Therapeutic fasting at home - expert gives tips for doing without

Therapeutic fasting: cleaning body, mind and soul - that sounds desirable and challenging at the same time.

But is it also possible to do without at home, without a stay at a spa?

Fulda - Do a spring cleaning for the body, i.e. eliminate cell debris, live healthier and lose a few kilos at the same time.

Sounds too good to be true?

But that is exactly what should happen with fasting.

The effect is called autophagy in technical jargon.

Therapeutic fasting at home - an expert gives tips on how to avoid it

“As current basic research shows, this stimulates the body's self-cleansing powers in the long term.

This triggers demonstrably anti-inflammatory, metabolism-improving and psycho-vegetatively stabilizing effects," explains Dr.

Rainer Matejka in conversation with the Fuldaer Zeitung.

He is Medical Director and Chief Physician at the Malteser Clinic Dr.

from Weckbecker in Bad Brueckenau in Lower Franconia.

Of course, going without solid food for a few days is no easy task.

Fasting needs a strong will, stamina and time to slow down.

Some people may ask themselves whether all of this is possible alongside a job and family.

To put it another way: is a fasting expert or even a medically supervised treatment in a fasting clinic absolutely necessary for therapeutic fasting?

"In a therapeutic fasting clinic, intensive accompanying procedures are used in addition to medical care, above all Kneipp procedures, various forms of physiotherapy, but also relaxation methods or psychotherapeutic discussions," says expert Matejka.

Therapeutic fasting does not simply mean giving up food.

"Fasting should also include periods of introspection and introspection," says the Medical Director.

Incidentally, Fulda's Bishop Michael Gerber sees it similarly: Fasting is the chance to grow into "inner freedom".

In combination and under the supervision of doctors and therapists who are certified for fasting therapy, the state of health of a fasting person can improve, according to the website of the German Society for Nutrition (DGE).

This applies both preventively to healthy people and has been proven to apply to certain chronic and acute diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or the metabolic syndrome.

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Avoiding solid food requires a strong will.

© Teeverband.de/dpa-tmn

"Anyone who wants to fast on an outpatient basis should not have a serious illness," says Dr.

Matejka.

According to the expert, it is more suitable as a preventive measure for those who are still reasonably healthy.

If this is the case, according to the chief physician, as an inexperienced person, you should not do fasting without instructions.

"It makes more sense, however, to join a fasting group, for example at an adult education center." The challenge: When fasting from home, everyday life overwhelms us all too often.

Be it a constantly flashing mobile phone, raging children or a birthday party with delicious food that you have to refuse.

Is this way of fasting effective for one?

Ultimately, you have to answer this question yourself.

Matejka finds: "The experienced fasting person can possibly cope with this somewhat unfavorable constellation." But one thing is clear: "Fasting on an outpatient basis or from home is of course a considerable compromise." The chief physician therefore recommends one that has been discussed in recent years Variant: intermittent fasting.

Therapeutic fasting: Side effects can occur during abstinence

Feasibility aside, there may be side effects during abstinence.

On the website of the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), there is talk of circulatory problems, electrolyte imbalances, headaches and muscle cramps.

In case of doubt, however, more serious risks can also arise - for example a cardiac arrhythmia or a circulatory collapse, it is written at DGE.

Individual problems such as medication adjustments must therefore be taken into account.

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