OS 19: Finasteride? Gummies and sugar for health? And a new peak for peptides? Ancient TEETH?
All the wellness evil/demonic/angelic or otherwise news that's fit to print
TUESDAY. Mid week, the Ottawa Senators (team of destiny) with a challenge ahead of them, statistically with the best goalie play among all NHL playoff teams. Legendary old man band Straight Ahead is playing shows this weekend: I saw Tommy Carroll at an art opening in 2009 and have not been the same since. Worked out at Parade Ground on Sunday and flipped tires over and had about 5 oz. of eye of round top loin and a skid of tomatoes as post workout. Open Secrets. Snake Super Health. Newsletter. News. Nice out finally. Cutting weight still and otherwise every day and then bulking around Labor Day so I can look like this guy by December (his ideas about nicotine and toxicity intrigue me). Open Secrets. The ONLY health aggregation email that surfs between the lines of full health psychosis and being completely normal.
What we cover here, for those new to the program: peptides, CASEIN protein powder, other (animal) protein (powders, otherwise), running, SPRINTING, gelatin/sugar, linoleic-acid removal mechanisms (for health), two grapefruit a day diets, delicious eye of round, maybe citrus peel and water, skincare as diet (vit. E/lycopene/sat. fat/X-factors), nicotine patches (not for me), nicotine tabs and the people that love them, nerve flossing AKA reverse Tai Chi aka high-level band work aka TOE WORK; thoracic spine mobility, lower back strength (super strength), post-DHT/blood=flow theories of hair growth, post-calories in/out models of fat loss, severe macros mastery, GHk-Cu and Wolverine, Dr. Raymond Peat, sunlight titration, dead hangs, understanding written coverage of obscure and basic fitness and dark wellness concepts in the news, EMOM workouts (look it up), pleasant-looking zero-drop shoes, vibratory therapy (movement), cotton head to toe, strength, curly hair, eye color lightening and more. Where the obscure meets the basic and melds. Nobody who understands these topics writes about this. Snake Super Health Open Secrets.
Today’s newsletter features: a surprisingly pro-finasteride piece in the Times (and this newsletter’s alternative avenues for hair health/capture); a local calisthenics hero gets his due; the way to excise long morning routines into stark minimalism; an infinity pool that isn’t; Exhibit 2043902 of peak creatine, and Ex. 2043903 of peak peptide; a case for increasing your dietary sugar—from a nutritionist!—and some low-tox Peat-approved ways to do this (dark wellness); the connection between extra sleep (as opposed to just enough) and severe performance; “warrior culture” and writers afraid of having 18” necks, what a couple of centenarian world-record holders can teach us about minimal training routines, the beauty girlies find out about ancient dental care, and the new Fairlife milk (high protein, low cal) competitor/killer. Plus: raw milk, ead hangs, and carrot salad 3.0.
Onto it.
Went long on morning routines last week in this newsletter after reading the long Cut story about them. In the essay I explain their growth from an esoteric health perspective, list some explanations for why they work/make sense, and offer solutions to cutting them down by 80%, while maintaining results. Check it out.
Last week’s workout was sick. Christian from Energy showed up as did some regulars, some new folks and a neighborhood guy who busted in and did a handful of pull-ups on a belly full of pizza. (Salute that man.) We did some muscle-up work with Energy brand’s bands—they’re strong, great—before the workout; I like the balaclava/mask a lot, too. (Priced well.) They’ve got a cool thing going on; Christian recently directed a short documentary about calisthenics (the scene, in NY) which premiered the other day at Hatchet Supply (it’s on YouTube here), and is featured on Nike Training today. Peep the respect:
Sweet. Next workout will be Sunday April 26 at Columbus Park in Manhattan at noon. All levels, all welcome, free free free.
Follow @snakesuperhealth on Instagram:
More news:
Have we reached peak creatine? Exhibit A: this creatine seasoning from “Strong Stuff Seasoning” Suppwire that is pretty much just Himalayan salt but has 3g crea per tsp; Exhibit B is this video of Rory McIlroy saying he takes 20g a day, which got some play after the Masters. I’d say we haven’t. The literature on this stuff is thorough and well-regarded enough that it can sustain a number of wild businesses, and and can convince gen pop folks to insert this once bodybuilder intervention into their diet. I’d say there’s more of a use case for this stuff than protein powders; indeed, it’s being marketed more as a mental drug than a lifter one. I wrote the other month about its toxicity in some obscure circles, which is minor for now, if real. What’s ironic is that everyone’s shitting on protein and RFK health and lifting and no one’s citing the actually creatine studies.
Weird data point here:
Max Marchione@maxmarchionebehold, the casual peptide stacks taken by the sf elite:
11:29 PM · Apr 12, 2026 · 210K Views96 Replies · 96 Reposts · 2.38K LikesNo context. I’m not anti-peptide but man, you really have to know your shit to get it. In what universe are people who weren’t using these things a year ago now experts?
New to Snake Super Health? Missed last week’s? Start here:
Catch up on the Open Secrets news update archive; the latest covers Radden Keefe’s low-key elite diet, Hyrox’s bid to get the tough mudder crowd; my weighted vest pick; Kardashian’s new esoteric hair health gamble, low glyph. beers and fascinating pro-health legislation.
Podcast archive. The latest episode is about looksmaxxing.
Around the Web:
I liked this post from earlier today from friend of Snake Super Health Kat Chan—against a sugar-free diet (or, more correctly, promoting some fruit). Kat’s work on SS is thorough and eye level and deals with real, esoteric-touching health but for normal people and has a nice bias towards color and greens and veggies. Sample quote:
Sugar isn’t inherently “bad” but frequent hits of it can change how your appetite and energy behaves throughout the day. A steady stream of refined sugar - a spoonful in your coffee, a couple mini eggs here and there - can contribute to keeping appetite switched on, making it harder to differentiate true hunger from boredom.
…it’s important to note that there’s a lot of fear mongering going on when sugar and all its synonyms come into play. I can tell you firsthand that I’ve been asked multiple times whether it’s safe to eat a banana. Yes it is. Eat the fruit.
Fruit is good. Probably the best stuff out. Later down in the story Kat includes helpful tips about… sweet desserts that won’t cause an energy crash and have some nutrients, protein and so on. Nice one Kat.
The “pro-sugar” argument taken to its natural conclusion is the Ray Peat diet (I explain it here): in which some sugar, not much fat, and some helpful proteins and nutrients keep energy up and appetite/metabolism curbed. It’s like a darker version of Kat’s post above: there’s not only the sugar crash described above but one from muscle meat. (Meats higher in glycine and gelatin help knob off the post-muscle meat sleepies; sugar, when simple and not attached to fat, makes your mitochondria more alive: think OJ, papaya, red Coke.)
I did this diet for a while and felt fluid and full of pep; one such way was through gummies, which combine sugar/fruit/honey and gelatin (my recipe is here) but when you can’t or are traveling, or are about to have a tough preworkout true sugar and candy can help. I find gummies in store are scam; they’re helpful if they have gelatin and honey/cane sugar; almost none out there do.
Happily, though, I found one that’s sans veg. oils (just palm oil—low on the linoleic scale), with beef gelatin and legit sugar. It’s dark approved and a good non-homemade product in a pinch. Link to that and and a vegetable peeler that went viral on dark health Twitter and is now sold out, (like the soap I linked to in my gift guide beloved by Self Involved). I’ve been housing the gummies pre workouts and they’re great; I’ve been nailing reps and feeling alive. They are
