If you were to ask your grandparents a secret diet to a long life, sand and gravel will surely not be on the menu.
However, Kusma Vati from Varanasi, an 80-year-old woman in India has left many shocked after she admitted that she has been eating sand and gravel for the last 65 years.
According to her, she was 15-years-old when she first ate sand and gravel to ease an upset stomach. There has been no looking back since then, sand and gravel have become a part of her diet.
Many people, her grandchildren included are worried about the side effects this strange diet may have on her health but she believes that chewing sand and gravel have made her teeth very strong saying they can bite into the “hardest stone”..
In a Daily Mail report, Vasti who works as a farm labourer said: “I have been eating sand and gravel for around 63 years now, I love eating them and I don’t think they have any harmful effects.
“I haven’t suffered any problems in my stomach and mouth and my teeth are absolutely fine- if anything it’s made them tougher. I can bite into the hardest stone without a problem.’
Her grandchildren want her to stop but she claims the minerals in the sand have kept her healthy She said: “My grandchildren insist I get medical help to get rid of this addiction but I see no need for it. I am healthy and fit all thanks to sand which is or rather was the secret to my well-being.”
In a report by Yahoo News, she says: “I haven’t seen a doctor. For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt perfectly fine. I feel as though the minerals in the sand give me the energy to work in the crop fields.”
Vati first gathers the sand and gravel, stores it in a clay pot and allows it to dry completely before consuming it.
Vati is so addicted to eating sand and gravel that she spends hours in search of her staple diet and when she is unable to get sand she opts for stones which she gets from the walls of her house.
