Taste buds, teeth, skin and the Blender!

First, thanks all to having increased the contributions to the blog, I'm feeling a lot less lonely out here and can relate to most all comments, observations, feelings, etc. I did get to gym last night and had an excellent light weight, bike and elliptical work out with short 15 min dry sauna. I'm still feeling the toxins (the starting of a charlie house which dissipates) in my calf muscles. I also seem to be able to stretch slightly more on warm up/wind down. Finally did weigh myself and much to my surprise had only lost 1 pound! On title - I've noticed a marked difference in my taste sensors, particularly to salt and sugars (never realized how sugary tasting bananas and apples can be). And strangely, I seem to have a need to brush my teeth throughout the day as I sense/feel that "fuzzy socks over teeth" sensation mid day and mid evening. I am also noticing that my normally very oily face & head is much less oily and my skin is indeed softer to the touch and my hands seem to dry up more than normal around finger tips and palms. I'm still varying up the meals by combining some of the approved ingredients - so far, no killer recipes worth sharing and thanks to others who have shared! As title denotes, I'm in market for new blender having blown the motor on my relatively new one on Sunday nite. It still works, but its not going to much longer and its giving out a "you've burned up the motor dummy" smell now every time I use it to refresh my current smoothie. I've made large batches to last 1-2 and sometime 3 days and it work wonderfully during the first week. I probably got a bit over confident in its ability and overfed it on the last batch. Caution to others: if using standard blenders - feed in small doses and stick with smaller batches!