'Living on light,' woman on 100-day experiment to go without food

SEATTLE -- Is food an addiction? That’s the question one local woman is asking.

Naveena Shine is on a 100-day quest to avoid eating food. Shine is in the middle of an experiment that she thinks could change the world.

Eight surveillance cameras canvas Shine’s home, inside and out, recording her every move. Shine said the cameras keep her honest about staying away from food.

“I feel great,” Shine said Thursday. “You know what, there’s times where I go through, blah! There’s times where I think, should I stop this now?”

Shine’s pantry is bare and her cupboards are empty.  She’s on a mission to find out if she can survive on only tea and sunlight. Shine believes food is an addiction

“It’s like alcohol, once you start doing something you can’t get off it,” said Shine. “Especially now when they put all the addictions into the food to get you coming back for more, food is so addictive.”



But nutritionists say the practice of self-starvation is dangerous and has been deadly.

A Swiss woman in her fifties died last year after embarking on a reported ‘spiritual journey’ to give up food and water.

Shine now weighs 129 pounds, down 30 pounds since she quit eating. She says she’s not trying to starve or hurt herself.

Her refrigerator does have a 'life line,' just in case she feels the experiment has gone too far.

“The other day I bought some miso soup just in case I need to come off very, very quickly,” said Shine. “I wanted to have something here in case. It’s not opened yet."

Shine said she is getting both encouragement and criticism from around the globe, and that’s what she wants.

She has asked to keep her location a secret so she doesn’t have a bunch of people showing up at her house, looking to see if she’s sneaking food.