Well Loren Cordain, godfather of "paleo", remains convinced that salt is bad. He claims the chloride does some bad stuff (I forget) and also the sodium screws up potassium and magnesium levels somehow.
I don't there can be much doubt that improper ratios of sodium in the body can be bad. In particular I'd look at the ratio of sodium to potassium. But the same goes the other way too. Being sodium-deficient is really not fun. I know from experience.
Sodium and potassium have a significant number of important roles in the body and they are balanced against eachother. Too much sodium will mess up the potassium functions and vice versa.
Avoiding processed food might be what's keeping you healthier in general. Not because processed food has bad nutrition but because the additives are tricking our bodies. I feel that if you stick to basic ingredients (at least nothing with taste additives) you can pretty much go on cruise control and let your body decide.
