There have been quite a few cases where people claimed to have survived without food.
These people call themselves breatharians for they purportedly live on air and light alone.
Breatharianism is a hoax, and it is impossible to believe in anything otherwise.
The human body needs nourishment to survive, and many practitioners of breatharianism secretly eat food.
Others have died attempting to follow a food-free lifestyle.
“Sleeping girl”, a painting by the Armenian-Georgian artist Lazar Artasoff (18571924).
Her father, Evan Jacobs, was a deacon in the local chapel.
When she recovered her consciousness one month later, Sarah had completely lost her desire to eat.
The first few weeks, she ate a little rice, or oatmeal, or milk.
Later, she seemed to survive only on a few pieces of fruit per day.
Finally, she stopped taking food altogether.
Sarahs parents became upset about her illness but they did not force her to eat.
As the fasting went on Sarah became something of a local celebrity.
What caused the child to refuse food has never been clear.
Whatever the cause, Sarah soon began to see the value in what she was doing.
The watch lasted two weeks, but not throughout the clock, so the findings were inconclusive.
Sarah felt trapped, but pride would not allow her to admit to fraud or lying.
As the days passed, Sarah became weaker and weaker, but still she did not ask for food.
But this only enraged Evan and Hannah Jacob.
They asked the nurses to continue the watch but on no account should they give the girl any food.
By the eighth day of the watch, Sarah was delirious.
She thrashed her limbs about and fell into unconsciousness from which she ever woke up.
An inquest was held and the post-mortem examination showed that the sole reason of death was starvation.
Sarahs parents were charged with manslaughter.
They neglected their duty, and the death of one of their children was the result.
If they thought they were, then,whether the parents themselves fed her.
Evan Jacob was sentenced to a year of hard labor and his wife jailed for six months.
Evan and Hannah Jacob.
There are many more examples of extreme fasting among young girls during the Victorian era.
She broke her spine, lost her eyesight and became completely bedridden for more than fifty years.
Like Sarah Jacobs, Ann was subjected to two watches lasting sixteen days to verify her claims.
A prominent advocate of breatharianism, Jasmuheen, was subjected to a test by Australian television program60 Minutes.
But they did nothing to protect the child.
Its a shame that the judge punished the parents but discharged the doctors from blame.
