Zenflore for a More Focused, Happier Me

*This is a collaborative post.*

I don’t tend to take vitamins or supplements, simply because I know I would only remember to take them for about three days before they ended up gathering dust between quinoa and a jar of sauerkraut in my kitchen cupboard. Ring any bells? Multivitamins are a bit like New Year’s Resolutions, aren’t they? You’re determined to take them religiously yet you just end up abandoning them as quickly as you’d promised yourself to take them forever (and ever and ever). Zenflore is different, though. 

Unlike supplements I tried before, Zenflore is not just a cocktail of vitamins, it is a bacterial culture. My friends Reneé and Vicki are red-hot on gut health and gut bacteria but until I heard about Zenflore, I just thought I didn’t need probiotics in my life. “My gut is very happy, thank you very much!” was what was going through my mind.

I was pretty skeptical about the chances of probiotics making any difference to my wellbeing, but a wake-up call in November 2017 meant I was ready to try anything my friends recommended. 

A Fuzzy Few Months

Just over a year ago, I ended up with glandular fever and it was absolutely horrific. For the first three weeks, it was misdiagnosed as a series of throat infections and the two courses of antibiotics I was given didn’t help at all. They actually made it all worse. I couldn’t get up. My throat was on fire. My lower abdomen was hurting like never before. My head was throbbing and I had an awful bout of thrush. Happy days!

For the first week, Crevette looked after his sisters before school, made them porridge and helped them get dressed, then called our neighbour who offered to take them all to school every morning that week (thank goodness for great neighbours). One evening, after I’d managed to drag myself to the toilet, I was so weak I fell asleep on the cold bathroom floor and woke up two hours later (one of the kids had put a towel on my back to keep me warm!).

I felt more drained than I’d ever felt before and my muscles didn’t seem to respond all that well. My brain was constantly fuzzy and I couldn’t focus on anything. After I started taking multivitamins, I managed to function better but I still wasn’t myself for over six months, taking naps most days and not being able to remain focused for more than thirty minutes at a time. Definitely less than ideal when you are trying to run a business from home and look after four children under ten!

Starting Zenflore

Lots of fresh fruit and veg, vitamins, essential oils and constantly reminding myself not to overdo it helped but a slight fuzzy filter remained. Nothing I tried made me feel like I was 100% back to normal. 

I am also affected by the lack of daylight in the darker months (SAD) so November and December are normally tough months for me. Before I started Zenflore, there were a few days when I’d needed a nap towards mid-day. 

First Impressions

Zenflore claims to helps support both body and mind during stressful times, for a healthy mind to overcome stress-related fatigue. Did I honestly believe it would make a huge difference? Not really.

I would also never have considered spending close to £30 on a month’s supply of supplements, but I was happy to give it a go, even if that meant writing a terrible review. 

The day I started Zenflore, I had a cold and felt sorry for myself so I didn’t have much hope for a quick improvement of my general health or the fatigue that regularly engulfed me.

I’m happy to say that I was proven wrong. Within about ten days, I could feel the effects of Zenflore. It gave me a boost. There’s no shadow of a doubt about it.

What’s Zenflore exactly?

Zenflore contains the natural live bacterial culture 1714-Serenitas as well as a selection of vitamins: Thiamine (vitamin B1), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Niacin (vitamin B3), Vitamin B6, Folic acid, Vitamin B12, Biotin and Pantothenic acid.

OK, that sounds impressive but to be fair, I haven’t got the faintest idea what it all is and I’m pretty clueless about jargon around the content of the supplements, but they did work for me. When I was taking Zenflore, I could feel more focused, less tired and generally more content. 

How Does Zenflore actually Work?

Let me quote Precision Biotics here as they can give you a much better description than I ever would:  

“The 1714-Serenitas culture is one of the first cultures to have shown in a clinical study to increase the activity in the areas of your brain that are associated with emotions, learning and memory. It was also associated with a higher ability to cope with stress during a stress test.

It acts by becoming part of the gut microbiota that are involved in the gut-brain axis, the 2-way communication between brain and gut via the vagus nerve.

The culture in Zenflore is also involved in regulating your immune system, which plays an important role in health and well-being.”

After Zenflore

I took Zenflore for a month and during that time, I didn’t feel the need for a ‘Nana nap’ once. Since I ran out of the supplement a couple of weeks ago, I’ve had two days ‘written off’ despite my best attempts to stay awake. On those days, I managed to get up as usual and do my ‘Miracle Morning’ practice but straight after the school run, an overwhelming sense of ‘I need to lie down right now’ engulfed me. 

On those two occasions, I went back to bed at about 9.10 a.m., planning to indulge in a power nap, yet both times I woke up after lunchtime, still feeling like I could sleep for a few hours. That made me wonder what made Zenflore work for me. 

Why I’ve just Paid for an extra Month’s Supply of Zenflore

It could all be in my head, but here are the differences I jotted down when taking Zenflore:

• I still feel stressed at times, but I can take a step back and deal with hurdles.
• I don’t need naps.
• I am less anxious than usual. 
• I’m more upbeat and happy to get up in the morning (my Miracle Morning practice helps a lot with that!). 
• Since glandular fever, I’ve been ridiculously hormonal for a few days every month, getting impatient, angry, tearful, spotty and eating anything I could get my hands on. 
• On Zenflore, the hormone overload that comes with PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome) is still noticeable, but it is more more like an itch on the surface rather than an open wound if that makes sense. I don’t even feel like screaming at anyone!
• I am feeling positive despite having quite a difficult time on a personal level. 
• I am more upbeat and receptive to positivity. 
• I think I am more patient with my children.
• I am sleeping deeply. I’m also meditating as I get into bed everyday so that probably helps too.

I’ve just bought an extra pack of 30 capsules on Amazon (affiliate link).

There is no denying that Zenflore is expensive, but I will be taking it until spring, just to help me function in these darker months. I am also planning to start taking it again in October as a preventative measure. I just don’t want to feel rundown again. Yes, it costs almost £30, but it’s 100% worth giving it a go for a month despite the price tag. 

 Disclosure: This blog post is sponsored by Zenflore but all opinions and photos are my own.