Yesterday, I made a video in Japanese on the Ikigai Diet, and I talked about evidence and experience. Recently, there is a flood of books on diet and longevity written by doctors and scientists showing all kinds of medical data and scientific evidence.
On the other hand, there are many books written based on people’s experiences. Some of them are based on personal experiences, and others are based on the experiences of a group of people such as a community. Books about the blue zones are under this category.
Which is more important evidence or experience?
Obviously, evidence is crucial and there is nothing to defeat scientific facts. Nevertheless, scientific discoveries are not always correct. They just mean in the present stage these are the most probable answers, but they can be redefined in the future as new forms of experiment are conducted. The other thing is that some scientific discoveries are bent for political reasons and so on, and we can’t always trust them.
Personal experiences are not so reliable since we are all different and if one method worked for that person, it doesn’t mean it will work for others. Experiences of a group of people are more reliable, especially a tradition such as seen in blue zones. These centenarians have led their lifestyle over a long period of time and they have common elements with blue zones in other parts of the world.
A lot of scientific evidence doesn’t contradict the tradition. There are so many facts that are recently proven that we all knew based on our experiences, we just didn’t know why.
I think both evidence and experience are vital, and we can have a more holistic understanding of things by having two kinds of sources.
There are things we can’t measure by science, at least not yet, but we still need to make a decision. In that case, we need to rely on our experiences or listen to collective experiences.
Shizenha, Japanese naturalists value the tradition of Japanese natural philosophies and they check it with scientific discoveries.
A lot of things I wrote in The Ikigai Diet are based on scientific discoveries, but I have personally tried them. The diet, exercise, mindset, and lifestyle are all based on my personal experience and observation of Shizenha people I hang out with.
The Ikigai Diet: The Secret Japanese Diet to Health and Longevity
POD Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4991064864
Kindle