Is the sodium in processed foods the same as salt?

Question

And since there seems to be no sodium free foods how much sodium is too much? Can we eat processed foods and still strive towards fitness and excellent health or is the sodium going to push the heart rate into stress during exercise?

I have read health articles saying we need Soy Milk but we must drink soy milk without the sodium and all the sugar vanilla and chocolate added. Then I go to every store I know and every store brand of soy milk is loaded with sodium and sugar. Even the plain soy milk is loaded with sodium. 

I know the body needs salt and converts it into a lubricant for muscles and joints. I use sea salt. I have heard the sodium in processed foods is altered somehow and is not the same as salt. One hot dog loaded with sodium phosphates can accelerate the heart rate for two days. I have been fighting high cholesterol and high blood pressure but it isn't easy to obey Doctors and health guidelines when all the foods are loaded with everything I am told to quit. I even looked up powered milk and it too has sodium. If I can not escape the sodium in foods I need to know how to deal with it.

E. F. Hutton · Accepted Answer

It's the other way around, salt in foods is sodium. Sodium exists in foods in a number of ways as you observe with sodium phosphates. Ordinary salt is of course is the most common. For the most part salt is salt. Naturally occurring or added during processing, it's still salt. Worry less about what the specific source of sodium is and more about how much there is. Just because it's processed doesn't mean it's bad for you, although most often that's true.
We certainly don't need soy milk.
The best way to avoid sodium and fats is eating "real" foods. Ask yourself, does it grow that way? If not it's probably not what you should be eating. It's more complex than that but it gives you a place to begin.
Those bad things aren't so bad in moderation, fewer hot dogs and more spinach.

Ray J · Answer

Sodium is half of what makes up salt, chloride being the other half.  Almost all of the sodium we get comes from salt.  US Food and Drug Administration recommends that we ingest no more than 2300 milligrams of sodium a day.  You do not have to salt any food to get enough salt.  There is more than enough already in the food we eat.  By the by sea salt is no better for you than regular table salt.

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Is the sodium in processed foods the same as salt?

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