Fasting Is the Renovation Tool We Forgot

Chinese drywall ruined homes from the inside out — fasting allows the body to repair itself.

Subconscious Fat at 30,000 feet

In the late 2000s, there were entire neighborhoods in South Florida that looked perfect from the outside. Fresh paint. Clean lines. New construction. Everything shiny and new.

And then, slowly, they started to rot.

Walls grew mold.
Copper wiring corroded.
Air-conditioning units failed.
People got sick.
Homes became unlivable.

The problem was invisible. It was hidden behind the walls.

Chinese drywall.

As soon as I say it, I can feel Mr. Skeptical stirring.

“Here we go,” he says. “You’re about to compare food to toxic drywall, aren’t you?”

Maybe. But stay with me.

Because what happened to those houses is exactly how bodies break — not all at once, not dramatically, but quietly… over time.

There were even courses set up to teach both homeowners and attorneys how to deal with the Chinese drywall issue.

Subconscious Fat at 10,000 feet

Back then, builders had a problem. Hurricanes had disrupted supply chains, and drywall was scarce. Projects were delayed. Money was on the line. So they substituted.

They used something that looked like drywall.
Felt like drywall.
Passed inspection like drywall.

It was close enough.

Until a year later, when sulfur smells started leaking from the walls. When copper wiring turned black. When A/C coils corroded. When families realized the house itself was poisoning them.

Mr. Skeptical shakes his head.

“But that’s construction,” he says. “You’re talking about food. Totally different.”

Is it?

When people can’t get real food, they substitute it too.

Protein bars instead of meals.
Seed oils instead of fat.
Snacks instead of nourishment.
Caffeine instead of sleep.
Motivation instead of recovery.

It all looks fine at first.

Just like those houses did.

Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level

This is where things usually fall apart.

The body doesn’t collapse when harmful materials are introduced.
It collapses years later.

Mr. Skeptical leans forward now, interested despite himself.

“So you’re saying one bad meal is like one bad sheet of drywall?”

No. One sheet doesn’t matter.

It’s the whole structure.

Chinese drywall didn’t destroy homes in a week. It slowly changed the internal environment — corroding metal, poisoning the air, and weakening the structure from within.

And ultra-processed food does the same thing.

Not immediately.
Not obviously.
Not dramatically.

But eventually:

• fat becomes stubborn

• joints ache

• energy disappears

• blood sugar drifts

• sleep breaks

• motivation fades

That’s when people say, “I don’t understand. I’m doing everything right.”

Mr. Skeptical nods slowly and adds, “That’s exactly what the homeowners said, too.”

Practical Suggestions and Conclusions

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most people aren’t broken.

They’re built with the wrong materials.

They used what was available.
What was cheap?
What was convenient.
What everyone else was using.

And now they’re living inside a structure that’s quietly corroding.

Mr. Skeptical sighs.

“So what, you’re saying it’s too late?”

No. Renovations are possible — but only if you stop painting over mold.

You can’t fix Chinese drywall with new wallpaper.
And you can’t fix a broken metabolism with more willpower.

You have to remove the harmful materials, which means fasting to let your cells replace themselves through a process called autophagy.
Give the structure (the human body) time to stabilize.
And rebuild patiently, focusing more on nutrient-dense foods like animal products than on processed junk, and also lessening intake of too many fruits and vegetables.

That’s why quick fixes fail.
That’s why diets collapse.
That’s why people feel better for a few weeks… then worse.

The damage didn’t happen overnight.
And the repair won’t either.

But once the materials change, the environment changes.

And when the environment changes, the mold stops growing.

Mr. Skeptical goes quiet.

That’s usually how I know it landed.

Be aware.

Other links related to this post: 

The Romans Had a Technology Superior to Ours

Fasting Pros and Cons

Fasted Workouts

PS Links on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, and Notes. Full disclosure: ChatGPT was used to research and enhance this post.