I healed my asthma (finally) with Alternate Day Fasting, so I wanted to post about it here where it will always be easy to find, even if I choose to post other items (such as recipes that help me with my fasting day dinner, etc.). The link, above, leads you to my first blog about it.
Additional links to studies are included in my post on the Alternate Day Diet, so I suggest you read that for inspiration, too. My peak flow made a very noticeable improvement in only 4 days on the Alternate Day Diet, and this is consistent with the improvement seen by other asthma patients who participated in an Asthma Study conducted by Dr. James Johnson.
Helpful Links:
Alternate Day Fasting – a great resource
Dr. Krista Varady interview on Alternate Day Fasting, Part I
Dr. Krista Varady interview on Alternate Day Fasting, Part II
“Participants were required to eat only one meal on their fast days during the time frame of 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM”
The Fast Diet – 5:2 Diet – A wonderful alternative if you only want to fast one or two days a week. See the brief overview in the video, below:
The 5 Rules of Leptin – very helpful guidelines for your normal “eating days”
Half-Day Diet – I found this very helpful to manage asthma symptoms (because my stomach was empty before bed) but not enough to cure it. It is also very helpful for weight loss.
How fasting could help you slow down the aging process
3 Videos on Alternate Day Fasting, below (scroll down)
Healing Asthma 
Really great resource! Thank you! 🙂
You are welcome! I just saw your comment (oops) – How are you doing with this now?
Mary
I also completely eradicated my asthma symptoms and need for both the inhaled steroids and rescue inhaler, by alternate day fasting (36-hour fasts M/W/F). My peak flow now hovers in the 380-440 range, even on the worst air-quality days. Other benefits of ADF (for me): no more heartburn, no more insomnia, reduced inflammation (no more unidentified “aches and pains”) slow and steady weight loss (22 lbs between 2/1/12 and 8/1/12), dramatically lower cholesterol, BP and heart rate, reduced menopause symptoms (no more hot flashes), no more energy crashes (I assume from better-controlled insulin levels). One caveat: I really cleaned up my diet on “eating days” – I now eat around 1900 calories of mostly plant-based, whole foods (but not organic, which I can’t afford), cutting out ALL processed foods and cutting out almost all sugar. It sounds harsh, but it is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I woke up one day, sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I’ve never looked back. If a lifestyle and diet tradeoff is what I have to do in order to feel this good (at 47 years old), I’m willing to do it. I may not live longer than many (although I’m greatly increasing my odds of doing so), but I will be healthier to the end of my natural life. I used to think one day I would die from an asthma attack; not any more.
Hi Tess –
This is great. You are doing really well.
3 days of fasting 36 hours a piece would be too much for some people – but if it is working, that is great. One caveat…if you find you ever have to gorge on your eating days to get enough calories, then try doing a 24 hour fast instead, but only have a small meal at the end of the fasting day- under 500 calories. This will keep insulin levels more even, and thus helps health and longevity. The researchers (males) who are into ADF discovered this once their weights had been stabilized for a long time…
Mary
Yes, thank you. I’m doing a ton of research, but I intend on taking up ADF as a life habit in the very near future.
Curtis – do let me know how it is going….
Mary
I’d like to try this, but I REALLY don’t need to lose any more weight. Since going on a mainly vegan diet and breastfeeding my three children, I have dropped to 119 pounds. Have just been ‘diagnosed’ with asthma and want to get rid of it naturally, but don’t want to lose any more weight!
THINENOUGH:
I am sorry it took me this long to reply… My husband died in August of a very aggressive cancer so I only check back here once in a while…
There are way to do this and not lose weight…Use the “Alternate Day Diet” for 2 weeks, as written. As symptoms withdraw you may be able to increase your allowed calories on the “Down Days”. More here: https://healingasthma.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/13-pounds-to-go/
You can also increase the healthy calories on your eating days.
Good luck with all this.
Thank you for your posts. I’ve been on an alternate day eating plan for about a week now, and I feel fantastic. I consume a whole plant based diet on days when I eat, and I only eat two meals on those days. I consume legumes, brown rice, leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, ground flax seed, mushrooms, garlic, and other healthy plant based choices. Elimination of dairy allowed me to end sinus infections and alergies for good. The alternate day eating plan has helped me curb my huge appetite. Keep up the good work. I suspect that the whole foods diet makes it easy for me to fast on alternate days.
Thank you for your feedback… Is your diet still working well for you? You make a good point – I have found that if I have “treats” that is can be harder to fast the next day.
Hi Dan,
Please excuse my long delay… I am back on this eating plan, and it is going better for me now, too – especially when I stick to whole foods. Thanks again… Mary
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