Buchinger Wilhelmi, Germany

This piece originally appeared in our Spring 2023 print issue. Words and photos by Yolanda Edwards.

The first time we came to Buchinger Wilhelmi, the therapeutic fasting clinic about an hour from Zürich in Überlingen, Germany, in January 2022, Matt and I were both a little nervous. In the days leading up to our two-week session, we ate as if we were going to prison: rosti with cheese and bacon in St.Moritz, dessert at both lunch and dinner, not to mention wine and cocktails. We spent the night before our arrival in Zürich, where we gorged on veal and steaks with rosti at the Kronenhalle, one of our favorite restaurants in the world. We imagined we were about to go into starvation mode, and were storing up for our stay.

On arrival, we met with our doctors, who weighed and measured us, then we had our bloodwork done in the medical center. For the next two days we ate in the restaurant, where our calorie intake was brought down to 800 per day, acclimating our bodies to less (actually zero!) salt, fat and sugar. When our bloodwork came back, our doctors both—separately—said to me and Matt some version of, “You guys really had a food party before you came!” From there we moved into the 10-day fasting phase, which begins with graubersalz to clean out the system. Meals are tea and raw honey for breakfast, and very light soups for lunch and dinner. The soups are served in the salon, where a pianist plays and you hear conversations in French, German, Greek, Spanish, Arabic…the clinic attracts guests from all over the world. Many people come alone, and it’s lovely to see how little groups naturally form. We’re always saying how lively it is in the evening—you’d almost think there was a bar!

The medical vigilance is amazing. Every morning we’d wake up around 7am and immediately see the nurse, who’d take our blood pressure, pulse and weight, and tell us what to anticipate for the day—doctors, treatments, enemas, liver packs. She writes everything in a daily chart, which you bring to every medical appointment, and if there is anything that is off, like low blood pressure, she has the kitchen deliver black tea and pfiffikus, a salty broth that helps to raise it (this has happened to me twice!). After growing up in the U.S. medical system, it is such a luxury to have so many issues dealt with at once; to not have to wait weeks for an appointment, and to feel such sincere interest and care from the nurses and doctors. And while we have our regular doctors in New York, we consider Buchinger to be where we get our annual exams–which is the case with many of the guests.

Which is why we came back again one year later. Staying at Buchinger Wilhelmi is hard to explain—it’s more hospital than spa. You get used to nurses walking in after one quick ring of the room bell to administer your liver compress (a warm wash cloth and hot-water bottle that is swaddled around your middle to help detoxify your liver) and then pull up the bedcovers for you to nap.

Did we ever get hungry? It is hard to understand how anyone can go with fewer than 250 calories a day without starving. But Buchinger has had over 100 years to perfect their method of fasting. It all started with Dr. Otto Buchinger, who suffered from severe rheumatism, and in 1919 did a 19-day water fast to see if it would cure him. After its success, he worked to develop a medically sound fasting therapy, and in 1920 opened his first clinic in Witzenhausen. The clinic in Überlingen opened in 1953, and Marbella followed in 1973. Because science and research are at the core of what they do, there is such a deep understanding of how our bodies and brains work, and they have really cracked the code on making fasting painless. There’s enough mouth distraction, from the tea and honey and soups to afternoon apple tea with lemon slices, that we never found ourselves starving, even when we’d pass the tempting food-market stalls on our regular walks to town. The organized daily walks are also a great distraction. Every afternoon, a bus with three guides (each for a different speed) takes guests on walks through the surrounding hills, forests and vineyards, past beautiful farms and villages and often with views over Lake Constance. There are many classes to join, from lectures on cranial sacral therapy to cooking demos, plus daily yoga, stretching, meditation and autogenic (a German relaxation technique) classes. And then there are the therapies: I had Chi New Tsang (an ancient Chinese energy therapy), lymphatic drainage, osteopathy, qi therapy, breathing therapy, traditional Thai massage, myofascial release, and a detoxifying facial. There are diagnostic tests you can do, too. No, you never get hungry, or bored.

Now that I’m on the last day of my second tour at Buchinger Wilhelmi, I can’t imagine not having this time to reset. When I’m here, I am never mentally clearer. I feel healthy and strong, and I feel safe–confident that I have deeper insight into what’s happening on the inside. And I know it’s been tested by over 7,000 guests a year from 60-plus countries. I’ve met some who are here for the 10th or 15th time…and there’s one very hearty 92-year-old German man who has checked in over 90 times! You can’t ignore the science around the power of fasting when you’re here, how it impacts both short-term and long-term health, by giving our body time to rest and heal itself. Leo Wilhelmi, the fourth-generation director of the clinic, fasts twice a year, and all of the staff are able to participate in the program annually, so they know first-hand what you’re experiencing. It’s a way of life for them—and, now, for us as well.