by NATALIA HAWK
I’m the Mamamia guinea pig. I’ll try most health and fitness trends if they’re in the news. Oil pulling, Tough Mudder, stand-up paddleboarding… after all, curiosity killed the cat, not the human.
But there is one trend taking off that I’m not at all keen on. It’s the eating and drinking of clay – a practice which is traditionally known as “geophagy”.
Yes, clay. As in, the stuff that is found in the ground and generally utilised by children who need to make dioramas for school projects.
It’s now being widely consumed, largely for two different purposes:
1. It fills up your stomach, working as an appetite suppressant in that you don’t have to eat much of anything else; and
2. There are claims that it flushes toxins from your body. Ran Knishinsky, author of the book The Clay Cure, claims that clay has the power to “treat ailments affecting digestion, circulation, menstruation, and the liver, skin, and prostate”, and “remedies symptoms of arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, gum diseases, and migraines.”
Historically, people have been eating clay for a really long time – largely because of the first reason. Way back when there were no supermarkets, clay was useful for filling up the belly when there was not a whole lot of food around; it also contained minerals that couldn’t be found in other sources. Native Americans and other indigenous cultures have been eating clay for a very long time. The practice is also common in Africa, especially amongst pregnant women seeking more minerals in their diet.