Get rid of the pickles, no sausage. An apple a day.
And be careful whom you choose as your spouse. That’s the advice from an Iranian-Canadian who just turned 105 and is spry and ready for another century.
A retired general in the Shah’s Army, Mohammad Mohyeddin is at peace with his huge family in Toronto.
During an interview with the Toronto Star, his great-grandkids were screeching in the den, one clamored to be heard over the next and a small dog yapped. But when Mohyeddin raised his finger and began to answer the question — what’s the secret to long life and good health? — the gaggle fell silent.
“Be truthful,” he said. “I never said a lie in my life.” His daughter Parvin translated as Mohyeddin held forth in Farsi. “I have a clear conscience. So I sleep well.”
Mohyeddin, a husband for 75 years, a father to eight children, and grandfather to 20, recently 105 years old.
His advice is summarized neatly by the Zoroastrian axiom, “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds,” which the family has minted on a coin bearing the profiles of Mohyeddin and his wife Ashraf.
Always drink pure water, eat food that comes from the ground — not from a package — and chew carefully, he says. Actually, Mohyeddin is pretty specific about the food part: Don’t eat pickles or anything else brined in salt. Sausages are out, too. Eat fruits and vegetables. He always eats an apple before breakfast. He doesn’t drink or smoke—and has no problem lecturing a stranger on quitting tobacco.
Exercise. Choose a spouse who will be a true companion. And take care of your family first. “It’s the love of them that gives me power to live,” he says.
Mohyeddin was born in Tafresh, Iran, in 1906. He rose through the ranks of the Shah’s army, eventually becoming a general. In 1979, while visiting a daughter in Montreal, the revolution toppled the regime. The family promptly relocated to Canada.