A Seattle woman is conducting an experiment to see if she can survive on only light and water, similar to the nourishment a plant thrives on, The Daily News reported.
Naveena Shine, 65, began an extreme fast on May 3, only taking in water, tea, and sunlight.
Shine plans to continue the fast for about 40 days, maybe even longer if it goes well. She's been sharing her journey on Facebook and Youtube.
Shine claims yoga enthusiasts called "breatharians" also practice the fast.
"Plants live on light, then we eat plants," Shine said on Facebook at the beginning of her experiment. "Are we simply not accessing our inherent ability to live on light? ... After hearing of the possibility that this might be true, I received a 'calling' from within, from the Universe, to find out if it is so."
Shine said she believes that food can be an addiction.
"Can you imagine, if we did not have to eat, just how free our lives would be?" She wrote in a blog post. "A vast amount of time, effort and resources go into merely putting food on the table. If humans did not have to eat, we could turn our planet back into a place of beauty."
Shine claimed the fast should not be used for weight loss, since the weight would pile right back on once the person resumed eating.
Shine does look much thinner in Facebook posts made after she had participated in the fast for several weeks. She claims to have gone from 160 pounds down to 130. She also claimed that her skin "feels better."
She has posted about some unpleasant side effects including "weakness, throwing up bile, dizziness, and frozen hands."
"I normally do 20 minutes on the treadmill twice a day," Shine posted on May 28. "After that I often need to lie down for a while to recover. Today I went to sleep right after and seem to have spent half the day sleeping. Really pleasant on a rainy day in Seattle."
Even though some people are concerned about the fast, Shine plans to continue with it for as long as possible.
In a more recent post: "I had had a couple of rough days where I felt weak and threw up bile," she posted on June 5. "Freaked out everybody around me!! Today I am feeling well and strong again. I am now 130lbs. I still feel dizzy if I stand up quickly but I swiftly stabilize. It is warm enough outside that my hands do not freeze in the evenings."
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