Lifestyle of Iyer and Iyengar:-

Lifestyle of Iyer and Iyengar:- The effect of diet and spirituality. Vegetarian communities of Tamil origin 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 diet. 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 a cup of strong coffee. They eat two dosas for breakfast in general. In the afternoon, little meal; by 4pm a cup of filter coffee and in the night say around 8pm a simple meal or tiffin. Daily walk for minimum half an hour. A short prayer time after bath. Chanting of/listening to Vishnu Sahasranamam , Lalita sahasranamam or Rudram&Chamakam every morning . 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 only in Thadka or while frying vadam/ papadam(may be twice 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- life is their spiritual inclination- attending Shloka or Vedanta or B.Gita class and ‘let go’ attitude when they face shortfalls/failures. They generally leave success and failures to God as Iswara prasadam. In general, their non-confrontational attitude helps them pull on anywhere under the Sun. However, they are well off in states other than TN and abroad. Maharashtra, Gujrat, Delhi, Karnataka are the places where they get due recognition for their hard work, sincerity and integrity at workplaces. Their saatwik food habits viz. low masala/low salt/low spice food minus garlic-onion , generally fails to trigger extreme anger/passion/daily fights etc. Often times, you may find them pretty passive, failing to get angry even where they are supposed to. Thus, their diet coupled with high spirituality are the core reasons for their simplicity, peaceful coexistence and longevity. In short, they are proud of their roots and grateful to their native environment.