Have you heard of breatharianism? This 65-year-old woman lives off of water and sunshine

For the past five weeks, Seattle woman Navenna Shine, 65, has lived on water and sunlight as part of a bizarre experiment she's calling "Living on Light."

For those you unfamiliar with the woefully unsound practice of breatharianism (think vegetarianism but without food), the people that follow the "diet" claim to live exclusively on water, sunshine and artificial light.

"Can a person indeed live on light without food? I intend to find out! If I'm not thriving, I will stop," she writes under the "About" section of her Facebook page.

Shine stopped eating on May 3, her 65th birthday, in an attempt to try breatharianism for four to six months. She has been documenting her progress on her website, Facebook page, and with YouTube videos. She sits in a controlled environment careful to waste too much energy by moving vigorously and has eight cameras documenting the whole affair. So far, she claims to be fairing well, save for some bile in her throat, nausea and constipation.

Errrr...did we mention she's lost 20 pounds so far?!

Also see: You might want to pass on this diet trend

Her fourth week YouTube update seems surprisingly upbeat and mentally clear as she says, "I don't think what I do here will satisfy any real scientist." Duh.

Her motivation is not entirely clear, though she does write on her website:

"Can you imagine, if we did not have to eat, just how free our lives would be? A vast amount of time, effort and resources go into merely putting food on the table."

Nevermind the fact that breatharianism, which some describe as a cult, is responsible for a at least three recorded deaths. Founded by Jasmuheen (birthname Ellen Greve), the former financial advisor claims we can get all the nutrition we need from prana, the universal life force.

As for Shine, she seems to be eating up the words of her leader and is now rationalizing her current physical experience.

Also see: The craziest fad 'diets' of all time

"I have the feeling that my body has reached a point where it has used up all its stored fats and is now looking around for what next to consume," she writes on Facebook.

"I suspect this might be the point where it decides either to find and hook into the source where it is able to live on Light, or consume the body for sustenance. I am doing all I can thorough consciousness to open up the space for ‘Living on Light.’ We shall see," she continues.

Translation? Shine believes she can live off of spiritual energy. That some other deeper force in the universe will help her along her journey and save her body from consuming itself for energy.

Of course this is extreme, but placed into a wider context of human beliefs throughout history, it may not be all that nutty. To date, there are still people on this planet, Evangelical Christians for example, who believe in all sorts of miracles -- including people being cured of life-threatening diseases and quadriplegics miraculously being able to walk.

Amen to that.