50-year-old Li Sanju, from Niwuei, China, has been eating only grass and roots, for the last year and a half, without any serious health problems.

The eccentric Chinese says the idea came to him, in October of 2008, while watching TV show, where he learned man can survive for 10 days without eating. This inspired him to live on water and stuff he could find on the mountain.  At first he gave up meat completely, but continued eating some rice. After a few weeks, he gave up on rice and only ate grass, roots and tree leaves.

After eating a lot of grass, Mr. Li suffered from diarrhea, for days in a row. He believed it was from the pesticides spayed on plants around the village, so he decided to only pick his food from up the mountain. He has lived like this for a year and a half, and says it made him healthier. The tumors he had on his right leg simply vanished, and he hasn’t had any other health problems.

Li Sanju says he rarely goes to the city these days, since there’s little for him to eat there. Someone offered him 10,000 yuan to eat a piece of meat, but he says he declined, for fear of dying.

I’m sure he and the sand-eating woman of Russia would really hit it off.

Photos by REX FEATURES via Dantri