A lot of packaged or canned foods have massive amounts of salt in them. I'm not sure why this is, but lots of times you see the salt at 40% or 50% of the daily intake number. That doesn't mean it's going to kill you to have them once in a while but I've been trying to in general avoid it. Some things, like potato chips, you can get low-salt or no-salt chips and I find the missing salt doesn't really bother me. The other thing is that if you're accustomed to lots of salt, at first you may miss it, but my experience has been that as you get used to it, less salty food tastes more salty than it did before.
Obviously you need salt to live so I'm by no way saying don't eat any salt. But too much increases water retention and, I don't know what else it does, but I know my doctor told me "watch the sodium intake" so I make an attempt. I like a little salt on veggies etc but I've found I don't need to dump half the shaker on it - a little bit is enough to taste it.
I'm looking forward to the garden veggies, the lettuce and spinach are coming along already, and peas. Beans and yummy yellow squash can go in right about now (for here). Usually I do cantelope (mixed success there). Tomatoes and peppers, I saved a lot of seeds, but I've found it's usually just as well to get plants well along, they are cheap at the co-op. Beets are yummy (peel after cooking) and when they are thinned out the greens are delicious. There's nothing like a salad made 5 minutes after you pick the stuff.
I was told to switch from whole milk to 2%, refused a long time as the latter seemed watery, but now that's all I drink for milk so as mentioned you can get used to, and like, changes, but it takes a while.
Asparagus are coming up like gangbusters along the fenceline, takes a few years to really get them going, but it's worth it. Cherry trees are finally producing. Peaches and apricots there are lots every year.
Saw 2 good size deer eating the invasive English ivy I keep snipping back from the fence, good for them. Problem is they eat everything else too, they'll eat the bark off small trees which really screws them up. It might not be all bad, they ate the string beans almost to nubs last year but they came back with more beans than we ever had, surprisingly.
You can grow an amazing amount of stuff in a small space, I have a couple little patches maybe 16'x24'. Squash will go all over the place but it's just for a while and can mow around it.
Berries seem to lose vigor after awhile, I don't know if I should cut them to the ground or what (blackberries, raspberries, black raspberries). Blueberries I never had good luck with them, or grapes, so there's something I'm not doing right there. I have red and yellow apples, they do ok. I don't spray, so, for the treed fruits - and some other things - you have to just assume between bugs and deer and rabbits, you will get some fraction of it.
The lot here is less than 1/2 acre and I'm doing all that with lots of available space. Trees are great for shade and soaking up water and heat, and they bring in all kinds of birds. I've seen squirrels go up a tree and take a whole peach and carry it away. I think they eat the pits too. Crazy stuff.
Kind of ran on about that, and I don't know how much is on topic, I guess I'm just saying there's an awful lot you can do, to get your own fresh stuff, it takes some work, but not all that much. A nice salad with some cheese and/or meat in it is very satisfying and fills you up, gives you roughage, and fresh vitamins. You do need protein and you do need carbs, just, I think not in the amounts 'they' would have you buy. I'm not a vegetarian, that's hard to do and still maintain nutrition. The extreme of that is the Aireans, who thought you get enough nutrition simply from breathing in things (bacteria, etc) in the air. The movement died out though.
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