Forager lives off plants he finds and claims they even cure his aches and pains

A man who lives off a diet containing 70 per cent foraged foods claims he cures his pain - with stinging needles.

Jack Page, 31, has been in pain for the last four years after a suicide attempt left with severe injuries.

But after learning about foraging he started using plant-based medicine to help ease his agony.

He claims using cleavers - a climbing plant - on his legs helped him to walk again.

He now drinks a juice made from it daily for pain management as well as rubbing stinging nettles on his joints.

Jack, a full-time forager and content creator, from Crawley, West Sussex, said: "I would say I live off 70 per cent of what I forage.

"I came up with this cleaver plant and it got rid of my eczema.

"I use stinging needles on the affected areas for 30 seconds. It helps with my pain."

Jack has always struggled with his mental health and had a breakdown in November 2020 when he attempted to take his own life.

He spent a year in hospital recovering from his injuries and was left in a wheelchair.

After meeting a woman in a pub they stuck up a friendship and she helped him learn about plant medicine.

He used a plant called comfrey for eight months and claims it helped take his bone growth from 26 per cent to 80 per cent.

Jack said: "All my injuries were on my left side. They wanted to amputate my leg.

"My legs and bones were not healing. My leg was no good. It was going to disintegrate.

"I blended it up into a mixture and applied it around the areas.

"My legs are getting better but I'm still in a lot of pain."

Jack spent months teaching himself about foraging and switched up his diet to eat off the land.

He eats 70 per cent foraged foods but supplements this with some fish and rice that he buys from the shops.

Jack says he spends around £50-a-week on food.

He said: "My diet has changed drastically.

"I eat a lot of stuff from the land.

"I eat a lot of stinging needles, mushrooms, cleavers and horsetail.

"I eat mushrooms like chicken of the woods, beefsteak fungus, puffball mushrooms."

After an eczema flare up in early 2023 he claims using cleavers he was able to clear it up.

Jack blends the plant up with some water, before straining it to make a juice.

He also uses stinging needles on where he experiences pain on his legs for around 30 seconds - to relieve it.

Jack said: "The connection with nature. I'm surprised how healing it is.

"It helps my mental health too."

Several studies such as Nettle sting for chronic knee pain: a randomised controlled pilot study have shown nettles have reduced patients pain score.