You guys are great! I appreciate all your replies.
I realize making my own sauce is a probably the best solution. I have no trouble cooking solid foods like fish or chicken. I've never had much luck with soups and sauces.
There are so many different brands of pasta sauce. Anyone trying to read all those labels would go crazy. Also, I don't know enough about spices and other ingredients to make a logical choice.
I stopped eating pizza many years ago for the same reasons. The spices (including a ton of salt) made me sick. Recently, I tried a pizza sold in a health food store. It was low sodium with mild spices, but it tasted horrible!
If you google, there is plenty of confusing info about pasta sauce. Some folks prefer the cheaper brands, while others say the higher priced sauce is worth the extra money.
As others have said, pasta sauce is very easy to make, and it's really the only way to have it to your taste. To follow on what di said, a simple tomato sauce doesn't generally have spices in it, except sometimes black pepper or red pepper flakes. But they can certainly be left out.
And, to be clear, herbs are the leaves of aromatic plants; spices are other plant parts, e.g., black pepper is a berry, cinnamon is bark, red pepper flakes are the dried fruit, etc.
So the simplest recipe for a tomato pasta sauce is tomatoes (I don't find that the brand matters), olive oil, onion, garlic and fresh parsley or basil. To make pizza sauce, add oregano. If it's too acidic for your taste, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to neutralize it. Salt enhances other flavors, but a dish should not taste actually salty. So add a little salt, 1/4 teaspoon or so, and taste the sauce to see what you think.
I'm guessing the sauce you got from the health food store had no added salt at all
I wouldn't worry about what other people "on the Internet" think about different sauces. It just means that different people have different tastes; some people believe that food from a specific store or manufacturer is "best" or that more expensive means better. There are all kinds of ideas that go into what's "best." But I really think your best solution is to make your own.
Here's what I do.
Note: chiffonade means to stack basil leaves on top of each other, roll them up and cut them cross-wise into ribbons.
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 yellow onion (about 1/2 cup), diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 32 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into chiffonade
1/4 to 1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda, if needed
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a 3-quart saucepan. Add onion and a pinch of salt to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, till onion is softened, about three minutes. Add garlic and stir till it's fragrant, about one minute.
Add tomatoes and basil and stir well. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste and add 1/4 teaspoon salt, if necessary. If it tastes too acidic, add baking soda.
To make pizza sauce, use 1 tablespoon dried oregano instead of the basil.
Hope this helps.