Prefer to listen or watch? This essay is also a podcast, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and a film on YouTube.
The supplement industry is built on a simple, profitable lie: that there is a pill, or a powder, for everything, and that more ingredients on the label means more health in the bottle. Walk into any store and you will find products boasting fifty, eighty, ninety ingredients. It looks impressive. It is mostly marketing. Because what the label almost never tells you is the dose, and a long list of ingredients at doses too small to do anything is just an expensive way to produce very colourful urine.
So I want to do something different here. I am going to tell you exactly what I take, and just as importantly, why I keep most of my money in my pocket for everything else. This is not an essay about taking more. It is about taking the few things that actually earn their place, at doses that actually work.
One disclosure before I name anything, because it matters for trust. When I decided to write this, the first thing I did was go and ask whether I could get a discount for you on the things I already buy every month. IM8 was the one that said yes. So yes, there is an affiliate arrangement, I earn a small commission, and you get ten percent off. I only put my name to something I genuinely use every day, and you are about to hear exactly how I use each one and where I think it falls short. Judge them on that, not on the links.
Food first. Supplements fill identified gaps.
Here is the rule that governs all of it, and it is the opposite of what the industry wants you to believe. Supplements are not a substitute for the basics. They do not replace real food, sleep, training, or managing your stress. They fill specific, identified gaps that you cannot close through diet alone. That word, identified, is the whole game.
The person who takes twenty supplements on a hunch is doing wellness theatre.
The person who takes four, because they know why they need each one, is managing their health like the asset it is. Same discipline as the tracking essay: you act on what you actually know, not on what the marketing tells you to fear.
Two layers: a base for convenience, a layer for precision
I split my stack into two layers. A base layer, for broad coverage and convenience, and a targeted layer, for the specific gaps I know I have, at doses that actually work.
The base layer is about removing friction. Life is busy, and assembling a dozen separate pills every morning is exactly the kind of complexity that does not survive a hard week. So a good all-in-one base earns its place not because it is magic, but because it is the version of broad nutrition you will actually take every day. But, and this is the honest part the industry hates, no all-in-one base, however long its ingredient list, doses everything at the level that matters. That is not a flaw you can shop your way out of. It is just how broad formulas work. Which is exactly why the second layer exists: you top up, deliberately, the few things that matter most for you, at full, effective doses. Convenience for the broad base. Precision for what counts.
Exactly what I take
The base. I use an all-in-one called IM8 as my foundation. It is a powder I mix into water each morning, and it covers the broad spectrum, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, greens, in one drink. I will be straight about why I chose it and where it sits. The quality is genuinely high, it is third-party tested and certified clean, which for something you take daily for years actually matters. There is also a longevity formula in the range that I take alongside it, though I would not build your whole decision around that part. And here is a benefit nobody markets but that I value as much as any ingredient: because I have to drink a large glass of water to take it, it guarantees I start every day properly hydrated. Hydration is genuinely underrated for energy and focus, enough that it will get its own essay. The base is convenience and a hydration trigger. It is not where the precision lives.
The precision layer is where I actually target my own body, and yours will look different from mine, ideally guided by a blood test. I did mine during my yearly retreat, in a calmer moment, and it became the basis for designing this second layer. For these targeted pieces I use Sunday Natural, a German brand built on a clean-label philosophy, lab-tested and properly dosed, exactly the kind of single-ingredient quality a broad base cannot give you. Here is what I take, and the why behind each one.
Vitamin D, taken together with vitamin K2. I take this because a blood test showed I was genuinely deficient in D, which is extremely common, especially for those of us who spend our days indoors under office light. D matters for energy, mood, immunity, and bone health, and the K2 helps direct the calcium where it belongs. This is the perfect example of the principle: I do not take it on a hunch, I take it because a number told me I needed it.
Omega-3. I take it for the genuinely well-established benefits, and I want to be precise here rather than overclaim, because you deserve accuracy on your own health. The strongest evidence is that omega-3 lowers triglycerides and supports cardiovascular and brain health, alongside a real anti-inflammatory effect. It is one of the most consistently supported supplements there is, which is exactly why it makes my short list.
And creatine, which is the most misunderstood thing on this list. Most people file it under gym supplements, for bodybuilders. That is outdated. Creatine is one of the most researched compounds in existence, and the newer research is striking for people like us. A 2024 study in Scientific Reports found that creatine measurably improved cognitive performance and processing speed during sleep deprivation, by helping maintain the brain’s energy supply when it is depleted. A benefit for your tired brain, on the days you did not sleep enough. Three to five grams a day, the standard dose. It supports the muscle, yes, but I take it at least as much for the brain.
Magnesium, as bisglycinate, taken before bed. This one is the exception that proves the rule, so let me be honest about it in exactly the way the industry never is. The evidence for magnesium and sleep is real but modest: a 2025 placebo-controlled trial found that magnesium bisglycinate measurably reduced insomnia severity, with the clearest benefit in people whose dietary intake was low to begin with. So I do not oversell it. It is not a sedative and it will not rescue a broken sleep routine. But the mechanism is sound, it helps calm the nervous system, the bisglycinate form is gentle and well absorbed, and the downside is minimal. For a tool that supports the single most important recovery system I have, that is a trade I will take. One caution, and it matters: magnesium can interact with certain medications, so clear it with your doctor before you start, and respect the dose on the label.
A clean base for convenience and hydration, then D with K2, omega-3, and creatine for precision, plus magnesium for sleep.
A short, deliberate list, each item with a reason.
That is the entire stack, and notice how short it is.
When a few supplements protect all four lives
It is easy to dismiss supplements as vanity, but look at what these few actually target. The creatine protects the cognitive sharpness you bring to work on no sleep. The vitamin D underwrites the energy and the mood your kids and your partner meet at the end of the day, because a deficiency there quietly flattens both. The omega-3 protects the cardiovascular system you need to still be here, and here well, for the long game with your family. And the base, by guaranteeing your hydration, props up the energy all four lives draw on. This is not about living forever or chasing a label. It is about making sure the one body that has to show up to all four lives has what it actually needs, and nothing it does not.
It all starts with you.
So here is how to actually start, in the right order. Begin with the base, today. A good all-in-one removes the friction and covers the broad spectrum, and it is the one part you can put in place immediately. If you want the exact one I use, the link is below, with ten percent off because I went and asked for it. Then, when you can, ideally during a calmer period like a holiday or a retreat the way I did it, get a blood test, find out what you are genuinely low on, and build your second layer to target only that, at real doses. Maybe add creatine regardless, given how well it holds up. Base first, then precision. Let the data, not the marketing, decide what earns a place in your body. Few things, real doses, real reasons.
It all starts with you.
I am Philippe. I will see you in the next one.
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Affiliate note:
Once I knew I was going to write about what I actually take, I went looking for a deal for the people reading this, on products I was already buying anyway. IM8 was the one that offered one. The link is https://www.im8health.com/4LifeMethod10 and the code 4LifeMethod10 gives you ten percent off. I earn a small commission if you use it.
For the layer-2 products I use Sunday Natural; a link will follow once that partnership is set up. As I said at the top, I only recommend what I actually take, and I have been honest above about where the base layer is strong and where you need to add your own precision.
Sources
• Gordji-Nejad et al. (2024), Scientific Reports. Creatine improves cognitive performance and processing speed during sleep deprivation; standard daily dose 3-5g. Used in THIS video only.
• Omega-3: cadred on established evidence (triglyceride-lowering, cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory support). LDL nuance noted; cholesterol shortcut deliberately avoided.