UK WOMAN STARVES HERSELF TO DEATH TRYING TO EMULATE THE FAST OF JESUS

23 DAYS WITHOUT FOOD, JUST WATER AND HER BIBLE

The UK Independent reports : A devout Christian has died during a fast after telling her family she wanted to emulate Christ's 40 days and nights in the wilderness.

Just over 10 years ago, Rosaline Gilbert became a devout Christian and adopted regular fasting as a statement of her strong beliefs.

But finally, with her body probably weakened by years of intermittent starvation sustained only by water and her Bible, Miss Gilbert, 34, died at her home in Hackney, east London, after going without food for 23 days.

She began her final fast on March 10, her sister said, reading her Bible and taking in only water. Her family believes she didn't even drink enough of that.

Rosaline Gilbert used to call herself "a child of God", and her sister, at least, believes "she would have found some peace devoting herself to God."

Her mother explained that the fasting marathons would begin when "the Lord told her to".

Her family chose a coffin which had images of the DaVinci's 'The Last Supper' around the outside.

From the Independent : Dr Asker Jeukendrup, a nutritionist at the University of Birmingham, said it was unlikely that 23 days of starvation would kill a normally healthy and average weight person, who would be able to stand 40 days of total fasting without serious ill-effects. But he pointed out that the longer someone goes without food the more the body becomes vulnerable to illness and infection.