What is sunshine diet? Food routine that caused toddler’s death, got influencer arrested

A Russian lifestyle influencer, Maxim Lyutyi, wanted to “experiment on his toddler and make him like Superman” by putting the baby on the sunshine diet.

A Russian man was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for causing “intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm” to his toddler. As per reports, the 44-year-old father and a lifestyle influencer, Maxim Lyutyi, starved his son to death by putting him on a 'strict sunshine diet'. He allegedly stopped the baby’s mom from breastfeeding him as he believed that the toddler mostly needed the sun as his nourishment.

The image shows Russian influencer Maxim Lyutyi, who starved his son to death after putting the toddler on the sunshine diet. (Insatgram/@yarilo_drug)

Lyutyi previously tried to blame his partner and the mother of the baby, 34-year-old Oxana Mironova, claiming that her dietary choices caused the toddler’s death, reported the Sun. He said that Mironova’s vegan diet resulted in iron deficiency, which in turn caused the baby’s death. The court ruled that she, too, shared “some of the responsibility” and found her “guilty of failure to fulfil her parental responsibilities”, as well as failure to provide proper care and assistance to an infant.

According to the outlet, the court was earlier informed that Lyutyi wanted his newborn to follow a prana-eating. In this diet routine, people go without food or drinks for a long period of time and “feed on the sun”. He wanted to experiment on his toddler and make him like Superman.

“He wanted to experiment on the child, feed him purely with the sun, and then advertise it to others that this is how you can eat,” a source told the Sun.

What is a sunshine diet?

As per a report published by the Times of India in 2019, it is a routine that promotes living only on sunshine. Also known as Breatharian-ism or Pranic Nourishment, this plan includes the importance of getting sunlight along with a proper diet.

However, over the years, this diet has raised several health-related concerns. There have been instances where people started “living on sunshine” without consuming proper food along with it. If not followed properly, it can cause several issues, including dehydration, blood pressure problems, and blurry vision.