Some good advice here already. I only have to add 'Persevere'. Honestly, it really doesn't take long to get used to what you call 'blandness'. It took me about a week, and now I add salt to nothing at all. If salt is added, I really, really notice it! That blandness isn't bland at all - it's just not salty any more! Up until now, the only thing you've really tasted is the salt - your taste-buds are attuned to salt, and not much else. Give it time, and soon you'll be getting the REAL taste of food! Meantime, keep well away from processed and packaged foods, frozen meals, take-aways etc. Even make your own bread. I can't comment from my own experience, but I do know from people who have travelled to America find the bread 'over there' is incredibly salty compared with what we get over here - make your own instead, using an absolute minimum of salt, or none at all. Use unsalted butter. Keep away from soft-drinks (carbonated colas and such - they have a lot of salt in them). Start using more herbs. Fresh is best, but dried is better than nothing. Here's a couple of salt-substitute herb mixtures you could try. You don't need to follow the recipes exactly if you don't have all the ingredients: Herbal Salt Substitute (1) 1/4 cup dried parsley 1/4 cup dried savory 1/4 cup dried savory 1/4 cup dried thyme 2 tablespoons dried marjoram Grind all ingredients together. Herbal Salt Substitute (2) 3 tablespoons dried basil 3 tablespoons dried marjoram 3 tablespoons dried parsley 3 tablespoons dried thyme 4 1/2 teaspoons dried chives 2 1/2 teaspoons dried paprika 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary 2 1/2 teaspoons onion powder Grind all ingredients together. Meantime, check out this site:

I learned today of the cooking forum on garden web. It's pretty amazing! Appears to have a steady traffic flow and iv'e seen some recipes I can't wait to try. Look it up :) Here is a link that might be useful: cooking forum

We are all triangles, lol. Such an interesting observation about the internet and forums. I know eyes probably roll at most of my posts, but someone somewhere might use my non-recipe jumble way of cooking or use a hint since we cut out most sugars and salts a long time ago. Mentioning pharmacists Barb...i've done the same. I wandered into a pharmacist in the city....seems to be one on every NYC block...two young girls behind the counter, young meaning younger, probably early thirties. This was a couple years ago, but i decided to ask about a possible urinary tract infection and we ended up chatting for 20 minutes. They were so helpful and suggested a non-invasive over the counter thing to try first before seeing my primary care as i just had no time...they were a fantastic wealth of information. And made me promise to seek doctor help if it was not solved in a few days. Researching on our own is just good knowledge to have along with your primary care office. We really are responsible for our own basic needs at home and to eat as healthy as we can. It is difficult to start making changes to a dish that is so familiar but i feel pretty shitty after eating comfort food. DH made red-eye gravy, scratch biscuits, the day after a party. With leftovers after i made a de-salted roasted ham NewYears day...we ate tiny portions and it was a treat, then felt crappy all day. We just don't eat that way anymore. (it was delish going in!) Not had tuna casserole since my my mother made it when i was a kid. Loaded with wasted calories. Lots of ways to replace that with vegetables and still be creamy and filling. I've been making a no-mayo nicoise tuna salad for years. Even better, With your prep bowls...6 or 8 soup bowls near your chopping block...chop a half red onion, or white, a half red pepper, a couple ribs of celery, some green onion...pull some peas, limas, spinach, out of the freezer,,,,(i buy the bags over the rectangle cube boxes from the freezer section). Any good veg choices you like...) in the bags you can just take a handful, then wrap it back up with a rubber band. A veg in each bowl, the frozen as well and they start to thaw a bit. Some olives if you like them, capers if you have them. A half a chopped apple and some lemon zest with a 1/4 juice...grate a couple cups of cauliflower. Or chop. Even chopped mushrooms. Saute your onions and celery, grated carrot, garlic...whatever you want and place in the bottom of a casserole, add all other veg and layer with tuna and cooked rice pasta or regular egg noodles but use a 1/4 portion. Just replace all that pasta with 3/4 veg. Cauliflower is such a great pasta/rice replacement. We use non-fat greek yogurt mixed with cottage cheese, feta, or a slice of goat cheese...we like all of those and usually have them on hand. I use a bit of water but skim milk is a good choice for some moisture. And egg stirred in is good but not necessary. I always have citrus ice cubes frozen with some herbs. a couple of those on top...cover and bake...then cover off near the end of oven cooking to get a nice bubbly light brown top. Browning a bit adds flavor. Packed with lots of veggie you can eat a bit more. The rest of the fresh chopped veg and apple/lemon/herb, olives etc goes into a fresh tuna salad for the next day or two. Cucumber and avocado is super on that salad. You then have a crisper drawer of leftover veg not cut up for another few meals at the end of the week. Half a red pepper, half and onion, etc. My veggie lasagna and Shipwreck pie, both are 75% veg and keep winning cooking contests. Because they are baked casserole dishes they have all the elements of comfort food without the high starches and empty calories though very filling and comforting...and we don't feel shitty the next day.

Yes, though I was not one of participants. However, I know that many on the cooking forum really miss it.