Ali MacDonald & Greg Potter
Ali is co-founder and CEO at Resilient Nutrition is a former soldier, active endurance athlete, and coach, and is fascinated by resilience and what enables some people to achieve what they previously thought impossible. After spending 15 years working in the data, insights and technology space at Accenture, he combined his passion for human performance with his technology experience to found Optimal Human Performance, a company that works with scientists and coaches to help individuals and teams test the limits of their abilities, often in extreme environments. It was this experience and getting to work with his co-founder, Dr Greg Potter, that lead to the creation of Resilient Nutrition.
Greg Potter leads the development of Resilient Nutrition products. He has a PhD in nutrition, circadian rhythms, sleep, and metabolism, and an MSc and a BSc in sports science. He is a health and performance consultant and is a regular keynote speaker at international health summits. Highlights of Greg’s career include working with US Naval Special Warfare, coaching a sprinter to four gold medals at the European Championships, being the sleep expert on a Channel 4 documentary, and having his research featured in dozens of international news outlets, including the BBC, Reuters, TIME, and The Washington Post.
Ali is particularly fond of punishing exercise, the jungle, bagpipes, and biltong.
Greg is particularly fond of early starts, volcanoes, diving, and fish pie.
Ali has always been interested in endurance sports and how to fuel for endurance events. He knows it is not just the food but also a psychological element that enables him to keep going.
Greg, whilst not low carb or keto, focuses on nutrition, exercise and sleep and appreciates that all aspects of lifestyle influence how we feel and how we function.
Together they created a product to help two rowers cross the Atlantic in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge that was nutritious, energy-dense, easy to digest foods that will be stable without a fridge for several weeks at a time. This led to them co-founding Resilient Nutrition, whose products are not only for athletes for those who are wanting to make intelligent choices in optimising their health and performance.
We discuss the nuance of carbohydrate loading for different activities. Greg also talks in-depth about exercise, nutrition, sleep and how to improve your sleep.
Ali's Top Tips
- Be thoughtful about what you eat
- Remember what you eat affects how you feel and perform
- Think about the relationship between what you eat and how you sleep
Greg's Top Tips
- Humans have existed for the majority of time on this planet as pre-industrial people so we need to mimic that lifestyle by being outdoors
- Take care to reduce the effects of chronic low-grade stress
- Give back when you can
Resources Mentioned
https://resilientnutrition.com/pages/principles/
The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance - Dr Jeff S Volek and Dr Stephen D Phinney
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
Quotes by Ali and Greg
“I've struggled with finding a food system that works for me. And a lot of that research led me to, actually led me to Greg.”
“I do find that on long races, a low carb approach works particularly well for me. And that's really where I've got the fascination with this lifestyle.”
“What it did was put a scientific basis behind the relationship between what we eat, how we eat, when we sleep and how we sleep. And it really kind of clarified that. It's all part of a system.”
“To function well, in that context, the guys needed nutritious, energy-dense, easy to digest foods that will be stable without a fridge for several weeks at a time. We began formulating what were initial prototypes of our first product, which was named Long Range Fuel. “
“I think it was, in part, frustration, having been exposed to a lot of misinformation and disinformation over the years about how people should eat and what they should suffer with, and perform at their best. I think we wanted to write those wrongs.”
“While my focus initially was very much on nutrition, and exercise, over time, I've come to appreciate the role is of all aspects of lifestyle and how we feel and how we function.”
“Whereas my focus was once more or less exclusively on performance, I'm now at least as interested in health and mitigating chronic disease.”
"We feel that the things that support health and athletes are much the same as the things that support health and the rest of us too."
"The reason why we set up Resilient Nutrition was to make sure that we could create a filter between all the great research that's going on, and turn it into something that's accessible to the average person."
"I think where we're coming from with all of this is: knowledge is king. You start start with educating and then trial, find what works for you and then settle into a pattern that's ideal."
Connect with Ali and Greg on social media
Twitter: https://twitter.com/resilientnuts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/resilientnuts/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/resilientnuts
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/resilientnutrition/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2rNifk9eOUQSqmrzpmpNlg
Website Details:
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