Category: fasting

Fasting, diabetes, and innovations in health were just some of the topics I covered during my visit on the #PopHealth podcast titled “Personal and Organizational Well-being.” Here are the links to the podcast on the various platforms: SoundCloud Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher For those who haven’t listened to the #PopHealth show before, here … Read more

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 … Read more

Yes!  You can do a fasting program and still exercise! There are different schools of thought with respect to fasting.  On one extreme is pure water fasting, such as practiced at Goryachinsk on Lake Baikal in Siberia.  In this program, exercise is not compulsory. Otto Buchinger, on the other hand, created his fasting program 100 years … Read more

I have known for quite some time that my system just wasn’t totally efficient, as I could eat an above average amount of food and not gain weight.  While many might envy having this problem, my unusually high metabolic rate was actually a bad sign. Many (pretty old!) studies have shown that Type 2 diabetics … Read more

Catching Up I have not been good at keeping up with blogging.  After returning home from the fasting retreat, life got in the way!  I took my labs on November 19th (approximately 2 months after returning from the fasting clinic) and had intended on blogging right away.  However, moving into our new condo, my current … Read more

Do you have high LDL or high total cholesterol?  If you read my previous article about cheese, you may recall that these LDL or total cholesterol numbers alone are not reliable predictors of mortality from heart disease. An NBC News piece went further to cite American science writer Gary Taubes who reported that the LDL … Read more

The old advice to “feed a cold, starve a fever” is a controversial one.  Given the controversy, I wanted to explore some of the differing opinions — the history, the conventional Western medicine view, and what the latest science suggests. The Historical View The old wives’ tale came from the belief that eating caused the … Read more

This past week, a new study was published in the November 1 issue of Cell further investigating a role of gut bacteria and amino acid metabolism and its role in impairing insulin sensitivity.  The particular branch-chained amino acid (BCAA) under study was histidine, and how the gut bacteria process it differently in diabetic versus non-diabetic individuals. In … Read more

I’m now back after not blogging for the whole month of October! The short version of the story is that living in the “real world” outside of a fasting clinic made it hard for me to keep my weight, blood pressure, and blood glucose low.  The photo above is indicative of the food temptations abound … Read more

This time at Buchinger Wilhelmi marked the first time I had done 22 days of consecutive fasting followed by 4 days of an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet.  During that time, I watched my fasting blood sugars drop from diabetic levels to prediabetic levels, blood pressure return to normal, and my weight drop close to 20 lbs. … Read more

We are on our way out of Buchinger Wilhelmi. Days 3 and 4, as well as Departure Day were a breeze as our food intake increased!  We got to enjoy our last activities here.  And, we got our final blood lab results back! Menus Refeeding Day 3 Day 3 menu (target 1,200 calories, but I … Read more

Mitochondrial medicine takes a different angle on the study and treatment of chronic diseases like Type II diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).  There is also some interesting work underway regarding mitochondria and the brain. You may remember from high school biology class that mitochondria are the subunits of our cells (with the notable exception … Read more

Fasting is like summiting a mountain. Summiting a mountain may sound like the daunting prospect, but the real danger lies in coming back down again, a new study shows. While hikers may feel they have conquered the hardest part after reaching the peak, in fact 75 per cent of falls occur on the road home. … Read more

“Every fool can fast, but only the wise man knows how to break a fast.” – George Bernard Shaw, Nobel-prize winning playwright Breaking our 22-day fast at Buchinger Wilhelmi To achieve the sustainable lifestyle benefits of fasting, the methodology here is as much about breaking the fast, as the prolonged fasting itself.  The purpose of … Read more

Writing this on Day 22 of “fasting.” (I put “fasting” in quotation marks because of the small number of calories we actually do get to consume. This is really more a “fasting mimicking diet” than true fasting.) Today we break the fast, so I had my final weigh in before we start chewing again! I … Read more

A psychotherapist on staff here at Buchinger-Wilhelmi told us that after about 3 weeks here, people start getting a bit eager to go home!  It’s funny that today marks our third week here, and we’ve already been ramping down our participation in a lot of the group activities! In addition to the cooking demonstrations, there … Read more

At our fasting clinic, we have met many people who are repeat visitors. So far, the record among our acquaintances here was an Egyptian gentleman who was on his 37th time here, attending 3 times per year now for over twelve years. How could so many people want to submit themselves to long, periodic fasts? … Read more

As we are progressing in our fast, the education here at Buchinger-Wilhelmi has shifted from “how to fast” to “how to eat” in preparation for returning home!  My wife and I now have been to 4 cooking demonstrations so far.  Those here at the end of their fasts get to partake in eating what was … Read more

Why do we care about our gut bacteria? It turns out that despite that our gut bacteria (our “microbiome”) is only about 1-2kg of weight in our colons, our gut bacteria has at least as many genes as we (the “hosts”) do! It turns out that our microbiome has a major influence on our immune … Read more

Do you believe any of the following? Exercising over time produces cumulative weight loss based on calories in versus calories out Setting realistic weight loss goals is important to keep people motivated Losing weight gradually (1-2 lbs per week) creates more sustainable weight loss If so, you are not alone! The problem is these commonly … Read more

My wife and I are still doing well!  Right now, the forecast is 22 days of fasting — 28 days less arrival day, digestive rest day, and 4 refeeding days.  This means we’re halfway there! The other way to think about it is that we’ve now survived 5 enemas!  😱  The enemas don’t really get any … Read more

I am actually someone that almost never has a problem sleeping.  As such, I never knew about sleep aids before coming here.  Now, I’m a believer! Fasting reduces your need to sleep I’ve heard two different few theories on the why fasting reduces the need to sleep (and numerous more on the mechanisms which I … Read more

Buchinger Wilhelmi is about more than fasting.  Thirty years ago, they were practicing yoga, meditation, acupuncture, and other “alternative” therapies long before they hit the mainstream in the Western world.  The one I hadn’t heard of is autogenic training. They have a basic routine that they’d like everyone to follow when waking up: say a … Read more

Travel tip:  If you come to Buchinger Wilhelmi on Bodensee, make sure you depart before the end of August! Weather definitely changes quickly here. We went from perfect sunny resort weather to clouds and rain — like Seattle!  We’ve got this for the next few days. We had a little break from the rain today … Read more

I have not had great historical success with doctors in the US in treating my diabetes.  My doctors have been too quick to insist on prescribing drugs that do not work over the long term for my situation, and they have not changed their views quickly enough to match as new data emerges.  Without exception, … Read more