Women in Hong Kong are staring at the sun to lose weight

Remember when your mum told you not to look directly at the sun? Well if a new fad diet in Asia is to be believed, this retina-ruining practice could actually help you lose weight.

According to reports in Hong Kong, women in the city are staring at the sun to shed the pounds by absorbing solar energy.

This brave breed of dieters believe that by soaking up the sun’s rays, far fewer calories are needed from food, with vitamin D replacing actual physical nutrients most normal human beings need to stay alive.

The followers of this trend are said to assemble just before sunset on a beach in Sam Ka Village, just outside the city, where with any luck they’ll be wearing sunglasses.

Speaking to reporters for Coconuts Hong Kong about the bizarre practice, one follower said "We practice sun-gazing as a substitute for eating. Some of us who have finished the therapy now eat less, and others don’t have to eat at all."

The Hong Kong-based website also mentions that the city is in the grip of a fitness and health scene, with vegetable juices and hypobaric chambers now a normal fixture of everyday life for the fairer sex. Though when it comes to the new sunlight ritual, apparently there's also a religious element to the practice.

We’ve heard of sun worshiping but that's taking it too far.

[Via: Mail Online]