in terms of sodium levels and overall health, is it better to use things like salt, pepper, and garlic powder, or soy sauce, hot sauce, and fish sauce.
Whether or not one is better than the other is subjective to what you think tastes best. If you are worried about sodium levels just read labels and try and stay within your daily recommendations (which can be googled based on your specific criteria). If you are concerned with sodium due to hypertension get with your provider.
Spices are a million times healthier.
Store bought sauces are full of salt, sugar and preservatives while spices are actually good for you.
However, do not obsess over this, usually the amount of salt and sugar people get from sauces is not worth losing your sleep on.
A cardiologist gave me the best, and most convenient, nutrition and cooking advice I’ve ever gotten: worry less about sodium intake and more about balancing sodium and potassium. Potassium helps your body more quickly process and excrete sodium.
https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sodium/potassium
Better than prepackaged sauces. But you have to remember to still enjoy your meals. I had extremely bad acid reflux and basically ate bland food for a month straight. It sucked really bad lol.
Note: coconut aminos is a super good alternative to soy sauce — cuts the sodium in half
Sauces are the outcome of seasoning with some nature derived liquids.
If / when made fresh they’re kinda cousins; in indian food - dry vs wet/ gravy / curry is quite common for any veggie or dish.
If Pre made then diff outcome.
Those sauces are going to be high in sodium. They can still be used, just as long as you are aware that high sodium intake can lead to increased blood pressure. So, moderating them is the best practice. Dry spices are your best friend in terms of salt free flavor. And some even have health benefits as antioxidants!
MSG has a lot less sodium than normal table salt and gives a really nice unami flavour, just something to consider
It’s better used as an ingredient early in the cooking process rather than for seasoning though
The sauces contain a lot of salt. So if touchant you avoid that: use spices (without added salt - read the label!) And less salt. Still some sauce is fine sometimes. Be careful with the soy, which is exceptionally salty.
You can also get diet salt that contains 50% less sodium. It has potassium instead (and if you don’t overdo it, that’s less unhealthy).
White sauces often contain oils, red and darker sauces can contain a lot of sugar.
Still if you use it in moderation to make a healthy plate tastier it is a great thing.