.

For me, my clients’ progress has always meant the world. Testimonials like Marjorie’s are a reminder of why I do this work and the privilege it is to be trusted with someone’s health. That trust — in my approach, in the process, and often during moments that feel uncertain or challenging — is something I never take lightly.

I am endlessly grateful for the clients I get to work with. Their willingness to stay engaged, to have faith even when things feel difficult, and to meet the process with such kindness and openness inspires me every day to show up and do the very best I can for them. It also pushes me to keep learning, refining and evolving my work as the science changes over time — something I’ve always genuinely loved.

Seeing someone move from years of symptoms to clarity, confidence and feeling well again never loses its significance. Marjorie’s journey is just one example, but it reflects the care, commitment and partnership that meaningful health work requires.

If you’re using this time of year to reflect on your own health, you don’t have to do it all at once. You can start gently. You can download my free guide, The Autoimmunity Recovery Plan via the link in my bio — a supportive place to begin.

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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…

Over the last couple of years I have rerouted my career and trained as a Nutritionist, Pilates instructor, and health writer – all the things I love.

I studied a DipION (diploma) in Nutritional Therapy at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in Richmond, London and I have completed the Comprehensive Pilates on the mat, reformer, ladder barrel, trapeze table and the Pilates chair at Polestar Pilates. I also write articles for Thrive Magazine on a regular basis as well as being a part of their team as a Thrive Expert. And I am a Dnalife Practitioner which gives me the tools to understand someone’s underlying genetic profile and the interactions these have with the environment (epigenetics).

Health, Nutrition and Humanity

My aim is to try and find solutions for those suffering with health issues, with a particular focus on autoimmune conditions, but so many illnesses including blood sugar regulation, weight management, gut issues and circulation have similar underlying causes. I would like to provide information, aspirations and other options to those who are not at their best – we can achieve better health with improvements to our diet and lifestyle, we just need to change our priorities and often perspective with some advice and coaching, we can all get there.

I also believe in movement, core stability and body alignment to help our bodies function properly which is so often overlooked. Our body is an energy system, communicating through nerve signals, so we need to ensure our pathways are free and aligned, and that our muscles are apportioned to support our skeletal system so that our bones stay strong and our nerves stay comfortable.

With an integrated health solution you can be the person you were meant to be in life – and my hope is to help those who are struggling get to where they would like to be in life whilst enjoying the experience of getting there.