Chronicle from the guts of Buchinger, the clinic where the famous lose weight

This is a first-person chronicle told from the guts of one of the fasting temples, the

, a retreat and wellness center, but, above all, a clinic where many go to lose weight.

: my experience is summed up in 700 grams less after three days of diet.

The verbs to be and to be in Spanish are accurate and, thanks to them, a good distinction is made between a conjuncture and a permanent state.

Being fat is not the same as being fat and - I bet twice - it also has nothing to do 100% with the size of pants, even if it is an S.

Being fat, no one is offended, is a vital attitude

and, apart from the always irritating Body Mass Index (BMI), this adjective preaches attributes of the subject that usually have to do, oh chance, with a table and a tablecloth.

If you are a fat book, as a servant, you know what I mean, so come on, let's go to the nougat (another coincidence).

In Spain many of us knew this center of Marbella through Carmen Sevilla.

She baptized the Buchinger Clinic as

, where she used to go decades ago to drink her calditos and starve herself, as she used to say.

Her goal was to purge excesses and get the

That diet was (and is) called

and the name of the miracle clinic is actually pronounced [bujinguer].

how they read it

German language stuff.

The undersigned above responds to the profile of someone who gains five kilos and loses two;

take four and lose three;

Christmas arrives and Castile is wide, but then in February the regrets come.

And so always.

For this reason, the possibility of spending 72 hours in the sanctum sanctorum of fasting and, at the time, the detox destination par excellence for socialites, was a suggestive proposal.

in slippers and a bathrobe

(Isabel and her daughter, Tamara, are clients) or a history of the clinic like the writer

hundred years of fasting

The Buchinger Wilhelmi has already completed a century of experience: in 1920 its founder, the German doctor Otto Buchinger, developed the fasting method with one of his patients and that was the seed of the two clinics that exist today.

Between the two,

Since then few things have changed.

The business is in the hands of the fourth generation of the family, and Katharina Rohrer-Zaiser and Victor Wilhelmi are now in charge of the business.

Its product remains the same: fasting.

The first clinic that was opened is in Lake Constance (Germany) and the other, in Marbella, located in a luxurious urbanization that has an avenue with its own name.

Here we go.

Recommended stay: 14 days (from 5,000 euros)

An example of breakfast: grated tomato, fresh cheese, bread and coffee with milk

A detail before continuing, in case you are already looking for free dates to arrive at the summer made a dress: the hallmark of the Buchinger is the deprivation of food, which implies a recommended stay of 14 days.

During 10 of them, the patients (remember that it is a clinic, not a hotel) only

, ergo the menu is price adjusted.

These two weeks, depending on the room chosen, will cost between 5,000 and 30,000 euros.

The idea of ​​not chewing any food for 10 days and 10 nights made me dream

several days in a row.

And with Manchego ratatouille.

And with paella.

Thus, I saw it prudent to choose another option, available on a discretionary basis for those who decline to fast: a hypocaloric ovolactovegetarian diet of up to 1,200 kilocalories.

The minimum is

, taking into account that a beer and a bag of Risketos already exceed that figure.

.

Courage, however, has very short legs in my case and, therefore, I decided to take a chocolate hidden in my bag.

You never know.

As soon as you enter the room, you see the white bathrobe and slippers,

the official Buchinger

Many wear this uniform in the corridors, to go to the pool, for medical consultations... and even in the dining room, where they are only allowed to wear it, for reasons of decorum, at breakfast.

Scared, I decide not to succumb to the temptation of such a relaxation of customs, but at the second breakfast...

Daily consultation with nursing

Every day, in the Nursing they check values ​​such as weight and blood pressure

In the clinic, the days start early, very much in keeping with a certain reigning monastic spirit.

The first thing to do, without fail, is to attend the nursing consultation.

There they check your blood pressure,

, among other data, which are recorded in a diary that controls the patient's evolution.

Then, for those who do not fast, the first meal of the day awaits you, lacking, of course, any hint of sugar.

An example: a coffee with a little milk and stevia, natural grated tomato, fresh cheese and a slice of bread (something is something).

It should be savored well and drained to the last crumb.

800 calorie diet

Lunches and dinners are mainly made up of vegetables

Lunch and dinner, similar, are fundamentally vegetables, prepared with care and imagination (if you're lucky with some testimonial dried fruit), but vegetables after all.

On specific days one takes a joy to the body in the form of a serving of

that, after so much green, tastes like blessed glory.

As much as one wants to consciously swallow, the food is gone in minutes.

For

, on the other hand,

.

There are in every corner of the clinic.

Before starting therapeutic fasting or diet, failing that, a doctor makes an exhaustive assessment of the patient's state of health, since he must

.

There are red lines that contraindicate it, as is the case with cancer patients, and also maximum durations, which are around 30-35 days of fasting for obese people.

In Spain, according to 2020 data from the National Institute of Statistics, 30.7% of women aged 45 to 54 are overweight (BMI above 25) and 15.3% are obese (30).

The doctor calculates based on my weight and height and decides that I am below (by the hair, everything must be said).

on the third day, hunger disappears (they say)

I don't even leave the crumbs (except the cilantro, what's wrong with the cilantro)

The foundations of the healing power of fasting are based on the fact that human beings can live for a limited time on their

while purging.

Thus, they explain, an anti-inflammatory effect is achieved, hypertensive patients improve, the risk of cardiovascular disease is reduced, the immune system is activated, stress is lowered and a general revitalizing effect is achieved.

From

, they have provided a scientific basis for their method and generate studies in collaboration with universities and other institutions.

That is why Katharina and Victor, the directors, are reluctant to link fasting with a slimming diet, even if someone can get rid of 5 or 6 kilos after a two-week stay at

.

They also distance him from the idea of ​​suffering, since, they insist, "on the third day of fasting, hunger disappears."

Another of the legs that supports the method is physical exercise, for which there is the pool, the gym and what they call walks, one-hour morning walks along the Marbella beach.

And beware, the purging desire reaches digital dependency:

.

"We are aware that we are not a clinic for everyone," warns Katharina.

And if she does... she'll be scolded.

To smoke?

more than 300 treatments

Kobido or Japanese facelift.

Incredibly executed by Carlos

In the Buchinger there are more than 300 different treatments and therapies (

) and a

with concerts, film screenings and conferences.

I suspect that they are to feed the soul, since the stomach is just with gasoline during the stay.

My summary:

of hunger.

Although I shouldn't have had that much because I didn't eat the chocolate...

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