There were a number of German health practitioners that were influential in the promotion of fasting from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, most notably Adolf Just, Arnold Ehret, and Benedict Lust.
Otto Buchinger, Sr., a German physician, became well-known for advancing various methods of fasting, although the main type of fasting performed at the Buchinger clinics is primarily juice-fasting. In the early 1900s, Buchinger was one of the most prominent advocates of fasting in Austro-Germany.
When he was in his 40s, Buchinger had suffered from inflammatory rheumatism that almost rendered him immobile. By 1917, Buchinger was a father and had become an invalid. He had heard about water-only fasting from other doctors and decided to try a 19-day fast under medical supervision. In his memoirs, Buchinger later said the fast saved his life. Professionally, fasting became the focus of his work.
In 1920, Buchinger opened a fasting clinic in Bad Pyrmont, Germany, which is still in operation today. When Buchinger died at 89, his son, Otto junior, took over the clinic, while his daughter, Maria, founded other Buchinger clinics in Überlingen on Lake Constance and in Marbella in Spain.
Buchinger senior authored a number of books on fasting, primarily to promote it among his colleagues. As the Buchinger clinics were passed down through generations of the family, the type of supervised fast offered at the facilities became mostly juice-fasting, the details of which are discussed in chapter two. Although there are numerous other fasting clinics throughout Germany, most of them use juice-fasting as well.
In the book Therapeutic Fasting: The Buchinger Amplius Method, Francoise Wilhelmi de Toledo and Hubert Hohler (2000) discussed the methodology that is involved in juice-fasting at the Buchinger program. Wilhelmi de Toledo is the wife of Raimund C. Wilhelmi, Otto Buchinger senior’s grandson. Together, the two oversee much of the operations at the Buchinger facilities.
Authors: Francoise Wilhelmi de Toledo, Hubert Hohler
Year of Release: 2011
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