Unlock Your Best Mornings: The Science Behind Morning Boost

Are your mornings a struggle? Do you find it challenging to maintain focus and productivity during your morning fasts? If so, you're not alone. Many individuals who embrace intermittent fasting face similar challenges. 

So you’ve decided to add fasting to your routine - fantastic! No matter how much you read on the topic, most of us are likely to encounter certain aspects of fasting that prove to be challenging or even frustrating. 

Fasting becomes significantly easier once we begin to experience its benefits, but dealing with irritability, brain fog, and lack of focus may make us want to give up fasting all at once - all before we start realizing its full benefits.

So why do we experience these challenges and is there anything we can do to help us get over this “bump”?

In this blog we'll dive deeper into the challenges with morning fasting, the science behind Morning Boost's ingredients and how they affect your body to elevate your fasting experience.

The main reasons behind fasting symptoms

Assuming you have spoken to your doctor and don't have any medical conditions, there are several reasons why fasting can feel challenging. While it takes time for the body to adjust to a new eating habit, it's important to consider the body's nutritional status as a factor.

1. Pre-existing nutrient deficiencies

Peak health requires micronutrients that perform thousands of life-sustaining functions in your body. If the starting point of our fasting journey are nutrient imbalances, fasting becomes more challenging because the body is not able to cope with the stress of fasting correctly. This may lead to poor results and challenges like severe hunger, fatigue, brain fog, mood swings, and others.

2. Nutritional imbalances triggered by fasting itself

For some, fasting can naturally lead to a reduction in daily calorie intake. When we prioritize healthy eating, it can be hard to consume the same number of calories in two meals as we would in three. As a result, intermittent fasting often results in the limitation of our primary source of essential micronutrients - food itself. Less healthy foods = less micronutrients.

There are also some biological factors that may influence our nutritional status during fasting. For example, fasting steeply lowers insulin levels and depletes glycogen stores, leading to higher excretion of water and charged minerals called electrolytes at an elevated rate. Our individual health may also play a role in our nutritional needs during fasting. Depending on factors such as body insulin sensitivity, gut microbiome, or levels of certain hormones, we may need more or less of certain nutrients during the fast.

You might not notice any symptoms if you have a mild imbalance. 

However, more serious imbalances may lead to:

  • Fatigue
  • Dehydration
  • Headache
  • Irritability
  • Lack of focus
  • Muscle cramping
  • Poor mood
  • Dry mouth
  • Poor concentration

Why Morning Boost?

Picture this: It's early morning, you're in the last hours of your fasting window, and you have a demanding day ahead of you. You're committed to finishing your fast as planned, but you start to experience brain fog, you feel dehydrated, your focus is diminishing and energy levels drop. The final stretch can be the most challenging. But what if there was a way to make your fasting experience more pleasant?

Morning Boost was born to help everyone to start their day with a bright, focused and productive morning. 

It combines 23 clinically studied ingredients that nourish the body without breaking the fast, making fasting a more pleasant experience on both physical and psychological levels.

Let's take a closer look at how Morning Boost works.

The Nutrient Synergy

Just as we see the intricate interplay of ecosystems in nature, our bodies, too, are a complex web of interconnected processes. Just like various plants and animals play a unique role in the health of the ecosystem, different micronutrients play their own role in the overall health and vitality of the body. Micronutrients work in harmony, performing their own roles and supporting the functions of each other. Too much or too little of one nutrient may lead to imbalance in another.

Unfortunately, achieving internal nutritional balance through diet alone may not be enough. Most of the commercial fruits and vegetables are less nutritious due to the growing methods, soil quality, and chemicals used in the process, leaving the body with less than an ideal nutritional status. This leads to an unnatural situation that requires external intervention: supplements.

Fasting Aid was born from the idea to help you improve fasting through the power of nutrients. We dive deep into the research to determine which micronutrients our bodies need for a healthier experience and better results. The quality matters, and we only use pure, simple, effective ingredients, combined in the right ratios for optimal nutrient absorption.

How We Formulated Morning Boost

We designed Morning Boost to help with morning fasting, keeping three goals in mind:

1. To help you improve any existing nutritional gaps and provide a better foundation for fasting by addressing the most common nutrient deficiencies in the USA.
2. To help ensure your body makes up the difference for the loss of nutrients due to fasting itself.
3. To help you with morning fasting by including fast-acting ingredients that may help with challenges like fatigue, brain fog, and lack of concentration and focus.

What to Expect

Amino-acids and minerals for a satisfying and calm, mental focus

  • 5-HTP
Sourced from the seeds of an African shrub (Griffonia Simplicifolia), 5-HTP (5-hydroxy L-tryptophan) is an amino acid metabolite that regulates brain chemicals that are involved in mood, appetite, behavior and relaxation. 5-HTP is linked to serotonin – a “feel good” chemical in the brain, nervous system and gut. 

Researchers have linked supplemental 5-HTP to improvements in mood that may help you get through the morning fasting. And, with its natural presence in the digestive system, 5-HTP is suggested to help with appetite control, potentially by promoting feelings of gut “fullness.” It’s one nutrient that provides awesome support for two big psychological challenges many of us face during our morning fasts.

  • L-Theanine 
Don’t you love that calm-and-clear mindset you get from drinking a soothing cup of hot green tea? Especially as a mid-morning break of a busy workday, green tea can feel so relaxing. L-theanine is the natural compound in green tea that is most responsible for its calming, clarifying effects.
 
A natural amino acid, L-Theanine, has been shown in research to increase Alpha brain waves: a specific frequency that feels like “relaxed alertness”. In other words, L-Theanine chills you out without making you sleepy. L-Theanine’s psychoactive effects have also been suggested to target the brain’s “attention circuitry,” and may help you to feel sharp as you navigate various mental tasks during your morning fast.

Nutrients for an energized and vibrant morning

  • Potassium
Potassium is one of the most important essential minerals, directly involved in energy production. Yet, it's also one of the most prevalent deficiencies in the US.

Potassium acts as a conductor, helping to establish a delicate balance of electrolytes inside our cells. Combined with sodium, potassium takes part in the sodium-potassium pump, a process that produces ATP, the body's internal energy currency.

Think of the sodium-potassium pump as your cellular energy engine. It's like a pump that moves sodium out and brings potassium in. This action creates a kind of battery charge, which is vital for producing ATP, the molecule your body needs to feel energized and healthy.

  • Magnesium
While potassium helps to create ATP, magnesium acts as an "ignition" key, ensuring that ATP energy is used effectively to power the body through the day. 

Being at the core of many enzymes, it plays a role in enzymes such as hexokinase, which initiates glycolysis (the process of breaking down glucose for energy), and creatine kinase, which is essential for regenerating ATP from ADP. Beyond helping you feel energized, magnesium acts as a cofactor for over 300 life- and health-sustaining reactions, helping you feel relaxed, less stressed, and more ready to conquer your day.

  • L-Taurine
This amino acid has become a popular ingredient in various energy drinks and supplements. L-Taurine is not a stimulant and it doesn’t directly make energy, but rather it creates an environment where our body can produce and use energy more efficiently.

This essential amino acid works in various ways. It helps shield our cells from damage and stress, which often leads to drained energy. It also supports mitochondria - small energy factories inside the cells, calms the nervous system down, helping stay sharp and focused, and helps the heart to pump blood effectively, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the tissue. 

  • Vitamins B-Complex
Many people are often advised to keep a close watch on their B12 levels, but it's important to understand that other B-vitamins are just as crucial for our overall health.

B-vitamins are a group of water-soluble molecules that play a fundamental role in the body. Because they don't stay in the body for long, we need to consume them regularly. These vitamins are responsible for the conversion of macronutrients like fatty acids, glucose, and amino acids into Acetyl CoA enzymes. This is a crucial step that allows these molecules to enter the Citric Acid Cycle within our cells.
In simpler terms, B-vitamins such as Riboflavin, Niacin, Biotin, and others are responsible for facilitating the extraction of ATP energy from macronutrients (even when we don’t eat) directly improving our physical energy, and in turn - metabolism.

Vitamins and amino-acids to enhance morning productivity and mental focus

  • L-Tyrosine
Mornings can be stressful! L-Tyrosine is a nutrient that may help with morning fasting by counteracting the discouraging effects of stress. An amino acid, tyrosine is used to make high-performance brain chemicals known as catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine).
 
During stress, intense thinking and multitasking (your busy morning at the workplace, perhaps?) the brain burns through catecholamines fast. When they get too low, you feel consequences like spotty attention, brain fog and mental fatigue.
 
Supplementing with L-Tyrosine can help restore what you need to perform at a high level throughout your morning. In human research studies, L-Tyrosine supplementation has demonstrated cognitive and physical performance benefits under stressed-out, sleep-deprived, uncomfortable and multi-tasking conditions, so it seems a natural fit for helping with morning fast challenges.

  • B-Complex
Our brain is only 2% of the body weight, but it consumes ~20% of the resting daily energy, making it the most demanding organ in the body. It is highly metabolically active, and relies on a variety of nutrients, and our productivity and focus are closely tied to B-Vitamins.

Without going into the complex science behind it, here are few examples how B-Vitamins may help you to get through a demanding morning:

  • B12 helps maintain myelin - a fatty acid substance that “wraps” the nerves and accelerates electrical signals in the brain, which are vital for quick thinking, clarity and focus.
  • B6, B9, B12 help transport oxygen to the brain, helping nerves fire and communicate more effectively during complex tasks.
  • B1, B5, B6, B9 are required for the synthesis of neurotransmitters and work synergistically with other ingredients in Morning boost that help you feel alert, focused, and ready to take on the challenges of the day.
  • B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B8, B12 are energy-generating vitamins involved in the production of ATP, the body's and brain's energy currency.

Electrolytes for improved hydration and brain performance

Hydration is not just about not feeling thirsty, or just about drinking enough water. It's also about getting the electrolytes you need.

Electrolytes are minerals (and some proteins) that carry an electrical charge when dissolved in water. They are essential for a variety of processes, including:

  • Allowing nerves to fire and the heart to contract
  • Maintaining fluid balance inside and outside the cells
  • Supporting hormone and tissue production
  • But how does hydration affect our brain?

One study found that 12 healthy male individuals who were deprived of water for 36 hours felt more fatigued, moody, and had significantly decreased short-term memory and attention.

While most of us would never deprive ourselves of water for that long, during a fast our body excretes minerals at a higher rate than usual. This makes hydration even more important.

To make sure you're getting enough electrolytes, aim to drink 8-10 glasses of water per day and consider adding electrolytes or Morning Boost to your water. You can also drink unsweetened tea, coffee, and unflavored sparkling water.

The Bottom Line

At first blush, morning fasting may seem like an impossible challenge. In reality, it is an opportunity to commit to your fasting goals with gusto. Part of that commitment is taking every possible step to make your morning fast healthier, more comfortable and more productive. With the micronutrients discussed in this article, you can do just that.