I remember quite well the discussions we had about healthy eating right after The Event, and I knew you'd jump on this one. And I figure that you, if anyone, might be interested in taking it further. Maybe a Zone cookbook? Better than you taking down all those recipes at some point. If enough people are interested, I could set up a Food Forum, too.

I've always been an experimental cook. My MO is to start with a proven recipe, usually a simple one; and then vary it and watch the results. And I rely on my nose a lot, too, sampling the flavors available and mentally combining them for effect, like composing music out of scent and flavor.

I'd lapsed in the years before the heart blew up and relied too much on processed and packaged food. It's suddenly (since then) been interesting again, motivated at first by urgency, but now by the challenge of inventing new dishes within the discipline of "heart healthy".

Browsing your recipes, and noting where you added notes for me about adjusting salt, I can tell we have different health goals. That's interesting too, because I think healthy eating doesn't have to wait until you have a problem to address. Everybody can benefit from lowering salt, cholesterol, and fat intake; and most people will also benefit from watching carbs and sugars. If we did do a cookbook, it might be useful to note for each recipe its goal or strength, like reducing salt or fat etc.

Let's face it, the American diet is downright toxic, and we eat too much of the wrong things in all categories. I'm a fanatic about salt because I know that even if I never add salt to anything, I'm still likely to get too much salt from everything except distilled water and raw vegetables I pick myself. It's like I breathe it in!

Don't take down those recipes right away. Several of them made my mouth water just reading them. The coq au vin, mmmm, I will try that one. BBQ sauce will come in handy--every few weeks I get burnt out on chicken and just can't eat any more, and a good spicy sauce can cure that. I'm intrigued by nofat creme brulee and...well, most of the recipes look tasty. And useful as components, in some cases; I wonder if the low-fat gravy might improve the meat pies?

Thanks very much, Eri!