*World Iyer and Iyengar Forum - The effect of diet and spirituality on longevity.*

*World Iyer and Iyengar Forum - The effect of diet and spirituality on longevity.* *Vegetarian communities of Tamil origin and Palghat Brahmins mostly reach age of 95 easily in general. Some cross 100.* *Evidence: Times of India Obituary columns.* *They eat very little. Filter Coffee and butter milk constitutes main part of their food.* *Rasam, Rice, Sambhar, and one curry is their usual meal. Around 40% of them are diabetic in general, but their sugar elevations are generally marginal only and not too high.* *In the morning they take two dosas in general. In the afternoon little meal and in the night say around 8pm another meal. By 4 pm one filter coffee and by 6am another filter coffee.* *Daily walk for minimum half an hour. Chanting of/listening to Vishnu Sahasranamam or Rudhram&Chamakam every morning after bath. Half of the males do sandhyavandhanam too mandatorily.* *They are conservative when it comes to fuel/electricity usage and hence generally walk to the markets to buy vegetables/groceries often.* *They don't feel the need to show off expensive consumer goods to impress others, nor do they get impressed by them. Their investments if any would be in gold or real estate. Not to forget the humble fixed deposit!* *Stress symptoms, Cholesterol/Trigliceride elevations, Cancer, heart issues are minimal in them, due to their low salt, low oil, and healthy food. Oil we can see in Thadka or while frying papadam/fryums(may be thrice in a month). Else oil consumption on daily basis is very minimal.* *Sandwich/pizza/pasta/other forms of fast foods are all out of their menu. If they consume one of these once in a year, that can be considered a party day!!* *Major reason for the less stress atmosphere, is their spiritual inclination and ‘let go’ attitude when they face shortfalls/failures. They generally leave success and failures to God.In general they live a destitute life in Tamil Nadu where the Dravidian politics is hell bent to drive them out as did Kashmir to their Pandit counter parts*.* *But their non-confrontational attitude helps them pull on. However, they are well off in other states/abroad. Maharashtra, Gujrat, Delhi, Karnataka are the places where they get due recognition for their service and integrity to their employers.* *Their low masala/low salt/low spice food generally fails to trigger extreme anger/daily fights etc and sometimes you may find them failing to get angry even where they are supposed to. This diet coupled with high spirituality are the core reasons for their longevity.* *Proud to be a Brahmin 🙏