Strict dietary needs in the North of France

Vegan dining shouldn't be too much trouble to find but low/no sodium and low/no oils/fats would be difficult, I think. Try searching not for that WFPB acronym but for raw foods kind of search terms.

I would try to rebook your accommodation to somewhere with cooking facilities. It’s going to be very difficult to find restaurants that can cater for such a strict diet unfortunately.

Are no salt canned beans available in stores? Refrigerators in hotel rooms? Are healthy vegan options in restaurants unheard of there? We will be traveling to the Normandy Beach area

The answers to your questions are, unfortunately, NO, NO, and YES. Basically, the most common vegan options in rural/small town France these days are veggie burgers.
You will need to self-cater, no question there, and if you cannot have salt, you will have to go to larger supermarkets and buy dried beans - or lentils, perhaps; those are much faster to cook.

We live in the south of France where the diet has a lot of fruits, vegies, beans, but also high salt and oil. We are low-fat and low-salt, no other restrictions. Our solution: almost no restaurant meals due to the high salt and easy on the desserts.

In your case, as others have said, you have to self-cater. Or you could try to arrange for a hotel with a restaurant that can cater for you according to your instructions.

Never heard it referred to as "the North of France." I've heard the somewhat pretentious "South of France" for decades, but both really are just bad English translations of the French way of saying it.

I agree with the others -- in general, you're going to have to prepare your own foods with such a strict diet, especially while in smaller towns. You should be able to find vegan options at some restaurants -- just do some Internet searching for that -- but in general if you want low salt and no eggs, meat, or cheese, you're going to be on your own.

Some suggestions on places to get good, varied ingredients for your meals would be:

• Bio Coop, an organic-focused chain store with locations in many
  mid-sized to large towns -- you should have little trouble finding
  them

• Grand Frais, a chain of larger grocers with varied fruit and produce
  offerings; not organic focused, though they sell some. There are
  multiple Grand Frais groceries in Caen, for example, and a sister
  outlet called "Fresh" in Bayeux, which is a truncated Grand Frais
  without the large wine, canned or jarred goods, and far more limited
  fish and other meat selection. Don't take the "frais" (meaning fresh
  or cool in English) lightly: Grand Frais stores have row after row of
  open bin fruits and vegetables along with helpful notes about flavor
  profile and recommended use, but they keep their stores nearly
  refrigerator-like such that even in the height of summer employees
  wear fleece jackets inside.

• In Saint-Lô, there's a Mangeons-Frais, a much smaller chain that's
  like a tiny Grand Frais but with reasonably varied selection of
  fruits and vegetables, along with some meat and cheese.

There are other options that are either local chains or one-off stores in many of the smaller or mid-sized towns such as Coutances, but those I've noted above would be your best bet for ingredients.

And of course there are the market days in various towns. More entertaining to visit, perhaps, but generally a bit more expensive.

it is always hard to accommodate dietary needs in restaurants if they are complex. The things that make food taste good are the things you are trying to avoid. Vegetarian restaurants may partially work. But your best bet is to rent an apartment or aparthotel where you can prepare simple foods. This is why for the last 40 years of European travel we have always had apartments and eat dinner in restaurants only about once a week.

Although I am WFPB I default to the term vegan when traveling because people are more likely to understand that. You may find lentils served in restaurants in France but not often other beans. Whole grains are thin on the ground for restaurant food although you may be able to get whole grain baguettes in a boulangerie.

For hotel breakfasts you will usually find some kind of fruit and granola/muesli. There is sometimes a plant-based milk but if not I've often used apple juice over cereal. The apple juice in France, particularly if it's cloudy, is delicious.

You will find delicious salads in France. They come dressed but the salad dressing is usually lightly added so this may work for you. The harder thing is to find salads with no cheese on them. Sometimes, especially in Paris, there is a vegan option that will also have quinoa which seems to be the default vegan grain. I usually just eat around ingredients I don't eat.

I do suggest you take with you a translation card saying you are vegan. Don't try to make it too complicated for your servers. Go for the basics - no meat, no dairy. I've got the V-cards app on my phone but I also have the printed out card if I don't want them to take my phone off to the chef, lol.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/v-cards-vegan-abroad/id726594283?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Do look at Happy Cow website to check some of the restaurants in the area where you will be staying.

I'll also add that since the pandemic I've noticed that restaurants have fewer selections for vegan dining in general.

You’ve all been so very kind and helpful. Thank you so much!

I stayed at the Rheine Mathilde in Bayeux. I paid for upgraded accommodations that came with a kettle and small refrigerator.

But for your needs, I'm going to agree with the others and suggest self-catering.