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ActivatedYou Morning Complete Review

ActivatedYou Morning Complete maybe a bit of a mouthful for a brand (personally to me it sounds a little like an alarm clock – but perhaps that’s the point!) but they are certainly gaining a following.

I want to know a little more about whether adding prebiotics or probiotics to a super green powder is as beneficial as it sounds. Do people taking a ‘whole’ nutritional product feel it is giving them everything they need in their diet?

Let’s take a look at the company ActivatedYou, their holistic approach to creating wellness products, and more specifically the whole-person wellness blend: ActivatedYou Morning Complete.

Morning Complete Verdict

The average rating of this product is calculated based on the evaluation of the following factors:

Coupons: None available

Rating:

2.3

  • Ingredients / Dosages:1.0
  • Ingredient Safety:4.0
  • Value for the Price:2.0
  • Brand Transparency:1.0
  • Taste:2.5

What is Morning Complete?

The three ‘promises’ on the landing page of ActivatedYou are that everything they do is: Plant-Based, Scientifically Proven, Environmentally Sustainable. I like that they have put their values up-front and that their branding is simple and the navigation of their site clear and clean.

They are pitching Activated You at a contemporary, successful audience who are time-pressured and need to have their nutritional needs met quickly and efficiently.

The four blends on their landing page, Advanced Restorative Probiotic, Morning Complete, GI Prime (is this a comic character??!), and AdrenaLife, tell us that these products are more than just a simple, proprietary supplement.

Rather than naming their blends after a generic blend of ingredients (such as ‘probiotics’) they give a sciencey twist, placing their brand firmly in the 21st Century.

Other Greens powders I have reviewed you may be interested in:

Background on ActivatedYou

The founder of ActivatedYou is an Actress and Wellness advocate. The About Us page tells us that the vision of the brand is rooted in holistic, whole-person approaches, and echoes an Eastern (traditional medicine) approach to treating health problems. But they don’t bamboozle customers with science-speak, with a section offering more information for those who may be new to the areas of holistic health or supplements.

There is very little information about the enigmatic actress and founder (I am very much a fan of hers since seeing her in early Hong Kong cinema!), in fact, beyond the homepage their ‘Learn More’ tabs just click through to product pages.

So that’s all I can pass on to you about their brand, except to mention that they support a charity (the Unstoppable Foundation) which strives to secure access to education for children around the globe.

So, back to Morning Complete, their one-stop nutrient blend. What is inside it, and what are people saying about it?

Green Smoothie with straw

ActivatedYou Morning Complete Ingredients

So, taking a look at the measurements alone I’m already disappointed for a number of reasons. Firstly the serving size.

I’m not sure that 7.6g (about a teaspoon and a half) of anything is really going to be a big enough serving for a day worth of anything unless it was a single supplement.

I’ll explain further below in my section ‘Does Morning Complete actually work?’.

Unfortunately, ActivatedYou has fallen into the common trap of wanting to include too many individual ingredients, but not including a meaningful enough amount of anything to actually make a daily difference.

There is another issue too.

The individual ingredient amounts are not disclosed as they are wrapped up in proprietary blends!

What does this mean? Well, you don't know how much ingredient is actually inside – so, is the minimum effective dose actually present?

The 7.6g serving comprises the below:

  • Prebiotic and High Fiber blend (4.05g): Chicory root fructooligosaccharides, cinnamon bark
  • Green Superfoods blend (735mg): Spinach, broccoli, kale, mulberry leaf extract, alfalfa leaf, barley grass, berberine HCl (from Berberis aristata root)
  • Metabolic Enhancing blend (390mg): Green tea leaf extract, ginger root, white tea leaf extract, turmeric root extract, bitter melon fruit extract, black pepper
  • Antioxidant blend (100mg): Lycium berry, pomegranate fruit extract, Polygonum cuspidatum root extract (50% resveratrol)
  • Sugar Balancing support (100mg): Gymnema sylvestre leaf, fennel seed, pine bark extract
  • Adaptogens (55mg): Astragalus root extract, Rhodiola rosea root extract, DIM (diindolylmethane)
  • Cellular Function and Liver support (30mg): Organic aloe vera leaf, milk thistle seed extract
  • Probiotic blend (10 billion CFU): B. coagulans, L. gasseri, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus, B. bifidum, B. longum, L. acidophilus, L. casei, S. thermophilus

It also included: natural flavors, guar gum, citric acid, rice hull concentrate, and monk fruit extract.

How Does Morning Complete Taste?

I’ll have to rely on some reviews to tell me how this product actually tastes, although ActivatedYou tells us that it is Apple-Cinnamon flavored. I’d like to try this one as it’s not a flavor I would normally associate with a Super Greens blend.

Apple and cinnamon flavor

Side Effects

If I were new to taking super greens, supplement blends, or any new product for that matter I would pay close attention to the ingredients and think carefully about any existing sensitivities or known side effects of the greens ingredients.

You may find that on taking ActivatedYou Morning Complete you experience a little digestive discomfort due to the high (in percentage terms) fiber content.

Interestingly there is a note on the product page warning about the potential side effects of aloe vera.

Does Morning Complete Actually Work?

This is a complicated area. ActivatedYou suggests that Morning Complete has the following advantages for health:

Designed to help support total-person wellness, including supporting healthy digestion, sugar levels, liver function, energy, and more.
Loaded with vital nutrients derived from healthy green vegetables, as well as fiber, probiotics, and wellness-boosting antioxidants

These are generally pretty big health claims, so I’m just going to look at a few examples of the ingredients included and how they might support these claims.

As I’ve previously researched, prebiotics act as food for probiotic cultures (source) and the research is ongoing in terms of whether there is a tangible and evidenced effect on digestion (or, specifically on digestive disorders).

Dietary fiber

Morning Complete contains its highest percentage of ingredients in dietary fiber (4.05g) so it stands to reason that this might be considered to be its strongest selling point.

Added to this, Morning Complete also contains 10 billion CFU of probiotic strains. So you can really boost your probiotic (‘good bacteria’) in your gut by taking this product.

But what I struggle with is the addition of other superfood-type ingredients and the attempt at making this product a ‘catch-all’ for our dietary needs. The general aim of the product is to be a starter for your day, with a metabolism-boosting blend also included (390mg). So I took a look at some of the ingredients included in this proprietary blend.

Green tea and White tea leaf: both have been studied for their properties for weight loss and this may be due to the compound EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) which in test tube sampling has been found to stimulate fat breakdown and prohibit new fat cells from being formed (source).

So far so good, but why not just drink a cup of tea? Funnily enough, ActivatedYou suggests you mix their powder with green tea!

Other ingredients in this particular blend are included for similar properties, such as Black pepper, ginger, and turmeric. But my main concern, as with the other proprietary blends is how much of each ingredient can be included in such a percentage of the whole portion.

For example, Examine.com recommends that a serving of 1-3g of Ginger root can be seen to have effects on digestive health.

Morning Complete Customer Reviews

Some reviewers can’t seem to decide if they are taking ActivatedYou Morning Complete for weight loss, digestive reasons, or as a superfood blend. I’ve taken a look at some reviews I found on the web, but ActivatedYou hasn’t chosen to share customer reviews of this product on their product page (unlike some of their other products).

Reviewers on HighYa say the following:

After using 6 months, I found that the product, although very good, did not fit into my lifestyle. People should give it a try’. 5 stars

I feel like my waist got larger from so much gas, lol. If this problem stops and never comes back I will recommend it. If this is a side effect that will last forever, I will not recommend it’. 2 stars

This product is not for everyone. For myself, these two products caused a lot of digestive problems, including serious abdominal pain along with bloating that would not stop’. 1 star.

Money Back Guarantee / Returns Policy

ActivatedYou has a 100% money-back guarantee, which entitles you to just that (100% money back, excluding shipping) if you are not satisfied with your purchase. They do, however, require you to call their refund line and to return products within 90 days of purchase.

Where to Buy Morning Complete?

You can buy ActivatedYou Morning Complete from the official website. I actually couldn’t find any merchants selling this product on Amazon.

Is It Worth the Price?

The serving size is not too large considering other brands at a similar price point.

If I see instead a proprietary blend which doesn’t break down the amount of each ingredient included then I get a bit grumpy.

ActivatedYou Morning Complete retails (on their website) at $79 (USD) for one jar (30 servings – so one months’ supply). There is saving for buying 3 jars at $213 (10% saving over three months), or save 15% when you buy 6 jars (but for $403 this represents a huge investment in this one product!!).

Morning Complete is definitely on the upper end of the spectrum when it comes to similar products.

So, if you are looking for a product that is high in fiber, and may – or may not – have benefits due to the amount of pre-and probiotics, then this might be a product you’d like to take.

But if you would like to search for a whole-food product that represents slightly better value for money you might find there are other brands that are more transparent about their ingredients (such as Supergreen Tonik or Green Vibrance), and perhaps more generous with the portions!

The Bottom Line

On the one hand, I am impressed by the brand, ActivatedYou, as they are intensely pro-holistic in their approach to wellness. Added to which their products are researched, well-sourced, and tested.

But as with many other brands I struggle to see what really sets them apart in terms of value-adding ingredients.

The whole issue around pre-and probiotics is a real head-scratcher as we know so little about how much needs to be taken in order to have a real and tangible effect on our health.

Added to this, if I were to be looking for a specific product to assist my digestive health, I probably wouldn’t opt for one which included so many other ingredients and claimed so many things.

I probably need to look at products with more nutrition in terms of a higher quantity of more potent ingredients. And so, sorry but I will be checking out other brands on my journey for my daily supplements.

Adam Author

About the LifeHacker Guy

Hi, I'm Adam the founder of the LifeHacker Guy.

I have a First Class Honours degree in Sports Science from Brighton University, specialising in exercise physiology and nutrition. In my youth I was a competitive Triathlete and long-distance runner placing top 10 in most triathlon races I completed.

Since suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I moved into web development, after a couple of years I then moved onto developing a number of online businesses. I've recently taken a sabbatical and I'm now looking to make big changes in my life, hopefully this may resonate with you - join me in my journey!

67 comments

  1. I should’ve read this before purchasing it,
    I purchased 3 jars of these and 3 jars of probiotics in 2020, probiotics are okay, didn’t do much but no side effects, but Morning complete, omg literally I started to have too much heat in the body causing some bleeding issues and lot of bloating which didn’t go away after 2 years too; definitely not at all worth it.
    For this much price, its a waste, return process was bad and we have to pay for shipping, and for that much price, I just kept using it up until 1 and half in 2020; completely my bad. I will never ever trust these.
    Thought to write this review so that someone else wouldn’t fall for it.

  2. I just received my Activated you morning complete. When I opened the plastic jar it was only a third full. I thought it might be a mistake and opened another and was the same. Why use suck a big container for a small amount of powder .
    Thanks for your review. Andy

    1. Hey Andy,
      Thanks for your comment. Just to add that sometimes it’s difficult for manufacturers to get exactly the right fitting tubs (I know from experience too). That said, only a third full doesn’t sound right! As you are alluding to here, another possibility is to give the impression of perceived value or have more space on the label.
      How did you get with the supplement itself?
      Adam

    2. Hello Andy. My name is Chloe, I am with ActivatedYou. I completely understand your concern with the amount of product being less than you expected. Due to the nature of the powdered supplement, the contents may have shifted during transit which releases excess air and compacts the product in each jar. The size of the jar is kept larger to prevent spillage and overfilling during the manufacturing process. I can assure you, however, that our products are filled by weight and each jar will have 30 full servings as labeled. If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. My email is chloe@activatedyou.com. Have a nice day.

  3. Thanks for the review – wish I’d seen it 3 months ago! I tried it for two weeks – no noticeable effects good or bad, but the taste is not great. Screw up your face sort of taste. Surely it could be improved without sugar.
    Does taking it for a month really make a difference? Not sure I could manage the taste every day tbh…
    Anyway. I got a deal for four jars (#sucker), but only opened one. Emailed for a return process which they were ok with and I’ll get back money for three jars, but Australia Post can’t guarantee when the parcel will even get to the US (likely not within 90 days) plus it will cost me $50 to post!! So not worth it anyway.
    So I’m keeping them for now and if anyone wants to buy three jars….
    Srsly tho. Looking at selling them – let me know.

    1. Hello Kate. My name is Chloe, I am with ActivatedYou. I’m sorry to hear that you are not enjoying the taste of Morning Complete. Other customers in similar situations have found they enjoy the taste when mixing one scoop of Morning Complete with their favorite juice or smoothie. While some see results within a few days others will need more time. We suggest trying our formula for the full 90 days of the money back guarantee, to help ensure the best results. To help achieve better results, we recommend increasing your daily water intake and avoiding processed foods. As well as adding raw vegetables to your diet such as asparagus, garlic, dandelion greens, chicory root, artichokes, and onions. These vegetables contain natural prebiotics, which can greatly improve the effectiveness of your supplements. We do understand that our product may not be the best fit for everyone. For this reason, we stand by our 90 day money back guarantee. If you are still not seeing your desired results you may return it for a full refund. While we do require orders to be returned when requesting a full refund, we are able to offer a 40% refund to those who are unable to return the orders. If you ever have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out. My email is Chloe@activatedyou.com. Have a nice day.

    2. I just did an online chat with them (activated by you) for the jars as I cannot do the taste either. They refunded me 40% of what I paid. So ill take that. Not sure if that helps at all.

  4. I just watched a doctor’s review on the product after I purchased it this morning. I’m now in the process of trying to cancel my order. I’m furious because it shows that Maggie Q is nothing more than another con artist salesperson. She may as well be selling used cars. She is either lying to get paid and fund whatever celebrity lifestyle she needs, or she has her head so far in the clouds that she genuinely believes her own nonsense and has therefore not validated any of her science team’s “research”.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc6_hDp1CSg

    1. Hello Julian. My name is Chloe, I am with ActivatedYou. I’m sorry to hear you feel this way. We can assure you that our formulas are created with the highest quality ingredients developed by Maggie and Dr. Lipman. Maggie’s struggles with her own health led her to do extensive research in the world of nutrition. Maggie teamed up with Dr. Lipman, a renowned gut-health expert and a pioneer of integrative medicine with almost 40 years in medicine. Together they were able to create our great products. Their mission is to improve health, happiness, and longevity by making simple changes to your diet. If you need assistance with canceling your order or ever have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out. My email is Chloe@activatedyou.com. Have a nice day.

  5. Searching up the web for Activated You. I came across this article/site. Been reading most of the night, can’t sleep. I started taking this 2/3 weeks ago. In the morning in water, or mixing into my oatmeal after it was made. I’ve also cut out a lot of coffee in my diet and replaced it with various tea’s. Peppermint, chai, Sleepy-time etc.

    One major side-effect I’m feeling is that I’m not sleeping well. I sleep for 2-3 hrs then I’m up by 3-4am and wide awake. Try to go back to sleep but not really able to. The odd thing is that I’m not all that tired. Could this be a side-effect of the dietary changes I’ve made? I’m planning on talking with my NP.

    Really like your page and straight-forward reviews. Any input could be greatly appreciated. I’m 44, male, smoker (I know) wanting to make many changes, including a fairly sedentary job, and except running my boys all over the world. I fluctuate from 300 in the winters (Midwest US) to 280 in summer. Right now I’m down to 272!! Which is a bonus. Also have SAD in the winters. But its summer now and feeling great otherwise.

  6. I am new to the Activated You supplement and like all of us we are forever searching for the “one thing” that makes our lives better, gives fast and positive results and is some kind of miracle in a jar or pill. Human nature. I drank my first glass this morning and although the taste was not “nose plugging chugging” it was not tasty, but not horrible. Can I chug a glass every morning? I don’t know. I had no distress (so far) and it’s probably too soon for any miracles to happen. I will give it the 30 day and if I am not convinced it enhanced my overall well being I will ask for the refund. Hope that helps.

    1. Hi Gina,

      Can you say ‘now’ that it’s been a month, if you tried it daily for this long and if it worked, didn’t work, caused side effects etc? I would appreciate your honest review…thanks.

    2. Hello Gina. My name is Chloe, I am with ActivatedYou. I’m sorry to hear that you are not enjoying the taste of Morning Complete. Other customers in similar situations have found they enjoy the taste when mixing one scoop of Morning Complete with their favorite juice or smoothie. While some see results within a few days others will need more time. We suggest trying our formula for the full 90 days of the money back guarantee, to help ensure the best results. We do understand that our product may not be the best fit for everyone. For this reason, we stand by our 90 day money back guarantee. If you are ever unsatisfied with your order, you may return it for a full refund. If you ever have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out. My email is Chloe@activatedyou.com. Have a nice day.

  7. I had the exact concerns (too little amounts to be effective). Instead of spending a ton of time researching every ingredient and their suggested amounts, I read this review and completely agree! Thank you!

  8. It seems unfair to reviewThis product and then at the end unveil one of your own that you would profit from.

    1. Hi Laurie,
      I have addressed this point a number of times, but basically, the review is based on the information you can find public on the brand and in most cases me personally consuming it. I have researched this field for a few years from a personal interest to find a supplement that could work for me. Many fall short, unfortunately.
      In terms of the recommendation, this is not unique but you will see this on most websites. Take a look at any comparison website that are leading brands, you can even see this on Amazon 😉
      That said, I do recommend definitely reading the information and reviews in full and understanding the issues – this goes for ANY product, even my own!
      In any case, I hope the information was useful, if so, great. If not, then that’s okay too and I wish you all the best.
      Adam

  9. Why waste everyone’s time if you haven’t actually tried the product? It’s the same info we would find on their website, seriously

    1. Hey,
      You can review a product without trying. Whilst I would like to try every single product on the site it’s not feasible (both physically and not to mention financially – I have spent $2k plus on products so far). I only try the products I believe look really promising.
      I delve into the ingredients, the dosages used in the formula, whether you can actually see the individual ingredient weights, other aspects like the money-back guarantee, and the likelihood of experiencing side effects.
      Many visitors do find the information I provide useful in their research process.
      If you didn’t find the review useful then that’s okay, please check out the product yourself or alternatively check another website 🙂
      Adam

    2. If indeed you are serious, then you know that one individual’s physical response is not valid “research”. LifeHackerGuy cites his sources and summarizes them to save you time. Go read them if you like, he has saved you the time finding them. Your comment reflects undue influence from celebrity endorsement. LHG does research, analysis and summation, all beneficial to the rest of us.

    1. Hi,
      Thank you for your comment. I have physically tried many supplement brands reviewed on my site, and in the process spent over $2,000 buying them. Sometimes I ran into difficulty ordering some of the brands from the USA, in some cases, they went missing or were held up in customs (I am still waiting for two brands to be delivered!). The brands that I believed looked really impressive and could be on my list to take I ordered and tried. Morning Complete didn’t make this list but I wanted to take a look because of the popularity.
      Have you given this a try? If so, I would love to get your feedback.
      Adam

      1. I have been on morning complete for a year. I tried it because it covered more areas so I could reduce supplements I was needing. I tried Whal’s protocol but I could not digest that many greens as my gut was too unhealthy due to medical problems. It may not be perfect as a probiotic or a complete coverage for the other supplements but it did help me tremendously. I might be changing and moving on but it did improve my over all healing. I like the convenience of an all in one.

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