What it's like to go without nutrition

Saving Ahmed from starvation - CNN.com: There is no way to dignify the description of death by starvation. It is neither quick nor painless. Not too long after the food is cut off, the body resorts to fuel reserves in the liver and fatty tissues. Once the fat is all gone, and the person is a skeleton of what he or she once was, the body searches for protein, and finds it in muscle tissue. Even the muscle of the heart is consumed, leaving someone drained and listless. The body shuts down. The pulse, the blood pressure and body temperature all precipitously drop.