Posts

Thanks to all those who messaged me privately about the temporary pause in blogging! We are still alive and well!

We’ve been immersed in the Buchinger experience, and we’ve been taking advantage of the program! Even though we’re not allowed to use mobile phones outside our rooms, I had to use something to keep track of where to be!  The image above is a screen shot of our schedule over the last three days!  The program here runs from 6am to 8:30pm.

Buchinger uses a very holistic approach to fasting and well-being, which combine medicine and complementary therapies.  Some highlights from the last three days include:

• abdominal sonogram – basically imaging my organs.  While doctors can’t tell things like the quantitative fat composition of the liver (that would require MRI), they can detect chronic liver disease, which I don’t have!  My results look “normal.”
• breathing physiotherapy – basically a Swiss massage to encourage breathing.  As a lifelong allergy sufferer, I can tell you this really works!  The problem is that the results are temporary!  I felt great for a couple hours, and then with all the nature here, I was back to “normal!”  🤧
• group meditation – While not that different from what I’ve done in the past (I went to Spirit Rock a few years ago), there are always good reminders to take away from these types of activities when doing both sitting and walking meditation.
• personal training – I am at least starting to address the issues of my shoulders rolling forward.  The trainer asked me right off the bat, “You use a computer a lot, don’t you?”  Ouch.
• painting workshop – just a chance to explore creatively.  Here’s an impressionist painting I did inspired by one of our hikes.

And, we’ve had a couple of really cool hikes!  (You can click on the images to get more information about the sights!)

Future topics deserving of their own blog posts include:

• the importance of the relationship with your doctor
• valerian root as a sleep aid during fasting
• autogenic training

Stay tuned!

Results from morning nurse visits on Days 4-6

• Blood pressure: 143/89, 134/84, 113/81 – Coming down!
• Blood sugar: 145,134, 137 – Still needs work!
• Weight: 71.3kg (156.9lb) , 69.9kg (153.8), 69.5kg (152.9) – Already slowing down, as most of the water weight is now gone!

Today was good and bad.

Walk good.  👍

On Sundays, the walks here at Buchinger Wilhelmi start at 8:30am instead of the usual 6am time both to attract a bigger group and to allow for longer excursions. Today, we went to the highest lookout point between Lake Constance and the Danube, referred to locally as the “Höchsten Aussichtspunkt.”  It was a nice, leisurely 4 mile walk, and we were rewarded with a great view at the end!

Enema Bad 👎

While the walk was a great start to the day, the middle of the day took a downward turn.

Once fasting, you get an enema every other day here at Buchinger Wilhelmi.  The issue here is that fasting reduces your stimuli to poo, but having small quantities of food means that small amounts of digestive juices and bile are still produced, the mucous membrane peels away, and intestinal bacteria and epithelial cells must be removed.

The argument they make here is that while some people view enemas as unnatural, brushing your teeth is also unnatural but necessary due to modern nutrition.  Intellectually, this all make sense to me.

However, my candid opinion is that the enema has the potential to be a day-wrecking event.  I was admittedly pretty uncomfortable not only having the tube stuck up by butt, but also having the nurse fill up my bowels with water.  The upside is that, unlike the Glauber salts which required me to stay by the bathroom for 5 hours, the flushing process with an enema is fast.  I was ready to leave the vicinity of the bathroom in a few minutes.  Sill, the downside is that I was feeling a little queasy afterwards.  I really didn’t even want the vegetable consommé that was brought to my room, but I drank it anyway.

Hot Liver Compress Saves the Day 😅

The saving grace immediately after my broth was the hot liver compress!  I was unconscious at 1pm once I got my hot liver compress and felt much better after finally awakening!  My wife and I walked to the Überlinger Töpfermarkt, an annual pottery market on the lakefront, and enjoyed both the scene and the work of the artisans.  After that, I was totally ready for (and enjoyed!) the light gazpacho at dinner time!

There really is a system here at Buchinger Wilhelmi to even handle the unpleasantries of intestinal cleansing!

Note: We also heard from others here that you can opt out of the enemas in favor of other laxatives.

Results from morning nurse visit

• Blood pressure: 165/85 – higher than yesterday.  This isn’t supposed to happen!  We’ll check on this tomorrow!
• Blood sugar: 109 – getting closer to “normal!”
• Weight: 71.3kg (156.9 lbs) – down yet another 0.6 kg from the day before

I was not looking forward to Day 2 of the fast.  At Buchinger Wilhelmi, that fear is unfounded.

The “Do it Yourself” Experience

I’ve tried water fasting before on my own, and Day 2 is always miserable.  Day 1 is usually easy because you get to burn your glycogen stores.  It’s Day 2 when your body goes into gluconeogenesis, and things can get uncomfortable!

THE GLUCOSE RESPONSE CURVE. True hunger occurs when glycogen stores are depleted, so that gluconeogenesis can be avoided. (Source: Nutrition Journal, 2010)

The Buchinger Experience

Here at Buchinger, day 2 is a breeze.

Inputs and Outputs

Part of the Buchinger formula to get to ketogenesis (fat burning) without the pain is through careful control of what comes out of your body and what goes in!  A summary:

• cleaning out intestines with Glauber salts on day 1 to avoid hunger
• a morning tea and yogurt (honey if you’re not diabetic)
• vegetable consommé at lunch and dinner times (today we had chard broth at lunch time and tomato brother at dinner time!)

Outside the clinic, this is referred to as a fasting mimicking diet, where you still consume small amounts of food but “trick” your body to get the same therapeutic benefits of fasting!

Hot Liver Compress and Tea

The other thing starts on Day 2 is a hot liver compress.  The concept is to heat the liver to improve blood circulation and liver function during the fast.

Every day at about 11:45am, the nurse places a wet towel over your upper abdomen, puts a hot water bottle over the towel, and then swaddles you snugly using another cloth.  I don’t know whether it really makes the liver function better, but it definitely put me to sleep in the middle of the day, and made me feel great!  Quiet time at the clinic lasts at the clinic until 2pm.

After that, you get hot tea served in your room!

This felt like such an awesome mid-day pampering.  My wife joked that she’s never going home!

Results from morning nurse visit

• Blood pressure: 157/89 – a tiny bit higher
• Blood sugar: 141 – back to where it was on Wednesday morning
• Weight: 71.9kg (158.2 lbs) – down yet another 0.8 kg from the day before