WHAT?!? Woman vows to continue DECADE-long hunger strike

How exactly does one go on a hunger strike for an entire decade? Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of physiology knows that life can only be sustained without nutrition for a matter of weeks (if you get adequate water), not years. When nutritional intake ceases, the body cannibalizes available tissue for sustenance. There is a bit of muscle glycogen and that doesn't last long, so what's left is fat and protein in lean tissue plus minerals. Every pound of bodyfat equals 3,500 calories and based on a calorie requirement of 2,000 calories a day, an extra 30 pounds of fat can last several weeks. But certain parts of the brain cannot exist on fat calories even if the body goes into ketosis, so lean tissue - mostly muscle - is broken down to form glucose (blood sugar). But eventually, fat and lean tissue stores become depleted and life functions will cease for a lack of energy. So how is it that anyone can go on a hunger strike for a decade? Depends how you define voluntary versus involuntary ingestion. From the AP via The Detroit News: Woman vows to continue decade-long hunger strike

An extremely frail 38-year-old woman dubbed "The Iron Lady" marked 10 years without voluntarily taking food or water today — a hunger strike launched to protest an anti-terror law that grants Indian soldiers sweeping powers to crack down on rebels.

Irom Sharmila had her last voluntary meal on Nov. 4, 2000, in Imphal, capital of Manipur, one of several northeastern states facing armed rebellions against Indian rule. She was arrested three days later and has been force-fed through her nose ever since.

Sharmila has been refusing to eat to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives the military powers such as the right to arrest suspected militants without a warrant and to shoot anyone suspected of being a rebel.

Damn. So its not a hunger strike as much as it is a refusal to eat strike. There's a big difference there. Want to know someone who could actually go on a decade-long hunger strike for real?:

10 1/2 yaesr. Tops.