One new year’s resolution I made is to visit shrines regularly and I visited a shrine that I wanted to go to for many years during the holiday. That was Tenkawa Shrine in Nara Prefecture. Tenkawa Shrine is one of the most famous power spots in Japan and it is always listed within the top three sacred shrines. It is located near Mt. Omine which is the mecca of Shugendo that I wrote about in the new book Ikigai Bio-Hacking.
If you want to know my new year’s resolutions, watch this.
How was your holiday?
I suppose you made new year’s resolutions, too. Are you going to practice a plant-based diet? Are you going to start intermittent fasting? Are you going to exercise regularly?
Do you have a plan for them?
Many people make new year’s resolutions and start practicing them for one month and stop in February. Do you know why? Because you don’t make a plan. To achieve any kind of goal, you need a plan.
Today, I will share with you how to plan your diet, exercises, mindset, and lifestyle for 2022. In other words, how to plan to be healthy.
You need these four areas because they have synergetic effects just like diverse fiber and nutrients have combined effects.
Diet
Among the four, diet is the most important. You are made by what you eat. So, I would plan the diet first. You want to cover 30 different kinds of fiber a week. Use Ma Go Wa Ya Sa Shi I as guidelines, and plan your meals weekly. Diversity is the key. Count the types of beans, nuts and seeds, seaweeds, vegetables, mushrooms, potatoes, grains, and fruit. If you find 30 of them, try to cover them by stretching them over the week.
Intermittent Fasting
I would encourage you to try intermittent fasting, too. If you have never done it before, start from the 16/8 method. You fast 16 hours a day. Finish eating dinner by 8 pm skip breakfast and don’t eat lunch until 12 noon. You can have black coffee or green tea during your fasting window but choose organic ones. You can practice Hare and Ke Intermittent Fasting, which means to intermittent fast only during the week and take a break on the weekend. You can try it for three months and once you get used to fasting 16 hours a day, you can begin trying the 17/7 method.
Exercises
For exercises, choose one exercise such as walking or HIIT, and do it regularly to make it a habit. If you chose walking, you can go walking for 30 minutes five days a week. If you chose HIIT, you can do it three times a week.
Mindset
For mindset, practice Shinon Kansha meditation every day. You can do that during walking, too.
Satoyama Lifestyle
For the lifestyle, you can mark new moons, full moons, equinoxes, and solstices on your calendar, and live with seasons in mind. Pay attention to the celestial rhythm and seasonal changes.
I just listed one activity in each area to simplify it, but it all depends on who you are. The best thing is to read The Ikigai Diet and get the overview and select activities suitable to you. Actions that are doable in your environment, and schedule. Actions that are challenging enough for your outcomes.
The Ikigai Diet: The Secret Japanese Diet to Health and Longevity
POD Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4991064864
Kindle
Great content! Keep up the good work!
Hi Naturecan, thank you for your comment.