I’m now turning the corner of this second round at the Buchinger Wilhelmi fasting clinic here on Germany. Now that I’ve been through 26 days of fasting this time around, “re-elementation” or “refeeding” is now the most important part. The body has torn down the old, bad stuff through fasting. I’m down over 20 pounds (spreadsheet here). Now it is time to rebuild but with the right foods!
I know from experience that this rebuilding is the hardest part. After 4 days of eating foods provided by the clinic, the hard part is coming home and staying very healthy for the next two weeks and beyond.
Everyone always marvels at the extended fasting, as the fast itself is the experience they can’t imagine. Buchinger takes care of that part. Doing the right thing is up to you and your support infrastructure around you. Most people fail at that part. Buchinger Wilhelmi has many repeat visitors who simply use the clinic as a recurring reset operation because of the challenges of maintaining the discipline at home.
As a second time visitor, I hope not to need to spend the time and money here for periodic resets! Still, I have to understand that 2 months of extended fasting in the last year may simply not be enough…
In Chapter 15 of The Diabetes Code, Canadian nephrologist and fasting expert Jason Fung (whose Intensive Dietary Management program I’ve mentioned here) provides further encouragement:
Certain general principles apply to fasting with type 2 diabetes. How long it takes to reverse the disease depends on the intensity of the fasting regimen and the length time you’ve had the disease. More intensive fasting will give quicker results, but if you have type 2 diabetes for twenty years, it is unlikely to reverse in several months. It will take longer, though the exact time differs from patient to patient.
So, this will be a process! Wish me luck!
