‘There’s a saying that genes load the gun and the environment pulls the trigger’
Victoria Jain “VJ” Hamilton, 39, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, is in remission from the autoimmune diseases alopecia and psoriasis and has overcome chronic fatigue syndrome. A registered nutritionist and founder of the Autoimmunity Nutritionist, she has been symptom-free for seven years. She lives with her husband, an accountant, and their two dogs
VJ Hamilton was just seven when her parents noticed a bald patch on the back of her head. It was the first sign that she had alopecia, where the immune system attacks the hair follicles, causing hair loss.
Then in her teenage years she developed psoriasis, in which an over-firing immune system causes painful scaly patches on the skin. This was soon followed by a chronic glandular fever-like infection that left her exhausted.
After studying biochemistry and immunology at university, she became a chartered accountant. Working long hours in a high-stress environment and living off so-called “healthy” ready meals and convenience food, she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), yet “pushed through” alarming symptoms such as anxiety, brain fog, lightheadedness and painful tendonitis in her wrists.
Finally, in her early 30s she began studying nutritional therapy to try to understand the complex interplay between diet and lifestyle, gut health, stress, emotional trauma, chronic inflammation and autoimmunity.
“There’s a saying that genes load the gun and the environment pulls the trigger,” she says. “I was severely ill when I was six months old with a digestive issue. I was given lots of antibiotics – which would have impacted my gut microbiome – although the issue was later found to be lactose intolerance. Then other family members having autoimmune disease probably made me more susceptible to autoimmune disease later in life.”
She initially went on a very low-carb, high-fat regimen to help her body heal and then slowly reintroduced other wholefoods, vegetables and fruit, creating a nutrient-dense daily diet.
Within a year she was transformed. “I wasn’t napping during the day, my muscles no longer ached, I didn’t have restless legs or irritated and inflamed skin. My brain was back too,” she says.
Life is very different now. “I work for myself, I plan my own time, I go outside to walk my dogs every day. I do Pilates or strength training every morning. I make my own food and I don’t drink alcohol regularly.” Dark chocolate is on the menu, but only with 90 per cent cocoa content.
Bone broth, stewed apples and fermented food help support her gut, and she takes a probiotic containing lactobacillus and bifidobacteria.
“I can never be cured – autoimmune diseases aren’t curable – but I haven’t had any symptoms for seven years. At 39, I feel better than ever.” wholegrain cereals, peas, beans, nuts and seeds,” she says.
“Emerging research shows our gut microbiota feeds on fibre and polyphenols in extra-virgin olive oil, dark chocolate, berries and red wine, and produces lots of short-chain fatty acids [created when good gut bacteria ferment fibre], such as butyrate, propionate and acetate, which may help reduce inflammation.”
However, nutritionist Victoria Jain Hamilton, who specialises in autoimmunity, says, “You often need to heal the gut first before someone is able to properly absorb all the nutrients from food again.
“I follow the ‘4R’ approach in my clinic when a client has digestive issues and inflammation: remove inflammatory foods; replace with anti-inflammatory nutrients; reinoculate with beneficial bacteria and repair with nutrients known to decrease inflammation of the gut wall.
“Once the gut begins to heal, you can then add in prebiotic foods, which feed beneficial gut bacteria – such as asparagus and Jerusalem artichoke – and then
‘I wanted to get my life back and enjoy my kids. Now I’m in remission and living pain-free’
repopulate with probiotic-rich foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchi, which are fermented.”
However, some people may need to proceed with caution when it comes to eating wholegrain cereals, as they can be inflammatory, she says.
Eating the right food was a key part of Yalda’s recovery. In 2018, she created her own anti-inflammatory programme called Eat Burn Sleep (eatburnsleep. com), which includes a diet rich in plants, unprocessed meat, fish, poultry, low-sugar fruits, healthy oils and fermented foods, daily meditations and anti-inflammatory movement, such as yoga, Pilates and walking (high-intensity workouts are inflammatory, she says), as well as a third anti-inflammatory habit: meditation. This calms the mind and – thanks to millions of nerves that connect the brain and the gut – the digestive and immune systems.
Now a nutritional therapist, Yalda says: “When I developed my method, my aim wasn’t to become an inflammation pioneer. I wanted to get my life back and enjoy my kids – I didn’t want to be in pain all the time. Now I’m in remission – from autoimmune haemolytic anaemia since 2013 and ulcerative colitis since 2015 – and living pain-free without taking any medication. An antiinflammatory lifestyle just helps with everything.”