Catherine of Siena survived exclusively on dry wafers

A closer look

If you think modern diet culture is extreme, you clearly have not met medieval mystics. Catherine decided that earthly food was a worldly distraction, so she famously survived almost entirely on communion wafers. While her peers were enjoying actual meals, she was busy fasting so intensely that she physically could not swallow regular food. Nothing says spiritual enlightenment quite like a violently restrictive diet wrapped in heavy religious fervor.