I was recently sent some products by Activated You to try. I had tried their Morning Complete a few times in the past, whenever I feel like I want to incorporate a green powder into my routine, that is the one I usually go to these days.

I’m going to focus this mostly on the Adrenalife because that is the one I was the most excited to try. The other two were bonus surprises, so I will get to those, too.

Adrenalife

In an attempt to not make this a flood of emotion, but to give some context to how I feel, much of my personal life feels challenging. I’m overworked and overwhelmed. I feel like I don’t really have much of a support system in my life, and I usually try to not be a burden on anyone else, so I keep my problems to myself. Plus, I had my thyroid removed 3 years ago, and I’ve not felt “right” since then. And now I’m in that perimenopause zone, where the chaotic roller coaster my hormones seem to be on makes it just harder to cope with everything. I’m angry and irritable and weepy and frustrated and probably every other negative emotion you can think of, all at the same time.

So instead of actually doing less work, and learning to meditate, and talking to a therapist… the dream of just popping a supplement is way more enticing, right? (Don’t @ me, I know that’s not the best approach.)

So with all of that, I started taking Adrenalife. The recommended dosing is 3 capsules. I started with 2 a day at first and then moved up to 3 after a week.

Some of the ingredients:

• Shizandra: This is more commonly spelled “schisandra,” and I first heard mention of it when Dr. Stacy Sims talked about it on the Huberman Lab podcast. (It sounded like she was same somebody’s name when pronouncing it.) While Activated You includes it in this product as an adaptogen to help the body deal with outside stress, Dr. Sims recommends it for athletes to help improve performance. And it has the added bonus of having been studied for perimenopause/menopause symptoms like hot flashes and heart palpitations.
• Ashwagandha: This has roots in traditional Indian medicine and has been studied to show it has a calming effect and can reduce cortisol. It supposedly can help regulate hormones and fluctuations, but I don’t know if it can stand up against the zone of chaos of perimenopause.
• Taurine: This is an amino acid that has been shown to have benefits on mental health, interacting with GABA receptors to help with sleep and mood disruptors. There have also been studies to show it helps with some anti-aging benefits in women aged 55-70.

I was pleasantly surprised that I actually did feel better after a few weeks taking this. Better enough to keep taking them. Not to where I’d say I’m crushing life and kicking butt… I’m still in emotional turmoil inside. But I guess I don’t feel like crying every time a new request comes up at work now.

The worst part is that Adrenalife retails for $69.95 for a one-month supply directly from the retailer. But you can get a discount if you buy multiple months at a time and if you sign up for their subscription plans.* I’ve also seen it priced better on Amazon.

Essential Skin Food

The Essential Skin Food supplement says it’s supposed to increase the appearance of the skin, one of the features was to support the skin’s “natural plumpness”… which cracks me up because most of us don’t want to be called plump, but that is actually something I’ve seen advertised to me more as the internet algorithms have figured out my age. “Your declining hormones make your skin sag and look less plump, you hag! Buy our products.” (Not this company’s advertising specifically, just in general.)

Honestly, I don’t feel like one month of taking this is enough to actually see a difference, or if a visible difference is even possible. I have already been taking a collagen supplement each morning for years, and I still just keep getting more fine lines because I’m getting older. That’s life.

This also retails for $69.95 for a one-month supply directly from Activated You. Same story with deals when you buy multiples or subscriptions*. And the same thing with buying it at Amazon less expensive at times.

Immune Complete

Immune Complete is a liquid supplement that is intended to help boost your immune system. It’s a pretty classic blend of vitamin c, zinc, and elderberry… which I usually try to use when my family is sick in an attempt to not catch whatever they have. The most common delivery method is in the form of gummies, though, which have extra sugars and aren’t necessarily great for the teeth. So I like that this is a different form. It has a peach flavor, which is pleasant.

I don’t love the actual spray mechanism on the bottle; it’s long and weird and seems like it would be easy to break off. It also seems more prone to dripping after sprays if you aren’t careful with the weird twisting nozzle.

Immune Complete sells for $24.95 directly from Activated You. Discounts on multiples and subscriptions*. I don’t think this one gets sold on Amazon.

*I’m so tired of subscription models on everything in the world these days. Also, it just feels manipulative to tell people they can get a better deal on something if they buy a 3-month or 6-month supply at once when someone might be interested in just trying it. It’s like asking them to marry you instead of a first date.

If you are interested in trying these, I would recommend signing up for Rakuten and/or Ibotta and see if you can earn cashback on your purchases at Activated You (and other stores). Those are referral links, so I’d get some kind of small cash amount kickback in my account. So if you’re interested, using my link helps me out! (With some pennies to offset the cost of hosting this site.)