Everyone is rejuvenating these days. At Baur au Lac, Zurich’s grandest hotel, contemporary art has been installed behind the reception, the wood panelling spruced up and its venerable newsstand removed. At the same time, the two-Michelin-starred Pavillon restaurant is being refreshed to reflect the taste for lighter, more relaxed dining, and the stately rooms now come with wellness kits comprising a yoga mat, foam roller and various power bands, for use in conjunction with a fitness programme designed by an F1 performance coach, accessible via a dedicated TV channel.
Where wellbeing is concerned, it seems even luxury is leaning in. Just over an hour’s drive northeast of Zurich, but a thousand miles away from the elegant clamour of the Baur’s Martin Brudnizki-designed brasserie, is a precursor to this new-found interest in regeneration. Marking its 70th anniversary in 2023, Buchinger Wilhelmi in Überlingen, Germany, was the brainchild of a clean-living German naval doctor, Otto Buchinger (1878-1966), whose career was cut short by excruciating rheumatism. Having exhausted all other remedies, he was persuaded to undertake a 19-day fast, after which he reported being completely cured.
A convert to the healing effects of fasting, Buchinger initially opened his own home to treat patients; soon, “the fasting doctor from Witzenhausen” needed somewhere larger and, in 1935, he opened a clinic in Bad Pyrmont. After the war came the much larger facility in Überlingen, a renowned spa town in the more temperate south. (At the instigation of Buchinger’s son-in-law, Helmut Wilhelmi, an outpost in Marbella was added in 1973.)
Decades before Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on autophagy (“self-devouring”) – the body’s ability to self-repair and ward off pathogens when deprived of food – Otto understood that “When we fast, the organism employs the energy it would otherwise use for digestion to heal the diseased regions under the ‘expert’ guidance of our ‘inner doctor’.”
Today it forms the bedrock of any stay at Buchinger Wilhelmi. The list of ailments shown to have been relieved by therapeutic fasting is long: rheumatism, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, angina, asthma, hypertension, skin diseases, kidney and gallbladder infections, periodontitis, glaucoma and migraines. It’s not too taxing, either. After an initial medical consultation, blood tests and a day’s “digestive rest”, caloric intake is limited to twice-daily soups or fruit juices, supplemented by a morning tea.
According to studies, “ketosis” – the process by which the food-deprived body redirects its energies to “cleaning house” – takes 72 hours (before which the body simply burns stored glucose and fat). A “regular” fast lasts six days at Buchinger Wilhelmi, or longer if medics allow. Besides the daily recording of blood pressure and weight measurements, the programme relies chiefly on a midday rest taken with a warm water bottle strapped to the stomach (to stimulate liver function) and the injunction to take gentle exercise.
Guests can read and relax in the fasting lounge (Image credit: Buchinger Wilhelmi)
Guided walks are offered, as are a fitness centre, tennis courts and an outdoor (heated) pool. For those with more energy, there are classes and lectures on all aspects of wellbeing, alongside regular recitals – a nod to Otto’s belief that starving the mind while denying the body is no way to live.
It’s difficult to calibrate the overall effect giving up control of one’s diet – and with it feelings of hunger and satiety – has on the psyche. Otto’s grandson, Raimund Wilhelmi, whose mother, Maria, did much to research and authenticate therapeutic fasting, trained as a psychologist before joining the family business (he recently stepped down as managing director to make way for his son, Leonard).
Unsurprisingly, his focus is on the mental-health aspects of taking a break from daily life, in particular the benefits of removing oneself from testing environments and the technologies that enable them. “Beyond the dogma of a healthy lifestyle,” he writes, “we offer people a place where they can return to their true selves and be at peace with who they are.”
It’s true that with more time to think, there’s more opportunity to explore the nooks and crannies of one’s consciousness, and the book-lined fasting lounge, designed by Italian architect Matteo Thun and offering wonderful views over Lake Constance to the Alps, serves as both sanctuary and feeding station. Gratifyingly, bathrobes are banned, as is the use of mobile phones (even if younger guests remain inseparable from their devices). No wonder first-time visitors are apt to re-book before departure.
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Although one undeniable draw of Buchinger Wilhelmi is time spent in solitary contemplation, it’s worth taking advantage of the therapies, treatments and life-coaching sessions on offer, all of which are designed to rehabilitate the exhausted id. A 10-day fasting programme (which includes two consultations with the medical staff, daily nurse check-ups, food, drink and fasting provisions) costs £2,340 per person, while shorter, non-fasting stays are available from £218 per night.