it benefits many; need proper food reintroduction

I understand your frustration, although, I would rather let Archus and rawnr talk about their own benefits or eventually lack there of.
There is always the danger of self-fulfilled prophecies when someone does not trust in what they are doing.
I've seen many posts here that testify of autolysis. It does not pertain strictly to cysts or other lumps.
If you can't gain weight back you may be doing some nutritional mistakes - food combining, not enough good fat, not enough nutrition or calories etc. Sorry to sound critical, but I gotta point out also that, as per my memory, you re-fed way too fast with heavier types of food. Even if you felt it was OK, it still probably contributed to not digesting and not absorbing well your food.
Your fasts, I find, are pretty sort to aim at cyst elimination. Further, I believe, your choices to not opt heavily for organic produce may also contribute to the persistence of the cyst. Cysts are tools the body uses to wall-off dangerous stuff, so you may need extra efforts to break the wall and its content. You may want to research into digestive enzyme supplementation, which also contributes to autolysis, while not fasting. Bromelaine, papayine, respectively pineapple and papaya seeds, and some brand like Digestive supreme or puradyme.
Hope you get back your positivism,
DL