Frequently asked questions

Here are some ways that people commonly use Switch On:

• At the start of workdays. This is how the RN team most commonly uses Switch On. We tend to have it 1 to 2 h after waking before having breakfast about 1 h after that.

• Before demanding cognitive tasks. Say you have a presentation, an exam, an e-sports tournament, or several hours of coding or trading. Assuming it doesn’t start very late in the day (say, within 5 h of bed), take Switch On 1 h before the event. (Switch On contains caffeine and some other slightly stimulatory ingredients, so if you drink it too close to bed it can disrupt your sleep.)

• Before a tough workout or athletic competition. Again, assuming it doesn’t start within 5 h of when you go to bed, take Switch On 1 h before the event.

• At the start of a night shift. Assuming your shift is at least 6 h long, try taking Switch On at the beginning of the shift.

• During jetlag. In the new time-zone, take Switch On at breakfast or 1 h before it.

Switch On contains some ingredients (e.g., creatine monohydrate) that have effects that accumulate with repeated use, so some of Switch On’s benefits add up over time. This said, while there’s no obvious need to cycle on and off Switch On, it’s worth noting that the longest studies of some of its ingredients have only lasted about 8 weeks (this is true of L-theanine, for instance). These studies have all shown that the ingredients in Switch On have excellent safety profiles. Nevertheless, to be cautious, we recommend that you use Switch On somewhat intermittently. Either of the following work well:

• Use Switch On on workdays only (e.g., Monday to Friday).
• Use Switch On daily, but after 8 weeks of use take a 2-week break from using it before introducing it again.

Most people prefer the taste of Switch On made with milk than made with water, so try it with a plant or animal milk of your choice.

 

Alternatively, if you have a blender, try blending it with milk or water and a banana or two for a delicious chocolate-banana drink. You can use any fruit of your choice, we just think banana works well!

You bet, but we don’t tend to combine them at once – it’s best to space them out a bit. For example, you might have Switch On at the start of the day and then Long Range Fuel at a meal later. The best combination of Switch On and Long Range Fuel depends on your needs and goals, but in general we think that Switch On goes best with non-Energise versions of Long Range Fuel (i.e., Rebuild, Calm or Calm & Rebuild versions). Reasons for this include:

• Both Switch On and Energise Long Range Fuel contain contain caffeine, so having both on the same day can be too stimulatory for some people.

• Switch On is designed to help you be at your best even if you’ve slept poorly of late. Meanwhile, Calm and Calm & Rebuild versions of Long Range Fuel contain KSM-66 Ashwagandha, which has repeatedly been shown to improve sleep. In this way, the products are complementary. Based on this, we often use Switch On early in the day (e.g., 1 h before breakfast) and Calm or Calm & Rebuild Long Range Fuel late in the day (e.g., at lunch or dinner).

Nevertheless, there are instances when combining Switch On with Energise or Energise & Rebuild Long Range Fuel works a treat. For example, if you must stay awake and alert for a long period (e.g., overnight), having Switch On early in your waking day followed by regular small amounts of Energise or Energise & Rebuild Long Range Fuel through the night is a great way to start sharp.

Many people consume cocoa-based products late in the day, but that doesn’t mean that’s the best time to have them!  

Cocoa is actually rich in caffeine and a couple of related stimulants. This is the main reason that the first half of your waking day is the best time to consume cocoa products.

Simple: because caffeine makes the product better.

Smart use of caffeine can sharpen your mind and boost your athletic performance without necessarily degrading your sleep. While “nootropics” without caffeine are in vogue, most are probably simply not as effective as they would be if they included an appropriate dose of caffeine.

We like coffee too, so we understand your conundrum!

Here are a couple of options:

• If you’re a large person and/or you metabolise caffeine quickly, you can probably have both with no issues. Just be sure to have the caffeinated items in the first half of your waking day, unless you need to pull an all-nighter (which we don’t recommend!).
• If you’re small or are sensitive to caffeine, switch to low-caffeine coffee (e.g., decaff). While some people think that coffee without caffeine is like sex with a condom (good, but not as good as the alternative), there are some delicious decaffs nowadays. There are also some non-decaff coffees that are quite low in caffeine (e.g., some instant coffees). 

Switch On contains 125 mg caffeine per serving. This is higher than most instant coffees (usually about 60 mg caffeine per 200-ml cup) and single espresso shots (usually about 75 mg caffeine per shot) but lower than many types of coffee - a typical store-bought Americano has about 150 mg caffeine, which is about the same as a drip or filter coffee.

 

Note that, in general, robusta coffees contain slightly more caffeine than arabica ones.

It’s difficult to give a hard and fast rule, for people consume caffeine for different reasons and there’s huge variation between people in how they metabolise caffeine. This said, restricting caffeine intake to no later than 8 h before bed is a smart starting point for most people, and we typically recommend 6 h before bed as the absolute latest time to consume caffeine.

We recommend consuming Switch On within 24 h of mixing it with water or milk.

One reason you don’t want it to sit for a long time is that creatine monohydrate, a key ingredient in Switch On, is slowly broken down into creatinine when mixed with a liquid. This matters, for creatinine does not have creatine’s beneficial effects.

While 24 h isn’t long enough for more than a few percent of the creatine to turn into creatinine, leave it too long and the product won’t be as effective.

Some cocoa contains lots of heavy metals such as cadmium. As cocoa from Latin America tends to contain much more cadmium than cocoa from Africa, we only use African cocoa in our products.

The cocoa we use also complies with EU regulations, which limit products to 0.6 μg cadmium per g cocoa powder.

ABSOLUTELY NOT! 

We recognise the enormous importance of sleep to all aspects of health and performance –we’ve done academic research on sleep and spent hundreds of hours speaking on podcasts and giving talks preaching the importance of sleep. We therefore encourage you to do what you can to improve your sleep.

We’re just saying that if you haven’t been sleeping well, we think you’ll find Switch On helps bring you back toward your well-rested best.

Greg Potter, Resilient Nutrition cofounder and Chief Science Officer, was doing his PhD on the relationships between how people sleep, what they eat and their cardiometabolic health. Greg struggled with his own sleep now and then, which left him knackered and made work and training a struggle. He wanted something that would give him more energy and help him be more productive at work. While reviewing the scientific literature, he realised that there are proven ways of using nutrition to enhance all aspects of health and performance, even when restorative sleep is evasive.

Based on his reading, Greg began concocting various drinks to help him. Some were minging, some just didn’t work. After lots of N-of-1 testing, however, the drinks started working and tasting much better.

When Resilient Nutrition was born, it was time to start testing and refining the drinks with the help of many more people. Through this process, Switch On became the game changer it is today. 

We originally developed Long Range Fuel to sustain physical and cognitive performance round the clock during self-supported ultra-endurance events, such as ocean rowing, ultra running, ultra cycling, and mountaineering. For this purpose, Long Range Fuel rocks. 

 

 

But Long Range fuel shines in other contexts too. 

 

 

First, it’s delicious (we’ve lost count of how many people have told us it’s the tastiest nut butter they’ve ever tried), so it can be used in the same ways as any other nut butter. We enjoy using Long Range Fuel as an addition to meals and often add 1 to 2 tbsp of Energise or Energise & Rebuild Long Fuel to breakfast to get in the zone for a tough day at work. Later in the day, some Calm or Calm & Rebuild on rice cakes always goes down a treat, and the positive effects of these two products build over time with regular use. 

 

 

Lots of our customers also love using a pouch of Long Range Fuel as a meal replacement, and the Rebuild and Calm & Rebuild products are perfect for this. Unlike many “meal replacement” products, a 100-g pouch of our nut butters contains enough protein and calories to be satisfying. 

 

 

To make it easy to know how much of each type of Long Range Fuel to use, we created this Long Range Fuel calculator to give you recommendations tailored to your personal needs. 

You can certainly use Rebuild Long Range Fuel every day.

Calm and Calm & Rebuild Long Range Fuel contain KSM-66 Ashwagandha, a herb with beneficial effects that accumulate with repeated use. Studies of KSM-66 Ashwagandha have all shown it has an excellent safety profile. This said, it’s worth noting that the longest clinical study of KSM-66 Ashwagandha only lasted about 13 weeks. Nevertheless, to be cautious, we recommend that you use these versions of Long Range Fuel somewhat intermittently. Either of the following work well:

• Have at least 2 days off Calm or Calm & Rebuild Long Range Fuel each week (e.g., use Monday to Friday).
• Consume daily, but after 12 weeks of use take a 3-week break from using it before introducing it again.

Energise and Energise & Rebuild Long Range Fuel contain caffeine and L-theanine. It’s worth noting that the longest study of L-theanine only lasted 8 weeks. Studies of L-theanine have all shown that the ingredients in Switch On have excellent safety profiles. Nevertheless, to be cautious, we recommend that you use these versions of Long Range Fuel somewhat intermittently. Either of the following work well:

• Have at least 2 days off Energise or Energise & Rebuild Long Range Fuel each week (e.g., use Monday to Friday).

Consume daily, but after 8 weeks of use take a 2-week break from using it before introducing it again. 

Of course!  

We often combine Energise or Energise & Rebuild versions of Long Range Fuel early in the day with Calm or Calm & Rebuild versions later in the day. And we use the Rebuild ones at any time of day. 

Energise or Energise & Rebuild Long Range Fuel: These products are high in caffeine, so limit your intake to no more than 3 g Energise / Energise & Rebuild Long Range Fuel per kg bodyweight per day. 

 

 

Calm or Calm & Rebuild Long Range Fuel: These products contain Ashwagandha, so limit your intake to no more than 2 g Calm / Calm & Rebuild Long Range Fuel per kg bodyweight per day.  

 

 

Rebuild Long Range Fuel: There’s no real need to cap your daily intake, for there’s no caffeine or Ashwagandha in this version. 

 

 

All our Energise and Calm products are vegan. 

Terrific news: All our products are fair game for you! 

Sometimes you will need to stir or knead Long Range Fuel, and this depends on factors such as temperature. Our Keto Coconut & Almond flavour goes particularly firm at low temperatures, so you might need to warm it up a bit - carrying it on your body helps.  

Regardless, it’s generally a good idea to briefly knead or stir all types of Long Range Fuel before you enjoy them to ensure the textures are consistent. So if you notice a bit of separation in your Long Range Fuel, just mix it back up and you're good to go! 

Long Range Fuel Elite is tested by Informed Sport for the presence of banned substances. This makes it the first, and only, Informed Sport approved nut butter, and gives you confidence that Long Range Fuel only contains what we say it does! 

 

 

As we developed Elite Long Range Fuel in collaboration with professional athletes, explorers and the military, the packaging is also slightly different. It comes in lighter-weight pouches that are black and non-reflective. It’s also available in 250-g pouches (email us at humans@resilientnutrition.com for more information). 

 

 

As many as 12 to 58% of sports supplements are tainted with low doses of substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Organisation (WADA).  

 

 

Not good. 

 

 

In response to this problem, the folks at Informed Sport developed a programme that tests products for the presence of banned substances, using a lab accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, a globally recognised standard in test procedures.  

 

 

As Long Range Fuel Elite is the first and only Informed Sport approved nut butter, you can rest assured that it contains no such nasties, which is especially important if you get tested for banned substances. This makes it ideal if you’re an elite athlete. 

 

 

Absolutely not. 

 

 

Palm oil is widely used in nut butters because it’s cheap and helps minimise oil separation. But palm oil is nutrient-poor, unlike other added fats such as almond oil that have positive effects on health. Worse yet, the palm oil industry is contributing to large-scale deforestation and is pushing many species to extinction. 

 

 

Basically, palm oil kinda sucks, no matter how people spin the story.

 

 

In 2017, two close friends named Max Thorpe and Chris Williams participated in the gruelling Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a 3,000-mile row from the Canary Islands to Antigua and Barbuda. Things were looking up as the pair started the race at record pace.  

 

 

But then their world was turned upside down. Literally. Amidst the chaos of rogue waves, their boat capsised and caught fire, and the two young men doubted they’d make it through the night. 

 

 

Thankfully Max and Chris lived to tell the tale, and you can listen to them describe their experiences in this TEDx talk. 

 

 

Despite the trauma of the event, Max wanted to give the challenge another go. As Chris was unavailable, Max called on his friend Dave Spelman to join him, and the two signed up for the 2019 event under the name Resilient:X.  

 

 

As Max and Dave prepared for the row, Max met Ali Macdonald, CEO of Resilient Nutrition, at an event about resilience. The two immediately got on, and Ali decided to support Resilient:X. To this end, he brought in his pal Greg Potter, CSO of Resilient Nutrition, to help Max and Dave optimise their nutrition and sleep.  

 

 

While analysing the nutritional demands of ocean rowing (see this guide for a comprehensive overview of how to fuel ocean rowing), Ali and Greg realised Max and Dave needed a high-calorie, lightweight, health-promoting, performance-enhancing product they could dip in and out of that wouldn’t perish while at sea for several weeks with no fridge. Such a product didn’t exist, so Ali, Greg and Ali’s wife Beth began concocting prototypes of souped-up nut butters that eventually became Long Range Fuel.  

 

 

The prototypes were as successful as they could have hoped, and Max and Dave went on to win the pairs race, breaking the World Record as they finished the race in 37 days, 7 h and 54 mins.  

 

 

After additional testing and refinements, the turbo nut butters became available to everyone in July 2020. The products have since been used to fuel successful summits of Everest and has been used to break additional World Records and Fastest Known Times in ocean rowing, kayaking, triathlon and ultra running.  

 

 

Meanwhile, us non-elite athletes have been using Long Range Fuel as a delicious way of beating brain fog, raising energy and boosting performance during workouts and competitions.

We do what we can to support the health of the environment. We’re responsible in where and how we source our ingredients, we use recyclable and reusable packaging and we avoid using plastic when possible. 

 

 

We respect and value the natural world. We will be donating a fixed proportion of our profits to the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, a charity that helps governments and communities responsibly manage their tropical rainforests. Rainforests are our planet’s richest areas of biodiversity, and preserving rainforests helps protect against climate change. 

 

 

 We’re also applying to become a certified B Corporation. 

 

 

Delivery boxes and box packaging: these are fully recyclable.

Switch On: Switch On sachets are recyclable, but we can’t guarantee that your local authority collects this type of material. As it’s important to us that waste ends up in the right place, we’re planning to release either curbside-recyclable or compostable sachets. Until then we can recycle your pouches with the TerraCycle® Zero Waste Box™ (see below).

Long Range Fuel: Long Range Fuel jars are fully recyclable. Pouches are recyclable too, but again we can’t guarantee that your local authority collects this type of material. So while we’re planning to eventually release a curbside recyclable pouch, in the meantime we can recycle your pouches with the TerraCycle® Zero Waste Box™.

How to use Terracycle®: Drop off your used sachets and pouches at a local recycling centre or a TerraCycle® food waste return site (find your nearest site here). Alternatively, return your pouches to us to be sorted, turned into plastic granules, and transformed into new products. Just add a Terracycle Returns Envelope to your cart and we’ll send you a prepaid returns envelope. Be sure to save up as many sachets and pouches as you can before sending them back to us – at least 20 would be great!

Good question!  

 

 

First, because whey protein is exceptionally high-quality protein (in terms of the gold-standard measure of protein quality, which is based on amino acid composition and digestibility), you don't need that much of it to benefit.  

 

 

Next, we understand that dairy farming is in some ways not ideal for the environment. However, we push back against the simplistic notion that animal products aren’t good for the environment. Whey is a byproduct of cheesemaking that would otherwise be discarded, making whey protein MUCH more sustainable than many people realise. In fact, if you’re using whey to replace some of your protein intake from other foods, you might well be reducing your carbon footprint in the process.  

 

 

For the time being, we’re sticking to using whey protein (sourced locally here in the UK). However, if it the demand for whey ever outstrips the production of whey from cheesemaking, we will switch to developing an alternative protein source that is truly muscle-friendly too… watch this space! 

 

 

We aren’t currently available in your local Tesco, Waitrose or Whole Foods but we are working on it. We are available through a number of specialist partners including Naturedoc, who specialise nutritional advice and products for children, and event partners such as Beyond The Ultimate and VoTwo who deliver outdoor event and races series.  

All our products are manufactured in the UK in BRC and SALSA approved facilities. They are subject to rigorous testing standards to ensure safety and quality as well as taste remain as high as possible.

We are proud to be Made in Britain approved and to represent the high quality products made in the United Kingdom. 

Royal Mail and DPD are our primary delivery services. We use their standard service to keep your delivery costs down. Our standard UK delivery time is 2 to 3 working days, but we do offer express services if you need products urgently. We aim to process all orders made before midday to go out in the afternoon post.

We can ship to most countries in Europe, and we’re working on being able to distribute products beyond Europe too. If you’d like to be the first to know when our products go global, get in touch and we’ll let you know! 

You bet.

Resilient Nutrition was founded by Ali Macdonald, who has a background competing in ultra-endurance events, and Greg Potter, who has an MSc in exercise physiology and a PhD in nutrition, circadian rhythms, sleep, and metabolism. They love spreading the word about how our lifestyles affect our health and performance, as well as what we can all do to be at our best, day in, day out.

If you’d like to chat to us about having a Resilient Nutrition team member speak at an event or on a podcast, or if you’d like us to occupy a stand at an expo, ping us an email(humans@resilientnutrition.com).