About Romilly Hodges
Romilly is an internationally-recognized clinical nutritionist, author, and speaker. She has deep training and experience in the fields of functional medicine* and nutrition including in clinical nutrition practice, clinic management, nutrition research, nutrition education, and writing for professionals, scientists, and general audiences.
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How I came to be a nutritionist.
I was raised by a family who strived for healthy eating and lifestyle habits, with allowances for moderate indulgences here and there. But my original career was in the corporate world working in a think tank as a business and technology research analyst – as far away from nutrition as you can get! Nutrition didn’t become truly meaningful for me until after I had my first child. As all mothers know, there isn’t much you wouldn’t do for your children—so when I saw mine struggling with immune issues, and that modern medicine didn’t have all the answers, I knew I had to branch out and put my research skills to a different use. What I learned through that process was eye opening to say the least. And even more astounding as we started to put it into practice and see dramatic turnaround in my child’s health.
I realized that there are huge gaps in what we know about how our immune system works. And what makes it work well, and what makes it struggle – either overreacting to things it shouldn’t react to, or underreacting when it should be more responsive. And that what we eat and how we live make a huge difference.
Years of training and experience.
I needed to know more and so, even though I already had an undergraduate degree, I went back to school to take science prerequisites that allowed me to then complete a Master of Science degree in human nutrition. I completed 1,000 hours of PhD- and physician-supervised practice experience and passed the board exam that earned me the Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) credential and state certification. I worked on and finished the rigorous functional medicine training through the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM), completed in-depth case studies and passed their exam to achieve IFM certified practitioner status*.
I also worked in clinic alongside the esteemed Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, functional medicine expert and IFM faculty on IFM’s Immune Advanced Practice Module. I continued to learn from the teachings of other amazing scientists and clinicians how to think of our immune system from a biological systems perspective—understanding its biochemistry, and integration with dietary and lifestyle inputs, and other systems in the body. In other words, I learned how to address the dietary- and lifestyle-relatedroot causes of immune issues. And I witnessed the amazing results that my clients (and friends, other family) could achieve by applying this understanding to their own ticked-off immune systems.
My own health journey.
Additionally, I experienced profound health improvements myself, as I naturally applied this knowledge to my own body. I learned that my immune system has the tendency to overreact to its environment – I tend towards seasonal allergies, a nickel allergy, and a sensitivity to dairy foods. In fact, when I ate dairy I experienced not only abdominal pain (which you might expect as a common food reaction), but also joint pain, sinus congestion, and even migraine headaches – symptoms that may seem totally unrelated but actually stem from a common trigger. (Not everyone reacts to dairy of course, and those that do can react via several different mechanisms, eliciting different effects. Some people with true dairy allergies must avoid dairy completely).
When I applied the nutrition and lifestyle practices that I learned through my training and experience, all my symptoms resolved. And I was able to work on restoring balance to my immune system such that I am better able to tolerate dairy now.
Your health is in your hands.
People are often surprised to learn just how much of an impact they can have on their immune system, and just how much of an impact their immune system can have on their overall health.
In addition to the more obvious immune-related conditions such as allergy, asthma, autoimmunity, and infectious diseases, your immune system is also a (if not the) major contributor to inflammation-driven diseases (just about every chronic condition out there – from heart disease, to Alzheimer’s disease, to cancer) when it misbehaves. In addition, it is the responsibility of your immune system to carry out surveillance for cancer cells and eliminate them whenever they appear. Looking after the health of your immune system therefore pays off in spades.
*Functional medicine is an approach to healthcare that emphasizes dietary and lifestyle interventions to support healthy organ and system function. My training in functional medicine does NOT mean I am a medical doctor. Rather I am a clinical nutritionist that understands and applies the functional medicine thinking that relates to diet and lifestyle.
