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BOOKS
Dr Greger is just the most-evidenced expert in nutrition I have ever come across. Honestly, this should be your bible for living a healthy life and feeling great. It’s so persuasive you will be completely convinced and so much more likely to stick to a healthy way of eating: How Not To Die: Discover the foods scientifically proven to prevent and reverse disease by Dr Michael Greger
The Dalai Lama and Daily Mail both think Dr Greger is on the money! This book may help those who are susceptible to illnesses that can be prevented with proper nutrition. — His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Get the cookbook to go with it: The How Not To Die Cookbook: Over 100 Recipes to Help Prevent and Reverse Disease
Tim Spector is a Professor of Genetics and his ground breaking research is key for people with a genetic condition such as Gilbert’s Syndrome. His latest book ‘Spoon Fed – why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong’ is based on one of the largest nutritional intervention studies in the world.
#BOSH! Healthy Vegan: Over 80 brand-new recipes with less fat, less sugar and more taste. As seen on ITV’s ‘Living on the Veg’ by Henry Firth, Ian Theasby
Healing Through Nutrition: The Essential Guide to 50 Plant-Based Nutritional Sources by Eliza Savage
Oh she glows – great plant based recipes from the popular Angela Liddon
Sugar – a popular science book by one of the first scientists to raise the warning flag over sugar in our diet – read if you need convincing that sugar should be shown the door John Yudkin, Pure, White and Deadly
The 4 Pillar Plan: How to Relax, Eat, Move and Sleep Your Way to a Longer, Healthier Life Dr Rangan Chatterjee
Chloe Brotheridge is trained in so many disciplines and has a hungry mind for finding ways to live more calmly and confidently.
The Anxiety Solution: A Quieter Mind, a Calmer You
These are books by scientists who use proven methods to improve your mental wellbeing –
Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World (Includes Free CD with Guided Meditations) by Professor Mark Williams, and Dr Danny Penman
The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength, and Thrive by Dr Kristin Neff, a world leading expert in this field
Why We Sleep: the New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, sleep scientist. All you ever needed to know about the vital nature of sleep.
Considering fasting and how it might work with your body clock? Try this research based work from Dr Satchin Panda:
FOOD
I’ll refer you to alot of similar brands which produce organic, ethical foods which have a good reputation. This fits my ethics and I believe is the right thing to do. You can of course find cheaper versions of everything if these aren’t the products that you want in these quantities at these prices. Anything bought through these links helps keep this site and all this research funded, so I thank you for anything you buy after visiting any of the links here.
You can find a lot of the products below at Planet Organic, as an alternative to the Amazon links I’ve shared.
Low fat high protein foods are really helpful in creating sustained energy and to support your liver function:
Quinoa – really high in protein, and although it’s like a grain it is actually a seed! You cook with it like a grain though, use instead of couscous or bulghar wheat or pasta. It’s really good value for money. Try this organic version
Tofu
Braised for added taste and texture, from reputable marigold from Amazon
Lentils
Red ones for adding body to soups and casseroles
Green ones for texture and to add to salads, or stews
Sesame Seeds
check out why sesame seeds are so amazing for you here: https://gilbertssyndrome.org.uk/sesame-magic-for-your-liver/
You can get the paste for spreading or dips,
or the seeds to sprinkle on or in things
Hatton Hill 1kg of sesame seeds
Flax Seed
Milled Flaxseed enables you to get the most goodness out of it, as opposed to just the oil. Not only does it lower blood pressure, help stop you feeling down, fights tumours but it also combats liver disease. For those of us steering clear of nasty fats which make us feel sick (as our livers struggle with them), this is a great option to add for it’s Omega3 benefits and protein. Here’s me with mine! Get yours here. I add it to breakfast cereal and you can add to baking mixes too.
Hemp powder – you can add to breakfast cereal, porridge, cakes and biscuits, pastry, sauces, smoothies etc.
Chia seeds / powder
Seeds – these really absorb water and the texture is something you can love or hate, best added to cereal and porridge to my mind:
The ground seed is a bit more flexible as you don’t get the gritty crunch of the seed, again, use as the hemp powder, and if you are baking vegan it can really help hold baking together if you’re not using eggs. I’ve bought this Hatton Hill milled Chia and it was very good
You can also get varieties of mixed chia and flax milled
Nuts – stabilise blood sugar and have useful nutrients and could fight fatty liver. You don’t need many to make a positive difference, nutritionally, and they are high in fat so best in moderation. Also best to avoid the roasted salted ones too!
Almonds in particular get a good press, as do walnuts, pistachios and peanuts
Choose organic for you and for the environment:
Real Food Source are a well known company providing lots of health foods at a reasonable price, based in Scotland with good ethics
Pip and nut are a newcomer to the nut butter market and make some fine nut butters
Small almond butter ; Large almond butter
Walnuts:
Pistachios:
These are the raw nuts, not salted, so you can pop them in baking or cooking. The snack ones are often covered in salt, which is fine in moderation, but not for high consumption.
Peanut butter:
Whole Earth Organic peanut butter is ethical and super tasty, and doesn’t separate
Biona produce a good value bulk buy and ethical peanut butter, but their nut and seed butters do tend to separate
Supplements
You can get a wide range of vitamins and supplements here at Approved Vitamins or at Dr Vegan
You can search for all of those mentioned below. I’ve also added Amazon links for those who prefer them.
Generally liver function supplements that you may want to try, but which may or may not work for you include :
Dandelion root often comes mixed with other things as part of a ‘complex’ for your liver, such as the A Vogel complex above. You can also just get the herb and make a herbal tea
Artichoke is again more likely to be part of a ‘complex’ and there are a number that claim to provide a detox. I’d be cautious of these claims, but always interested to hear from others if these preparations help. Here’s an organic complex with artichoke and a couple of other herbs.
Ginseng. I’ve taken Korean ginseng in the past and felt a bit weird, but you can try if you wish. Solgar are a fantastic brand to try.
but Siberian ginseng seemed fine, perhaps because it isn’t actually ginseng (don’t ask me why they call it that) and just an adaptogen. Fushi are a well regarded brand
These work for me and are the three I take regularly for my energy levels:
Brahmi / gotu kola
Is a bit like caffeine and supports your ability to focus and your memory, it’s much more gentle though and I tend to take one if I find I need an extra boost towards the end of the week or after a bad night’s sleep. Here’s one by Fushi.
Ashwagandha is an adaptogen and helps support the body in dealing with stress, stabilising blood sugar and cortisol. I found this brand works well for me.
Rhodiola rosea – Viridian Maximum Potency – the best and the only in my personal opinion! This has transformed my energy levels, and I’ve been able to do things that I thought I’d never be able to do again. Over time, with taking both Rhodiola and Ashwagandha I found I just stopped flagging the way I used to. If for some reason I don’t take them for a few days I very quickly become exhausted again.
Websites
Planet Organic has a wide range of food, books and household products which are kind to you and the environment, less toxic and better for you
Oh She Glows vegan recipes for a healthier life
https://nutritionfacts.org/ tells you the best things to eat for a long life, highly evidenced! No animals involved 🙂
www.calmeryou.com helping you deal with anxiety – often present for people with Gilbet’s Syndrome
I have a few questions for the women on this site, about GS with periods and pregnancies. Iv not found anything on this so am interested to hear people’s stories and experiences.
As a back story for reference, I found out a number of years back about my GS through bloods (like most people) and told to just google it. Jaundice and fatigue are the least of my worries though. I experience a plethora of symptoms including extreme fatigue, long pressure headaches, brain fog, blackouts (always feeling depleted), insomnia, anxiety, long-lasting nausea, frequent hunger pangs, worsening of vision + feeling weak. On top of this, a week before my period is due i get extremely cold for 2 days, my vision gets really blurred for about 4 days, i get terrible backache, feel extremely depleted again and a lot of the same symptoms above too (oddly specific, i know) and when i have a period, im kinda just wiped for a couple of solid days in pain and heavy bleeding. Iv always assumed im just bad with periods but the past while iv been thinking its actually my GS.
When i was pregnant a few years back, i had an awful pregnancy with nausea for 5 months and aaaallll the symptoms imaginable for pregnancy! My body didn’t heal well, at all after birth. Id been re-admitted 3 times after giving birth as i had constant infections and mastitis along with feeling very weak, id lost a lot of blood and had a blood transfusion but i didnt get the ‘hulk’ feeling i was told about, it took about a month to feel any kind of normal again.
I understand a lot of this could just be me and how my body deals with this but im wanting to see if there are women who have had similar issues and/or ways of helping. I have been seeing a herbalist for years now and she makes up tinctures that help my low levels and make me feel so much better and ill be starting the keto diet next week as iv read here its incredible for energy levels.
Im SO grateful for this site and everyone’s stories, all this reading had helped me more than i can explain, and thank you in advance to anyone who replies 🙂
Natasha
This is THE BEST and most useful website I have ever found for my gilberts. I just wanted to say thank you SO much for taking the time to make this, it has helped me no end!!
Thanks Helena, I appreciate those kind words enormously!