Saraswati Bai, a 75-year-old woman from India, claims that she hasn’t consumed a grain of rice, or any other solid food, for that matter, in the last 60 years. Apart from one banana a week – eaten only occasionally – she survives on water and tea alone.
Saraswati remembers that she used to have a normal diet until she got a Typhoid infection, right after her first son was born, 60 years ago. She couldn’t keep anything down and suffered severe stomach aches, so she gave up eating completely. As her condition improved, she started taking small sips of tea, but her appetite never returned. Concerned about both her well-being and that of their son, her husband Dwarka Prasad Patikar, tried convincing her to start eating, but she just couldn’t do it. She felt fine living on water and tea alone, and continues to do so today.
