~Women eats stones for 70 years~

[Verminda Spirit]

There is a mystical old woman living in a small village in Guofu town, Qijiang county, Chong Qing city, China. The woman is nearly 80 years old. For the last 70 years, she has eaten smallstones every day and appears to be healthier than other villagers her age. According to the "Approaches to Science" TV program, Darong is a typical village in that area. However, because the strange old woman by the name of Luo Kairong lives there, this secluded village has become famous. A villager said, "She is very healthy. We have never seen her unwell. She is competent at several things. She can carry things in the fields in winter and cut firewood in her bare feet." We understand that Luo has eaten small stones for more than 70 years and even once ate half a wall. From her appearance, she looks like any other elderly peasant. There is nothing overtly different. Granny Luo said that she is particular about the stones she eats. She never eats "soft" stones; her favorites are the very hard green sandstones gathered from the mountains.

To her, the harder stones are tastier. She eats stones just like ordinary people munch on peanuts. Looking at the doubtful expressions in our eyes, she brings a red cloth bag from her house and stuffs her mouth with a handful of gravel. Granny Luo eats these stones nonstop and chews with great gusto. Seeing is believing. It is hard to believe that an 80-year-old woman could consume so many small stones. Granny Luo told us that her teeth have been worn down from eating the stones. She has had to replace her dentures three times. Then, why can an elderly person swallow a stone that is seemingly tasteless and hard to swallow without being choked or falling sick? Experts say this could possibly be related to the fact that Granny Luo has eaten soil since childhood.

[watershield]

Talk about adding roughage to your diet... ;D

[Ebony]

I just finished a book called "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck. This is a fact-based story from life in China during the late 1880's and early 1900's. The plot follows a Chinese farmer through 50+ years of his life. At one point there is a severe famine and the farmer fed soil to his children to keep them alive. The reason being, there were nutrients in the soil from the repeated growing of crops in the field, that could sustain life for a short period of time when no other food is available.

I don't know if I'd call this Traditional Chinese Medicine, but they seem to know a great deal on keeping a body healthy, and on healing a sick body.