Well, most people know that salt should be limited in our diets. Even if we have normal blood pressure, it tends to increase our BP with time. Some people may be more salt sensitive than others. Whatever, it is recommended that we reduce our intake.
Only real problem with that is that we develop a certain tolerance for salt in our food. Everyone has a different notion of what is "too salty". If you are not Hungarian, you might be shocked at how salty some of their dishes can be. I had a Hungariam roommate - I could not eat some of what she prepared any more than I can eat salt out of the box! It did not bother her. But many of us also have developed a taste for high levels of salt and sprinkle it on at the table even though the food has been adequately salted in the kitchen. We can turn down our taste for salt. At first food may seem undersalted and tasteless but you do adapt. Conversely after you develop a taste for lower salt, food tastes fine. It is easy to get hooked again though. Those pretzels can be a diet killer even if they are non-fat. .
As far as for BP. You can adjust your taste for salt - to some degree at least. You don't have to go entirely salt free but try cooking with half the salt you are used to and don't use the shaker at the table. If this freakes other members of the family - tell them the doctor said to lower your salt intake (no lie, any doctor will back you) and hand them the shaker.
Salt is normally listed as sodium and includes other sources of sodium/soda besides sodium chloride, like bicarbonate of soda and baking powder in bakery goods. Salt holds water in the tissues of our bodies so it also increases how much we apparently weight. Reducing salt intake may help us eliminate excess water and the scales may drop a pound or so. That is good for the heart. But that is not fat weight and it will come and go depending on salt and water intake. We only need a very small amount of sodium. Most of us consume enough salt in our food even if we sweat very heavily. We need other electrolites if we sweat very heavily.
BUT, what applies directly to dieting is that salt increases our desire to eat too much. It is not as much about appetite but saltiness affects our inability to STOP eating. It is the "bet you can't eat just one" syndrome. It is very very hard to stop eating salty things - maybe even more difficult than sweet things which tend to satisfy us. Salt does not satisfy hunger. It triggers some inate desire to eat whatever comes with salt - even when we don't need any more salt. Don't think that marketers of snacks aren't pulling your salt chain!!
The really sneaky thing about salt is that one food may taste saltier than another and not actually BE saltier than another. The taste buds for salt are located on the tips of our tongues so we taste the salt that is on the outside of food in a concentrated form. Food that has plenty of salt in it but must be chewed to release the salt dilutes the salty effect in our mouth.
One example I found is that Triscuits (serving size 6 crackers) has 140mg of salt/sodium. Club crackers (serving size 4 crackers) has 150 mg of salt! But the Triscuits seem much saltier to me. But I have a difficult time stopping at one serving of either one. I could munch a pack if I left it to the salt fairy.
My choice? Eat unsalted nuts for a snack if I am hungry. It's a lot easier to stop. Absolutely forget croutons and crackers in the soup. A slice of bread is a better choice.
Salt inside the foods enhance flavor but it has a more subtle way of making you eat more. We like the food more. It is a lot easier to over-eat salted food than unsalted food. Imagine unsalted mashed potatoes! So there is an additional incentive to undersalt your food. Or, if you are the cook, leave it out of the foods you want to limit and let others salt their own.
We use various sauces to enhance flavors and here is just a sample from my shelf of different sodium content in the sauces I found there. Note that the serving size differs. Most of us use more or less these so be honest with yourself how much you actually use (measure one time to see). There are 3 teaspoons (tsp) in a standard tablespoon (TBSP).
Catsup (1TBSP) = 190 mg sodium
Spicy mustard (1 tsp) = 50 (that's 150/TBSP)
Seasoned rice vinegar ((1 TBSP) = 240 (vinegar!!)
Plain balsamic vinegar = 0
A1 sauce (1TBSP) = 320
Worcestersauce ((1 tsp) = 165 (that's 495/TBSP!)
Tabasco Green sauce (1 tsp) = 140
Lower salt soysauce = 575 (obviously lower does not mean low!)
Check your favs in the cabinet - maybe add them in a comment here.
When you cook consider lowering the amount of salt in the dish while it is cooking if you are going to add salted ingredients or condiments later.
Bottom line, don't start eating what you can't stop. Get yourself a supply of low salt snacks that you can fall back on if you positively must have something before dinner. Put it in a little bowl. Don't eat out of the bag or box.
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