The traditional fasting begins on the Sunday, with tea, Glauber’s salt and a fasting broth to cleanse the colon. Annelies Stocker of the Vitalpina Alphotel Stocker further explains: “In addition to extensive spa treatments, guests are also offered a fasting consultation where they are told what happens to the body and that they are not just on a diet, but that the body is adjusting to a new metabolism”.
Every day until the Thursday sees certain teas consumed and various
outdoor activities undertaken, especially in the forest. On the Thursday afternoon the fast is ”broken” at a place in nature that will have especially powerful effects, with an apple eaten first to stimulate the digestion. Then comes potato soup and buttermilk with linseed, and the next day grain soup with potatoes. Guests can then eat everything up until their departure on the Saturday. One important point about fasting is to create an
awareness of what we are eating, with the emphasis on regional and seasonal produce.
This is a subject that is particularly close to Annelies’s heart: “
It is all a question of what we eat. Proper nutrition acts as our doctor and the wrong diet will make us its patient.” Fasting for health is seen not only as good for the body but also for the soul. Many people who fast obtain new and surprising insights and impulses for their lives. They also achieve inner peace and transfer this
positive feeling to many other areas of life, even after the end of their fast. “You don’t have to go to India and undergo an Ayurveda treatment to gain this knowledge: a trip to the Ahrntal Valley will do”, she grins.
Dr Buchinger’s method of fasting for health at the Alphotel Stocker:
Offers.
Daniela Scartezzini