Ten days at the Buchinger Wilhelmi clinic on Lake Constance for a total reset of body and spirit. And many kilos lost
by Elena Barassi
A complex of elegant villas, inside which there are contemporary rooms, the lounge designed by Matteo Thun full of books, the gym and doctors’ offices, scattered in a Mediterranean garden overlooking the lake. It is here in Überlingen, on Lake Constance, in the German region of Bodensee, that Otto Buchinger founded the first clinic entirely dedicated to medical therapeutic fasting in 1953 (a second structure was built in Marbella in 1973), after having recovered from a severe rheumatoid polyarthritis, living only on tea and water for 19 days. Clinic, 5-star hotel or holistic paradise, here you get rid of every frill. A bathrobe, a warm tracksuit for trekking sessions, a lighter one for yoga, meditation, autogenic training and stretching and, accompanied by doctors and nurses, you cover the 10 days of your stay, of which 6 are fasting, the first 2 accompany fasting and the last in which solid foods are reintroduced. 6 days marked by a tea with honey in the morning and for lunch and dinner a choice of juice or vegetable broth. And plenty of water and herbal teas. A true medical retreat that hosts people from all over the world, with a staff of 11 doctors who
accompanies and guides on a path of well-being whose foundation is precisely fasting. Weight loss is undoubtedly the fundamental aspect – you can even lose 6kg – but success also derives from a mental and physical rejuvenation of the guests, as well as from the lowering of blood pressure and blood sugar and, in general, from a new awareness of one’s self. It is precisely because of these goals that there are devotees who at the end of the 10 days make sure they will have their own room next year, but also people who decide to extend the formula for 28 days. The doctors’ advice is to come by yourself so that the program is even more effective and you enter a more conscious mode. A daily routine – infirmary check at 7am, tea with honey in the room at 7.30am, gymnastics lessons or swimming in the heated outdoor pool, vegetable broth at 11am, hot liver compress at noon, vegetable broth at 6pm – what a little by little it envelops the customer in a sort of cocoon in which it becomes essential to start reflecting on one’s life. And here there is also the opportunity to book psychotherapy, life coaching, health coaching, art therapy or therapy sessions 
breath. There is also a hairdresser, a nutritionist, dietician, radiologist – they did an echo on my thyroid in 10 minutes – as well as numerous treatment rooms, where guests can book osteopathic treatments, shiatzu massages, rituals such as reflexology, Chi nei Tsang, QI therapy, neurotherapy and physiotherapy. The concept of therapeutic fasting dates back many centuries and Otto Buchinger himself dedicated the rest of his life to developing his fasting cure. In practice, the body, without food, begins to attack its own fat reserves, stimulating autophagy and detoxifying enzymes, resulting in a deep cleansing of cells and tissues. At the same time, fasting reduces all inflammatory processes, relieves pain and improves mobility. Today, in its fourth generation, the
German clinic is managed by Léonard Wilhelmi, member of the family and director of the same, while Françoise Wilhelmi de Toledo, who met the clinic at the age of twenty and never left, is scientific director of the Buchinger Wilhelmi in Überlingen and Marbella, and responsible for the medical program and scientific documentation of fasting. Which demonstrated that Buchinger’s therapeutic fasting reduces oxidative stress, thus slowing down the aging process and thus reducing the risk of heart disease, dementia and other chronic conditions.