My mother will be 94 this July. She's in good health except for arthritis. She has eaten (and cooked) southern style food all her life. Her mother died at 95, and her grandmother at 102. My grand-dad usually ate his morning bacon, eggs, and grits with the bacon grease from the pan poured over the grits, then finished up with hot biscuits topped off with home made cane syrup and big globs of fresh skimmed cream. He died of emphysema at 81, but otherwise in good health. If he hadn't started smoking Prince Albert rolled into cigarettes at age 7 he might have lived much longer. When he was 71 and I was 12 he took me deer hunting in Big Cypress swamp. He could still carry a 4-point buck on his shoulders 5 miles to the camp without ever sitting down to rest.
On Dad's side of the family my grandparents ate pretty much the same type cooking as Mom's family. Dad lived to age 85 and died from Alzheimer's disease. He was in good health otherwise, but Alzheimer's patients usually die from pneumonia, nothing to do with what they eat. His Mom died at 84 from diabetes, and his Dad died at 75 from a heart attack after helping push a car out of a ditch.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I don't believe southern cooking kills people, I believe sitting around all day watching Judge Judy and Oprah kills people. All the people in my family history worked hard all their lives and ate southern cooking 3 times a day. AFAIK none of them died as a result of the type cooking they ate.
My husband's grandpa (from Alabama) lived to 99 years old. Drank two whisky sours every night, smoked until age 90, and LOVED fried chicken & gravy. The man ate everything the food police say is bad....and he lived a good long life. Perhaps it had something to do with all of the exercise and activity...he played golf regularly until about 96. My grandpa (from Oklahoma) was overweight & smoked. One day, he just dropped dead at 98. Go figure.
I get sick and tired of hearing the food police tell us yet another food is bad. Obviously, they look down on southern cooking. Screw 'em.