The Woman Who Has Not Eaten For Eight Years

This may seem impossible, but there is a woman who has not eaten in eight years. Every day she cooks food, but she does not eat. Who is she? Why doesn’t she eat and how can she survive without eating meat? Meet Loretta Noah Mafudi, the chef who hasn’t eaten in eight years.

Loretta grew up in England and she had a pretty normal childhood. Sometimes she had stomach problems, but she still ate food like most people. In fact, she loved food so much she even became a chef. Until one day when this happened.

“When I was 18, I woke up in unbelievable pain every time I ate. It took doctors years to figure out what was wrong with her. They kept telling her to change her diet. So she ate this and ate that. But nothing worked. It was a mystery, and she was suffering. And then her life changed forever. I found out in 2015 that I was unable to eat like a normal person”she said

She has ehlers down syndrome, a rare syndrome that causes gastroparesis and basically it means she has a paralyzed stomach. As humans, when we eat food, our body activates the stomach to digest it. But for Loretta it doesn’t do that. It does not activate and the food does not digest.

How does she survive without food and water?

Instead of eating food, she uses a bag. A chip goes into my heart and then nutrients are fed into her bloodstream. She uses the bag for 18 hours a day, every single day. It’s filled with a liquid that gives her everything she needs every day, like proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and electrolytes.

The bag saves Loretta’s life, but it also means technically, she never has to cook ever again. She could quit being a chef, but cooking is her passion and she didn’t want to stop.

How does she cook if she can’t taste the food?

Well, turns out she cooks with her nose.

“The way I cook now is by utilizing my knowledge, skills and intuition and definitely smell to be able to still create delicious recipes at the end of cooking. I always get family friends to taste the foods, to make sure the balance of flavors are right and it’s ready to eat” she said.

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