well, yes this is the point. balance. as many people here live relatively unhealthy life styles, including dehydration, excess sodium is not great. I am going to start a new thread and tag you. I am very much interested in going in depth in this as Ithink everyone can make dietary/lifestyle improvements. I certainly am hoping to. I will edit this post with a link once I do.
As not to steer this thread too far off topic on shitting.on taiwanese food 
That just means 3 times out of 5 you have made bad choices 
But yes, I agree, many restaraunts in tiawan serve slop. That doesnt equate to taiwanese food being slop, that’s my only point 
when enough people make better choices, economics dictates an improvement in any given industry. Good reason we discuss openly on forums, facebook a like websites to broaden the scope and conversation. I feel the cuisine has a solid quality. the production is where the issues lie.
on this note:
and…
there are valid points on both ends granted I havent been here since WW2, but decades. full time. and in industry both supply chain and developing varieties and recipes for companies. I have noticed an drastically huge improvement in Taiwan.
without getting into specifics or sides. these are the main points I feel strongly just in my experiences here:
The taiwanese (in this case I mean Han people, not aboriginal nor non-Han immigrants specifically) have exceptional palates. there are some truly fucked up food designs here, but they are far ahead of their game.
There is a very obvious difference in genetics when it comes to taste. I havent done a paper on it, but have collected evidence in the most basic of senses. and this is over many years with tens of thousands of people. a hint, get various groups of white people, especially UK dominant american/canadians to test different chili vs the various asian races here. there are actually huge differences in spice level…blanking on the term. sensitivity perhaps, but also perception. out taste buds and/or connections are vastly different in something as “simple” as heat from chilis based on fairly loose simple variety selection. very observable
taiwanese (han) really enjoy strong flavor. I. mandarin, it is commonly said oj the daily. just the norm. and yet they also commonly say shit in north america is so sweet. very easy to notice why, as we see in this very thread. taiwanese have a much more advanced taste bud than use white north americans. generally speaking. they pick up fone details much easier and appreciate them far more. north american fare tends to over do things. as ler this thread, my examples would be sweet and savory. the sweets in north america are next level sweet. growing up with that, and I assume genetics, allows that to work. here in Taiwan, things are toned down and balanced more. Interestingly, the white north americans, like myself, have long complained about things like cheese and milk being sweet in Taiwan. it is no secret that in north america sweets are ramped up to 100. whereas you cna actually buy bread without sugar there (note, I feel Taiwan has improved 10 fold in recent years and high quality foreign foods are now quite available, especially with more modern day delivery logistics).
In Taiwan,my issues is, everything adds sugar and.sodium and incorrect balance. I find food here too sweet and too “salty” more often than not. that said, unwanted a steak salty. frankly, I am with @TT on how taiwanese like softer undercooked things more. but that issue goes deeper, not just taste but also dental hygiene and other factors. frankly, I want meat not bloody. my reason is both personal preference in tooth feel but also gut biota and related issues. I noticed quite severely how my taste in food changed the longer I stayed and my body’s species have changed out. but that’s a different thing.
either way, the issue I see so often is like here. people from say the USA feel food here isnt salty or sweet enough not really understanding they are getting enough of that stuff because everything here usually has it added. raw foods excluded. and people are so used to using their tongue to judge how much salt they should take in, or sugar, or whatever, that they ignore the actual body response to what is truly needed. just wanted. more like cravings. I get them too, but just learned to shut down cravings in preference for what I think my body needs. and that’s why we are discussing it because out tongues lie to us in different ways.
better we tell the tongue what to want rather than the tongue tell the brain what to “need”.
Edit:
we can move the too much/too little sodium debate here if folks are game, in order not to disrupt this thread too much from the taste/cuisine type aspect of food.
On kidney and other organ issues in Taiwan. With emphasis on diet