What Arthur Evans said is quite true.
I've been diagnosed with something called "Mineire's disease"(sp?), and my ENT put me on a sodium restricted diet. I swear, during the first week of it, I started reading nutrition labels, and thought the doc was trying to starve me to death. It's quite surprising how much sodium we eat, once you start reading the labels. But pay attention to the serving sizes listed too, as they will give you clues as to how much you can have without over-doing it.
(Note: Miniere's disease is an inner ear malfunction. We used to call it "Vertigo") It isn't any fun when your balance goes away to the point that the nausea causes you to empty your stomach, and you have no idea why.
I figured out that just the sandwich I was making for my first break at work was almost half of the 2000mg I was supposed to limit myself to.
I no longer use processed cold cuts, or sliced cheese, (dammit), but make my own stuff. (Egg salad, tuna salad, and chicken salad.)
I do still use entrees, but I get the Healthy Choice steamers brand, (lowest sodium levels of all that I could look at) and I don't use the sauce that's in the lower bowl. (I suspect that that's where all the salt is.)
Yes, I've drastically reduced my chip and dips intake, along with curbing my sweet tooth. I did discover that I can eat dark chocolate. (Luckily, I favor dark chocolate.) Yes, there's zero sodium in dark chocolate!
Frosted, shredded mini wheats for a breakfast cereal, if you're one to eat the stuff, is very low in sodium, too. (I enjoy chocolate milk over mine.)
My symptoms have all but gone away, so the surgery option is sitting on the curb for the moment. (I didn't care for the idea of somebody digging a hole in the side of my head, anyway.)
A coworker is also supposed to limit his sodium intake, and he says his doctor told him that "if you can grow it on a farm, it's ok for you".
Good luck to you, and keep the faith. You can actually sustain life without a lot of the foods that you normally used to eat.
(Personal observation: Mud-Puppy must have been an over-achiever in his creative writing class.)
Roger