What is short-term fasting?
Fasting is about voluntarily renouncing from solid food or even luxury foods for a limited period of time. This means that you do not completely exclude certain foods as with other diets. Fasting is intended to stimulate and improve the metabolism, which is very beneficial to our health, as it helps to break down fat and counteract typical widespread diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Nowadays, there are many different forms of fasting, some of which have become popular in recent years. These include, for example, interval fasting with fixed fasting periods of several hours to individual days, drinking therapy such as the classic therapeutic fasting according to Buchinger or juice fasting, as well as alkaline fasting or F.X. Mayr fasting therapy.
Typical periods of short-term fasting
The choice of the appropriate fasting period always depends on the chosen method as well as your own needs and the constitution of your body. If you have never fasted before, you should not choose a long fasting period right away, but start with a fasting day, for example. Slowly approach longer periods. In general, you should not fast for longer than a week without medical supervision. By short-term fasting we mean fasting phases of less than one day - for example 16 hours during interval fasting - up to 3 days.
If you would like to fast for a longer period of time, please take a look at our long-term fasting page, where we present information, fasting methods and offers for fasting periods of 10 days to 3 weeks.
Offers for short-term fasting holidays
Benefits of short-term fasting
The longer the fast lasted, the better the effects on blood pressure, emotional and physical well-being and, especially long-term fasting, promotes weight loss and has benefits on the BMI. However, significant improvements were seen in all values even after just a few days, i.e. a period suitable for short-term fasting.
Change of metabolism
The positive effects of fasting on the body therefore demonstrably set in after a short time. As the body is not continuously fed food, a change in metabolism sets in and the breakdown of the carbohydrates stored in the body begins. An important term in fasting is autophagy, a body's own cleansing process that begins after 14 to 18 hours of fasting. During the purification process, old or damaged cell components are broken down by the enzymes and then returned to the cell. In this way new, healthy cell building blocks can be produced again. Another major and important advantage of fasting is the reduction of the particularly risky inner abdominal fat, which can be measured after only one day of fasting on a waist circumference that is up to two centimetres smaller. The reduction of abdominal fat is so advantageous because fewer messenger substances are produced, which can cause diabetes, for example, or inflammatory diseases and cardiovascular problems.
Fasting can have a rejuvenating effect
In addition to these benefits, studies have shown that fasting and calorie reduction can even have an effect on longevity and rejuvenation.
This is mainly due to the reduction of blood pressure, blood sugar and blood fat levels. Reason for these effects is the reduction of salt in the body as well as rest and relaxation. Fasting also promotes liver recovery and the development of new stem cells and mitochondria (also known as the "power stations" of cells).
Effects on mental & physical well-being
After 2 to 3 days, the positive effects of fasting can also be felt in the improvement of the psyche and mood. You will feel calmer and more balanced. In addition, due to the reduced food intake, the messenger substances dopamine and serotonin can have a stronger effect: you are not only happier but also have less appetite.
Some fasting participants also report the so-called "fasting euphoria". However, whether and how strong this occurs varies from person to person.
All the advantages of short-term fasting at a glance
- The body is cleansed
- The inner abdominal fat is broken down
- Physical and mental well-being improves
- Blood pressure drops
- Blood lipid values improve
- Fasting for weight loss
- Symptoms of inflammatory diseases can be relieved
- You reduce stress
- You can rest and relax
How does short-term fasting work? - Suitable fasting methods for short-term fasting
Even if you only want to fast for a short period of time, you should still make sure that your body is supplied with a basic number of calories to ensure that the brain, heart and other vital organs are sufficiently supplied and can function. In the following, we would like to introduce some fasting methods that are suitable for short-term fasting.
Juice Fasting
If you would like to try out liquid fasting, but find that extreme forms such as tea or water fasting are too difficult for you, juice fasting could be a good alternative. Thanks to the many colourful and fresh fruit and vegetable juices, you will notice that you feel stronger and more alive after only a few days. This is because although you avoid solid food, the body is still supplied with sufficient vitamins and minerals. Juice fasting also relieves the digestive organs, cleanses the body, supports the detoxification process and gives the immune system new momentum.
Therapeutic fasting according to Buchinger
As a pure drinking therapy, the classic therapeutic fasting according to Buchinger includes vegetable broth, juices and lots of tea. The therapeutic fasting method is intended to activate the body's self-healing powers, which is particularly beneficial in the case of chronic inflammatory diseases. As Buchinger fasting is divided into three phases, it is also well suited to short-term fasting: at the beginning, the diet is slowly changed during the relief phase. Depending on the duration of the entire fasting period, the purification phase, i.e. the actual fasting period, only lasts a few days. Finally, the breaking of the fast follows, including build-up days to slowly accustom the body to eating solid food again.
Further information on therapeutic fasting according to Buchinger
Intermittent Fasting
With interval or intermittent fasting you do not have to give up solid food altogether, but simply distribute the food phases differently over the day or week. It is therefore not a classic diet. The many different forms of intermittent fasting are ideal for short-term fasting. From the 16:8 method, in which you fast for 16 hours and then eat two or three healthy and balanced meals within 8 hours, to the 10 in 2 method - also known as alternating fasting - in which you alternate between eating for a day and fasting for a day, there is certainly a method that suits you.
Short-term fasting in a hotel
If you have no experience of fasting or feel that you need professional support, the fasting therapies in our health hotels are just right for you! Here, far away from work and everyday stress, you can focus completely on yourself and your health, meet like-minded people and are looked after by doctors or fasting companions during the holiday. Our fasting hotels also have other offers such as nutritional advice, sports, and wellness ready for you. Besides beneficial massages and other treatments, you will also receive information and tips for the time after the fasting therapy.
Discover our most popular hotels for short-term fasting therapies
FAQ - Short-term fasting
Risks of short-term fasting - When should I not fast?
- Diabetes
- Heart failure
- Cancer
- Vascular diseases
- Liver and kidney diseases
- Gout
- Stomach diseases
- Low body weight/underweight
- Eating disorders (including those already overcome)
Pregnant and breastfeeding women as well as children and young people should generally not fast.
Why is short-term fasting beneficial for my health?