Lent
These fasting methods help to detoxify
Therapeutic fasting is one of the most popular fasting methods.
© Johanna Muehlbauer / shutterstock.com
Lent begins! Those who do not want to do without a full 40 days can use these fasting methods and purification cures.
It's that time again: Lent begins – for many a detoxifying spring clean for body and mind. In 2021, Lent officially runs from February 17th, Ash Wednesday, to April 3rd, the day before Easter Sunday. During this time, some people do without sweets, alcohol or take a digital break. If you want to purify and flush your body properly, you should try one of these fasting cures.
Therapeutic fasting according to Buchinger
The therapeutic fasting according to Buchinger is one of the most famous methods of therapeutic fasting. It goes back to the doctor Otto Buchinger (1878-1966), who founded his first therapeutic fasting clinic in 1920. With the method of the German naturopath, only the consumption of vegetable broth and diluted juices is allowed – a maximum of 250 to 500 calories per day. The optimal fasting duration of the "diet for the soul", as the founder called it, is two to four weeks. Fasting typically ends with what is known as breaking the fast: First there is a ripe apple (raw or cooked) and in the evening a potato soup.
Intermittent fasting
With intermittent fasting, fasters do not have to forego any particular food – only at certain times. In contrast to most forms of fasting, intermittent fasting is intended to be a permanent form of nutrition. The best known methods are the 5: 2 diet and the 16: 8 method. With the former, people eat normally five days a week, on the two "fasting days" around a quarter of the usual energy intake is allowed – especially vegetables, whole grains and plenty of fluids.
With the 16: 8 method, one of the usual three meals a day is skipped, so that you go without food for 16 hours at a time, including bedtime. Only water, tea or black coffee are allowed. In return, no meal is taboo in the eight-hour time window.
Soup fast
In the so-called soup fasting or "souping" it is important to avoid solid food completely – only liquids are allowed. This fasting method detoxifies and relieves the body. In contrast to the others, it is also relatively easy to hold out because you don't have to go without carbohydrates and you always have something warm in your stomach. You can start the day with a smoothie bowl for breakfast, followed by a hearty vegetable soup for lunch and dinner. With plenty of fluids (two to three liters of water spread over the day) you fill the stomach additionally.
Fasting according to F.X. Mayr
Detox with bread rolls and milk? Celebrities like actress Rachel Wilson (43, "In the high grass") swear by this fasting method of the Austrian doctor Franz Xaver Mayr (1875-1965), who has lost 18 kilos with the cure. With the help of rolls, milk, Epsom salt, teas, water, abdominal massages and sweating, the Mayr cure is intended to cleanse the intestines and stimulate healthy bowel activity.
The cure consists of three phases, a duration of two to four weeks is ideal. Solid food is not eaten during the tea fasting phase – only water, herbal teas and vegetable broth from lunchtime are allowed. In the morning there is 250 milliliters of warm water with a teaspoon of Epsom salt. Step two is the milk and bread cure: a dry bread roll for breakfast, each bite – chewed 40 times if possible – is washed down with a teaspoon of milk. Same procedure at noon, tea in the evening. Finally, there is the drainage diet, which consists of basic light foods, such as vegetables, ripe fruit, fresh herbs and little fat and salt.
Base fasting
Gentle but effective: With alkaline fasting you don't have to do without solid food, it is probably the most enjoyable way to deacidify the body and can be easily integrated into everyday life. A duration of five to 14 days is ideal for the fasting cure, but it is generally advisable to incorporate many alkaline foods into the diet over the long term.
Basic foods include ripe vegetables and fruits, herbs, sprouts, nuts and cold-pressed vegetable oils and fruit vinegar. Around 70 percent of the diet with alkaline fasting should consist of vegetables and the fruit content should be below 30 percent. Acid-forming foods such as meat, fish, bread, sweets, dairy products, white flour or eggs should be avoided by fasters as well as coffee and alcohol. Three meals three to four hours apart are allowed, the last before 6 p.m.