How to nurture both personal and planetary well-being?
Sachikai Takamiya states that everything done in ikigai bio-hacking contribute positively to the environment. Opting for organic foods is an example of this, simultaneously fostering personal well-being and supporting planetary health.
Choosing eco-friendly options
Nick: You write that ikigai bio-hacking is linked to planetary well-being. So what do you mean by that?
Sachiaki: One thing we touched on the last episode, everything we do is natural. That's why we call it Shizenha bio-hacking, the naturalist bio-hacking. So we try to do things outdoor, we try to do some stretching type of exercises or oriental exercises, and so on.
But also, we do things which is environmentally friendly. For example, when we eat food, we try to choose organic food or local food. Because organic food is good for our health and it's also good for the environment.
Because sometimes researchers kind of disagree on the health benefits of organic food. Whether organic food is actually more beneficial than non-organic food, some scientists kind of argue. But for me, regardless of the result, even though organic food isn't healthier than regular food, still, it is better for the environment.
Therefore, it's worth consuming organic food for that purpose, too. So everything done in the ikigai-biohacking is good for the environment. We try to find way that helps both our personal health and planetary health.
Think about supplement. I mean, I’m not against supplement. Supplement can be beneficial sometimes, and there are people who need supplement to cover their nutritional deficiencies. But that should be our last resort.
First, we can maybe look for some other natural means, because we can get enough nutrition from food. And also, sustainability of supplement is not really clear. Because you probably find the ingredient from a far place, is not a local ingredient.
And also it's kind of manufactured. So to make supplement, they’re may be using a big scale monoculture farming method. But it is important to promote polyculture farming, where you kind of grow many different plants in the same land and in small-scale farming, too.