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The Ikigai Diet and Ikigai Bio-Hacking
Yesterday, I planted some sweet potatoes.
I decided to grow sweet potatoes for the first time in a long time.
The first reason is that there may be a food shortage this year. I think it is to do with the Ukraine and Russia war, but the prices of materials are rising, including fertilizer. During the second world war, people were planting sweet potatoes in empty lands everywhere in Japan. Sweet potatoes are easy to grow and are a good source of carbohydrates.
I don’t know if there is going to be a food shortage, but just in case. Plus, it is always good to be self-sufficient.
That is one of the reasons Ikigai Bio-Hacking doesn’t rely upon a global system or a big production such as using supplements. Those companies won’t be able to produce supplements if they can’t get hold of the ingredients.
The key to resilience is the local and small-scale system where you can be in control of the situation.
The second reason is that sweet potatoes are good for you. They were staple foods in many long lived villages in Japan that Dr. Shoji Kondo discovered.
If you want to know about the long lived villages in Japan, please watch the video below.
Sweet potatoes were eaten a lot in long lived villages in Kyushu and shikoku. And they are eaten a lot in Okinawa, too.
We call sweet potatoes Satsumaimo in Japanese, which means Kagoshima’s potatoes, because Satsuma is the old name of today’s Kagoshima prefecture in Kyushu.
Apparently, sweet potatoes called Beniimo came into Okinawa first, and they went to Kagoshima and became Satsumaimo after being bred, today’s so-called purple sweet potatoes.
There are different kinds of satsumaimo today, purple, white, and orange.
So, I decided to plant those three types.
The purple ones are the closest to Beniimo in Okinawa and they have a high amount of anthocyanin. White and orange sweet potatoes have other benefits, too, to dismiss.
It is always better to diversify the plants.
Diversity is another key to resilience.
Anyway, I’ll be eating a lot of sweet potatoes this year.
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