Modern Polymath

For cleansing purposes, I have been known to take the occasional fast, not eat anything, and have only water or juice for a couple days.  (I know, I really need to wean myself off caffeine.  My last fast I had to drink coffee to prevent withdrawal headaches.)  It's really not all that difficult, but I know after 48 hours, I start dreaming of food.  Not that I'm really hungry, just that I want to be eating.  (There is a psychological satisfaction to eating.  I'm sure there is a dopamine release.)

Anyway, there is this guy, Hira Ratan Manek, who hasn't eaten since 1995.  Really.

Before you call bullshit on this, which trust me, I was inclined to do at first also, he's been observed a few times:

• 211 days during 1995-96 in Calicut, India directed by Dr. C.K. Ramachandran, a medical expert on allopathy and ayurvedic (ancient Hindu) medicine. 
• 411 day fast  from 2000-2001 in Ahmedabad, India directed by an International team of 21 medical doctors and scientists led by Dr. Sudhir Shah (His report)
• 130 days in 2001 at Thomas Jefferson University and University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia led by Dr. Andrew B. Newberg.

He claims to get his energy from the sun, and doesn't need food.  He drinks only water, and occasionally, for social purposes, will drink tea, coffee, or buttermilk.

The two books he recommends on his website are in my Books you Should Buy

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