Therapeutic Fasting in Bavaria — Medically Guided at Tannerhof

The essentials

• Therapeutic fasting in Bavaria means at Tannerhof Buchinger fasting: no zero-calorie diet, but a therapeutic method with tea, water, mild vegetable broth and freshly pressed juices.
• Tannerhof sits in Bayrischzell in Upper Bavaria, in the upper Leitzach valley, with a view of the Wendelstein — about 75 kilometres southeast of Munich.
• Two processes run in the body at the same time: the shift to fat burning and autophagy, the cellular recycling.
• The medical intake consultation takes place on the first fasting day after arrival; the length of stay is booked beforehand.
• After breaking the fast comes rebuilding, often with Schlanke Tanne Low Carb in view.

Therapeutic fasting in Bavaria: what defines it at Tannerhof

People looking for therapeutic fasting in Bavaria usually look for more than a beautiful landscape. They look for a place where fasting has method, is medically carried, and leaves enough quiet to truly arrive. At Naturhotel Tannerhof in Bayrischzell, Buchinger therapeutic fasting is no new fashion but a familiar practice. Fasting in the DNA of the house. Introduced by Johannes von Mengershausen; today carried across three generations of physicians, in total for over 70 years.

For a medically guided fasting programme in Bavaria, Body Detox is the relevant page. For method and dietary form in context, see the Therapeutic Fasting and Schlanke Tanne hub.

Buchinger therapeutic fasting is the conscious, time-limited abstention from solid food and stimulants — more than a diet and not a primary weight-loss method. At the centre stand relief, a clear caesura, and the slow rediscovery of a good eating rhythm. Otto Buchinger: fasting stimulates the inner physician; Johannes von Mengershausen: In therapeutic fasting you discover a new freedom: independence from solid food.

The setting in Upper Bavaria: Bayrischzell and the Leitzach valley

Tannerhof sits in Bayrischzell, in the upper Leitzach valley, around 75 kilometres southeast of Munich, with a view into the valley and toward the Wendelstein. Schliersee 15 km, Rosenheim 38 km, Bayrischzell station just over a kilometre from the house. Munich and Salzburg airports each about an hour and a half by car.

The place is not just location. It is the 16 hectares of grounds, the mountain stream, the alpine meadows, the Lufthütten from 1905, the four hut towers by Florian Nagler, the Orangerie, the Fasterstube and the BadeHarpfe with Finnish sauna, panoramic relaxation room and 25-metre outdoor natural pool. People who fast here fast in my hideaway in the mountains.

For fasting and movement together: Hiking and Fasting. Walking at a pace that fits the fast.

Why people fast in Bavaria

Motivations vary: mental winding-down, relief from abundance, a medical concern, reordering everyday life. Behind these stands a documented research base. The ÄGHE Guidelines on Fasting Therapy, consensus 2002 and expert panel update after 2013, describe methodology, patient selection, contraindications and medical accompaniment. They place its use under expert guidance for rheumatic conditions, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, allergies, autoimmune diseases, asthma, migraine, type II diabetes and depression.

The PLOS One study by Wilhelmi de Toledo and colleagues (2019) with 1,422 fasters over four to 21 days showed: Buchinger fasting in this frame was safe and well tolerated; physical and emotional well-being rose significantly. Notably: the large majority experienced no hunger.

What happens in the body: fat burning and autophagy

During fasting the body works on two levels, often mixed up. First level: fat burning — from glucose to fatty acids and ketone bodies. Second level: autophagy — the body's own recycling and cleansing processes, for whose discovery Yoshinori Ohsumi received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Cleaning happens everywhere — cellular, vascular, in connective tissue, in the gut, in the brain, in liver and kidneys.

Both processes occur together but describe different mechanisms. For certain metabolic and chronic concerns fasting can be medically interesting; whether it fits in an individual case belongs to the conversation with the medical team. Mental effects belong too: often the need for sleep decreases, some experience mild fasting euphoria from altered serotonin metabolism.

The course of a fasting week at Tannerhof

Before arrival the doctors recommend one or more relief days. In the intake consultation on the first fasting day, the concrete course is agreed together.

During the fasting days, herbal tea, water, lemon and ginger water, mild vegetable broth and freshly pressed juices carry the rhythm, with around three litres of fluid a day. Fasters take their meals in the Fasterstube. Movement stays measured: moderate aerobic and moderate strength training, plus yoga, Feldenkrais, Tai Chi, Theraband training and breathing therapy — the body nourishes itself from within.

Medical guidance as Tannerhof practice

At Tannerhof therapeutic fasting is always medically guided. The medical appointments form a quiet arc: intake consultation on the first fasting day (holistic, with history-taking, physical examination including bioimpedance analysis, medication review and the questions about why), if needed a follow-up, at the end a closing consultation. Billing runs through the private practice at Tannerhof.

The accompanying treatment offering is broad: bioimpedance analysis, IHHT altitude training, ozone autohaemotherapy when medically suitable, hay flower wraps, aromatic wraps, mud and warm packs, Kneipp alternating affusion, detoxifying baths, fasting massage, detoxifying massage with king's oil, acidosis massage, lymphatic drainage, foot reflexology. Mental accompaniment through psychotherapeutic coaching, nature coaching, business and communication coaching and art therapy.

Breaking the fast, rebuilding and Schlanke Tanne

Breaking the fast still counts as a fasting day: midday a small faster's broth, then the apple, every bite chewed thirty to forty times. In the evening a vegetable soup with un-puréed pieces. People who took five fasting days rebuild over two days; seven fasting days need two to three, roughly one third of the fasting time.

At the centre: easily digestible vegetables, fermented foods, plenty of fibre. The closing consultation also discusses nutrition afterwards. If a sustainable change is wanted, Schlanke Tanne Low Carb can follow, the in-house low-carb form. When the gain in enjoyment and joy of life replaces the language of abstention.

Who can fast and who needs medical clarification

What matters are the will and readiness to fast. During pregnancy, breastfeeding and anorexia, therapeutic fasting does not belong in the plan. With chronic conditions, ongoing medication or uncertainty, a telephone medical pre-consultation is available. At Tannerhof five fasting days and upward are recommended; for first-time fasters seven fasting days plus two to three rebuilding days are a fine size.

Buchinger, F.X. Mayr and intermittent fasting

Buchinger therapeutic fasting is compact fasting over several days. F.X. Mayr works with chewing schooling and mild foods. Both methods are serious and established; at Tannerhof fasting follows the Buchinger method. Intermittent fasting in a 16/8 rhythm is the recommended form for taking the benefits of compact fasting into everyday life.

Discovering therapeutic fasting in Bavaria at Tannerhof

More in the programme Body Detox, in the Therapeutic Fasting and Schlanke Tanne hub and in the combination Hiking and Fasting.