A few comments:
Salt: there is some evidence that salt is bad for (at least some of) us as it's part of the 'fructose trigger' that makes us store fat, eat more (suppresses leptin) and store water (as fat - AKA metabolic water).
For those of us not already in a triggered state, moderate amounts of salt are no a danger, so long as there isn't a sudden concentration in the blood, which can trigger fructose production, and start the cycle from there. Interestingly, uric acid (as in gout) is part of this reaction - and the cycle can be interrupted with anti-gout medications (eg allopurinol).
Fat: I'm not convinced that fats are bad for us (excepting things like cottonseed oil and oil kept at elevated temperatures in, say, a deep fryer - extra bad now that saturated fats are not used for this anymore)
Knives: the cheapest decent kitchen knife is the Victorinox chef's knife. Bonus is the grip which stays grippy even when coated in grease. I don't use my Vics in the kitchen anymore, but it's my tool of choice when I'm breaking down a BBQed pig (note to anybody thinking of doing this: do NOT wear shoes you care about).
Sharpening: easiest to learn and no more expensive than good stones: the Chef's Choice 'trizor' sharpeners. Takes maybe five minutes to go from butter-knife dull to shaving-paper sharp.
Boards: Boards with a hard surface will make your knives dull faster. Bamboo, with a high silica content, counts as hard. Glass not only dulls almost immediately, but your knife will have a tendency to move and skitter. Polypropylene (the white boards) is better than either, so long as it's small enough to fit in your dishwasher and you're willing to discard it when it's all chewed up. If you have the money, get a decent end-grain hardwood board - this will both keep your knives sharp longer, 'lock' the blade in place if you rock-cut, and just make knife tasks easier.
Agreed on not getting caught in a rut. I tend to use recipes as general ideas, but I note down what I did, and, right afterward, what I want to try differently. I use Google Drive for this, but I'm transitioning to self-hosted NextCloud (nerd here - but you knew that :-)
