I’m Sami Reiss, a writer from Ottawa, Ont. based in Brooklyn who you may know from covering strength and wellness, design and vintage at GQ, and similar topics at the Wall St. Journal, ESPN, Ssense and Inverse. Or you may have seen my IG or bought vintage from me in my 15 years selling and sourcing, or you may subscribe to my other newsletter,
, about design, which I began in 2014 and which is collected in a book.What is Super Health?
Super Health is a newsletter covering the edge of health. This stuff:
And so on. Dispatches on dark nutrition, training, sleep, supplements, skin, wellness and everything on that side of the universe. Something between yoga, bodybuilding, Huberman, red light, raw milk and collagen, in the middle or perhaps neither at all. I’ve filled notebooks as a reporter on these topics for years, and have also undertaken them myself in the 20-plus years I’ve been working out and eating like a lifter. I’ve found that many of these protocols really helped me recover from an invasive spinal surgery I underwent weight years ago that left me nearly paralyzed.
Read about that here:
Introducing Super Health, a newsletter covering the edge of nutrition and wellness
Basically it’s this: I shouldn’t be able to walk, but I can. I recovered through simple things like moving around, working out with some weights (but not barbells) and eating right (but not only broccoli).
What you get:
Clear, normal writing on these topics is not easy to find. Neither are specifics. And so I’m rounding it all up on Super Health.
Free subscribers can expect:
Explainers on specifics that form the edge of health—the Venn diagram above: skin, nutrition, lifting, movement, sleep, energy…. red light, red meat, raw dairy, collagen, anti-nutrients, postural movement, cold plunges, glute bridges, cortisol… a final word on these topics, an introduction…
Essays/features about general ideas and structural issues in health and wellness. The way that it works.
How did we all miss seed oils? • Why is being healthy in America extremely not chill? • How did veganism become for rich people? • Why is ClassPass so beat? (Why are gyms so abhorrent?) • What’s with three-hour morning routines? • Is Huberman unswag? • Why did we get it wrong with sugar? • Why does that raw steak chick on Instagram speak in a whisper?
News posts that round up the sicko crap in the health and wellness world (and which is kind of usually right…), with context so you don’t have to
followturn notifications on for Carnivore MD, the ankle health guy, and that whispering steak chick.Interviews, videos, archival shit, whatever else comes up which smart readers might like…
Paying subscribers get it all:
The writing above and also specifics on how to implement whatever changes you see fit. Or… the road to the credenza, and feeling like affogato and steak.
Specifics. An explainer about raw milk is great, understanding how to test the waters on RM is better—what to buy, how to start if you’re lactose intolerant (yes there’s a way, I did it), my list of best farms that deliver to New York City, best LA groceries, best places in other states… real information in plain English for normal people that is impossible to find, supplementary reading material... (And so on for collagen, red meat, red light, any supplement, pull-ups, any topic about which a paying subscriber can suggest and is interested.)
Actual no-bullshit product recommendations. Look, everyone buys stuff, even experts and objective journalists. Why not buy the right thing? You think I don’t have a shower filter? Everything from those to supps to equipment to cookware to lightbulbs to whatever else.
Resources and hacks: Look, I’ll be straight here with you: getting healthy is mostly, on most days, pretty boring, and really just involves a few simple things done consistently over time. (I’m not reinventing the wheel. I didn’t invent any of this, and there are no secrets.) But there are hacks out there that people pick up which make these habits easy to stick to. Need back of the envelope math on how to avoid seed oils? Hit macros? Improve your sleep environment? Find fun cardio? Find nutrient dense foods? Work out on vacation? Bulk up or cut down? Got you.
The real psycho stuff I frankly can’t write about for a general audience, and would not dream of discussing in my introductory newsletter. The stuff that needs lots of context but is low key as true as it gets, but which is only “right” in very narrow and specific contexts. OK, one hint: a diet for skin health (yes this exists; it’s insane that this is even controversial and isn’t completely out there). If you do this you can throw out half of your creams.
The breakdown is this: Free subscribers get writing on health, with nuance and detail, paying subscribers get that and info they can use in the real world, should they want to, and more controversial, unvarnished takes.
Reader testimonials for Super Health:
“Super Health is already changing my life brother, I pivoted to a diet you recommended and feel better than ever. My energy is way up, my blepharitis (eye condition) symptoms are 99% gone, and I have a massive positive change in my strength, I upped my bench press 40 lb. after it had been stuck for a year." — paid subscriber in Illinois
“Three years ago, my wife and her parents were in a horrific traffic accident that broke my mother in law’s knee. Sami reached out with links and reading recommendations—specifically a book about intermuscular work—which I sent to her and which aided her in her recover. Support this guy.”—paid subscriber in Texas
“I wanted to say thank you for your articles and advice these past few years. In a sea of terrible wellness advice your writing about fitness has been a guiding light lol. I recently weighed in under 190 on the scales for the first time since Junior high and im down 10 pant sizes since I started working out again.”—reader in Texas
"Good writing about meathead shit is my favorite thing and also nearly impossible to find.” — paid subscriber
"Quickest subscribe I’ve ever hit. Well-researched, common sense, not know it all in tone, but know most of it in application"—paid subscriber
“THIS [Sami Reiss launching Super Health] is exciting to me, considering most of the health and fitness publications I grew up with are basically affiliate farms online, and are filled with pet food and big pharma ads in print. I want honest accounts of med spa workers, hangover reviews of electrolyte powders, and interviews with the hot guys who work at This Bowl.”—
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Reader and media testimonials for Snake:
“Snake is my source for keeping up with world events” — Laura Reilly (
)"Snake is the best newsletter around if you are looking to understand and learn about design. Or outfit your dwelling."—reader
"Reading your newsletter has elevated my understanding of interior design and opened my mind to better ways to buy furniture and objects"—reader
"Hey, wanted to say i appreciate the work you've put into this. It's been a real pleasure learning about all of this. This newsletter feels like a part of a lost internet, people don't write about STUFF with this much earnestness anymore. Like, vintage furniture, design, clothes etc. is a wild place and no one talks about it. Any way, please keep it up and please make more hats! "—paid subscriber
"Invaluable info, much love from Houston"—paid subscriber
“A guy who knows more than anyone about furniture tells you what auctions to bid on.”—Matthew Schnipper, Deep Voices, quoted here.
My book:
I began the Snake newsletter in 2014, and at that time I wrote about vintage clothing. In 2023, the first 100 newsletters I wrote were collected in a book, Sheer Drift, on Shining Life Press. You can read about the book on Printed Matter’s website or on GQ.com. You can order the book through Shining Life Press; it is also in stores.
Snake merchandise is available on snakeUSA.bigcartel.com when the store is up. It can also be purchased at the following stores, stock permitting: Fantasy Explosion (NYC), Supply Tokyo, Varsity Los Angeles and Lower East Coast (Miami).
Contact me:
My Substack page is here: https://substack.com/@snake
I am available through replying to any newsletter, or on email at sami.reiss @ gmail.com, or on social channels @ samisreiss.
Rest in peace Wade Allison and Riley Gale
