Episode Details

Ready to stop playing food detective and actually feel good, enjoying food again? If you're exhausted from cutting out every food under the sun and still dealing with food sensitivities, this episode is for you.

Jenn Trepeck is joined by the Autoimmunity Nutritionist, VJ Hamilton on Salad With a Side of Fries for an honest talk about gut health, chronic fatigue, and why that endless list of food sensitivities might not be about the food at all. VJ gets personal about her own autoimmune disease journey and shares the functional medicine secrets that have helped her and her clients ditch the restrictions and heal the root cause. Together, they break down nutrient depletion, inflammation management, digestive issues, and simple daily habits that support root cause healing without making you feel like a failure every time you eat.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

✅ Why nutrient depletion and digestive issues are often the real culprits behind food sensitivities—not the foods themselves—and how to address nutrient absorption at the cellular level

✅ How to support your gut health through simple daily practices like stewed apples, bone broth, and vagal tone exercises that regulate your immune system support

✅ The connection between stress management, shallow breathing, and chronic fatigue, plus practical ways to calm your nervous system and improve digestion

✅ When to temporarily eliminate trigger foods while working on root cause healing versus living in permanent inflammation management restriction mode

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast, hosted by Jenn Trepeck, explores real-life wellness and weight-loss topics, debunking myths, misinformation, and flawed science surrounding nutrition and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Nutrient depletion is often the real issue behind food sensitivities, not the foods themselves

05:32 VJ's journey from CPA to Autoimmunity Nutritionist after multiple autoimmune disease diagnoses

10:20 Why physicians focus on symptoms instead of root cause healing for inflammation management

14:57 Common signs of gut health issues: brain fog, anxiety, chronic fatigue, and digestive issues

17:50 Why autoimmune disease affects women more than men: hormones, stress, and X chromosomes

23:14 How to heal instead of restrict: addressing gut microbiome imbalances and nutrient absorption

28:20 Simple daily practices for gut health: stewed apples, bone broth, omega-3s, and polyphenols, and why movement is key to feeling well

33:16 Stress management through vagal tone stimulation: deep breathing, gargling, and singing

36:40 Improving nutrient absorption by eating in a rested state and chewing food properly

40:01 Working on the gut so you can reintroduce foods

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

💎 Food sensitivities often stem from gut microbiome imbalances, inflammation, or poor nutrient absorption rather than the foods themselves—healing your gut can help you reintroduce foods you once reacted to.

💎 Supporting vagal tone through simple practices like deep belly breathing, gargling, and singing helps shift your body from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest, dramatically improving digestive issues and immune system support

💎 Nutrient depletion happens not just from inadequate intake but also from poor digestion, wrong nutrient forms, or inability to utilize nutrients at the cellular level—addressing root cause healing requires looking beyond what's on your plate

💎 Temporary food sensitivities elimination while working on underlying gut health is different from permanent restriction—the goal is always to heal and reintroduce, not live in limitation forever

ABOUT THE GUEST:

VJ Hamilton, AKA The Autoimmunity Nut