HEALTHY FASTING

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HEALTHY THROUGH FASTING

Is fasting healthy? The term is often associated with renunciation and deprivation. Yet fasting can be good for body and soul. At Marienkron Spa, an experienced team helps us focus on and learn to celebrate deceleration and regeneration. A path to joy.

T E X T URSU LA SCHE I DL P H O T O S SABI NE HAUS WIRTH

The welcome is familiar and warm. The ambience in this generously designed spa house with its 20-hectare park in northern Burgenland radiates peace and security. Where nuns welcomed Kneipp guests 50 years ago, today it’s all about internal wellbeing. Fifteen nuns live in the neighboring convent, and their spiritual seminars complement the spa services. After all, you regularly take your car in for service, so why not do the same for your body? Health is a complex topic. Individual diets and fasting is the basis of every therapy concept at Marienkron. “Most of the time, people come with health problems,” explains the head spa doctor Dr. Ulrike Göschl. “That is why our therapies are

Healthy food can also be delicious. The Marienkron team proves this with this vegetable millet flan on herb aioli.

custom tailored for each guest after a thorough medical consultation. Fasting and a vegetarian diet have an anti-inflammatory effect as well as a positive impact on the musculoskeletal system. This is the path to lasting progress. Metabolic diseases, the onset of high blood pressure, stress symptoms and mood swings can also be treated successfully with the right diet. In the end, it’s always about holistic care.” The Greek word “diaita” means to find one’s own healthy balance. Therefore, Marienkron does not

Chef Patrick Posch likes to experiment with herbs from the in-house kitchen garden. Here seen preparing a tasty dish with Marienkron managing director Elke Müller.

Managing Director Gunther Farnleitner and his team gathering in the herb garden.

Fresh herbs for an exquisite, but healthy kitchen. rely on food bans and calorie counting. “We offer forms of nutrition that bring about a sustainable, life-changing diet that our guests can integrate into their everyday lives.” Deliberate fasting must be done correctly. Fasting has experienced a great boom in recent years and is usually associated with weight loss programmes. You often hear about miracle diets and abstruse forms of nutrition. At Marienkron, fasting is an important part of a holistic nutritional concept. “In order to reduce weight in the long term, we recommend a change of diet. After all, the excess kilos didn’t crawl onto our bodies overnight like a fatsuit that you can take off. With crash diets, a lot of muscle mass is lost, which initiates a yo-yo effect,” explains dietologist Christina Karner. Marienkron offers three different forms of fasting: vegetable, soup and juice. The type of fasting depends on one’s own fasting experience and the presence of any prior illnesses. For vegetable and soup fasts, the day begins with a warm porridge, accompanied by a fasting roll and a large assortment of teas. At lunchtime, there are vegetable soups or a plate of steamed vegetables accompanied by potatoes or cereals. “We offer several courses to preserve the enjoyment factor and so that you are not just sitting in front of a tiny plate of food,” says Karner. Ideally, guests prepare for their fast 2–3 days in advance by avoiding sugar, meat or coffee. After the third day, the familiar “fasting high” sets in. It varies in intensity, but there is “a surge of energy, both mentally and physically. You simply become more sensitive and attuned to your surroundings,” Ulrike Göschl says about her own experience. “You connect with yourself, the ballast of everyday life falls away, which improves decision-making. The majority of our guests are healthconscious people in mid-life who notice that things are no longer running smoothly in their everyday lives. The effect of a health stay lasts about half a year. So it really does make a difference when you find a healthier track on which to travel.”

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