Unbelievable! Meet The Man Who Is Addicted To Eating Raw Sand

Unbelievable! Meet The Man Who Is Addicted To Eating Raw Sand

Unbelievable! Meet The Man Who Is Addicted To Eating Raw Sand

A man is currently sending shock waves among
people around the world after his addiction to
eating raw sand was made public.
An Indian man, Hans Raj, who claims he is
addicted to sand consumes an entire plate
of gravel every day.
45-year-old Raj, has shunned normal snacks
and instead chews on pieces of brick and
rock, which he says provide him with
energy and minerals.
According to Daily Mail, he first developed a
penchant for eating grit when he was 20,
and has become known as ‘the sand man’ in
his home state of Uttar Pradesh due to his
bizarre habit.
Doctors say he may be suffering from Pica,
an impulsive and untreatable eating
disorder which sees sufferers develop
appetites for non-edible foods with no
nutritional value.
Pica can cause a range of serious
complications if the person is eating
something that is poisonous or indigestible.
However, Mr Raj claims he has never
suffered any health complications from his
strange diet.

He said:-
‘I have been eating bricks and rocks for
around 25 years now. I love eating them. I
don’t think they have been any harmful
effects on me. I started at a young age.
Now it feels like all this is very normal to
me. In my opinion, minerals in sand give
me energy, as do bits of masonry. I have
suffered no problems in stomach and
mouth. My teeth are absolutely fine. I can
bite into the hardest stone without a
problem.’Pica, the Latin word for ‘magpie’, is most
common in people with learning disabilities
and during pregnancy. It can cause a range
of serious complications, including being
poisoned by toxic ingredients, and having a
part of the body obstructed.
Sufferers can damage their teeth, or have
part of the body obstructed, something often
seen in people who eat hair. It can lead to
weight gain if they are consuming more
calories, or a deficiency ff they are replacing
nutritious food with substances with no
nutritional value.
Mr Raj, who lives in a tiny village, says he
has been known to travel to other villages to
collect sand, gravel and fragments of bricks,
which he stores at his home.
‘I would try and take out a loose brick or
crumbly parts of someone’s house,’ Mr Raj
said. ‘That was the only way for me to get
my regular doses of rocks and other
things.’
His friends have spent years trying to
persuade him to give up eating gravel, but
so far they have been unable to convince
him to quit. Mr Raj even decided to take a
job to suit his palette – after becoming
employed as a mason (a stonework
labourer).
His friend, Raja Singh, said he can be seen
chewing rocks at work.
He said: ‘I have been working with Hans Raj
for almost 10 years now. Both of us are
masons. He has been known to chew on the
odd rock or brick fragment during
construction. It is just impossible to stop
him. He has become an addict.’
There have been times when he has been
scolded by the buildings’ owners for eating
up the raw material used in construction.
And despite doctors warning of the dangers,
Mr Raj says he has no intentions of seeking
medical help.
He said: ‘I love the taste of gravel. I have
sand with tea, bread and even soup. This is
something that has kept me fit as I have
never fallen sick but people who eat normal
food fall sick often.’