Thanks for the info. =)

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thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner

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Interesterification alters the esters in oil (hence inter-ester-ification), producing an artificial fat similar to hydrogenated oil that is "stiff" like lard but resists going rancid. The processed food industry touts this product as free of trans-fat, but studies have shown that it's actually worse for the body than trans-fat. For example, it raises blood glucose levels by 20% and lowers insulin levels by 10% -- both really bad for diabetics and pre-diabetics. Bottom line: If you stay away from processed food, you don't have to worry about interesterified oil.

Re: fish oil, the best way to avoid mercury is to get pharmaceutical grade fish oil. (Yes, there is such a thing.) Otherwise, you can try krill oil, which is even higher in omega-3 and other antioxidants, but unfortunately lacks vitamin D3.

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Watch out for interesterrified fats. They are as bad as transfats. The food industry is getting away with replacing transfats with interesterrified fats. Any oil that contains the word terrified=bad. Omega 3 is also found in walnuts. Fish oils are all the benefits without the mercury. Fats in foods like avocados and olive oil are good for you. As previously mentioned Flax seeds and flax seed oils contain Omega 6.

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I eat raw flax seeds on my cereal every mourning, so there is your answer to "who eats raw flax seeds?"! they are actually quite yummy!

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Sect. 2
Keep in mind, though, that I'm talking about real, undamaged, uncontaminated fats -- i.e. not tainted by pesticides, growth hormones, and other contaminants, and not damaged by high heat (e.g. deep frying, pasteurization, etc.), hydrogenation (which creates trans-fats that are more like plastic than food), homogenization, and other such processes.
(3) Cholesterol Hysteria: Yes, it's bad to have high levels of certain forms of cholesterol in your blood -- not because cholesterol is inherently evil, but because it's symptomatic of damage to your body, especially to the arteries. Ironically, the damage is caused by sugars, not cholesterol. Cholesterol is so important that the body (especially the liver) actually makes it from other things, and in greater quantities than you get from your diet. High levels of cholesterol in the blood typically mean your body is churning it out in a desperate effort to repair all the damage from overconsumption of sugars. Trying to lower your cholesterol without cutting off those sugars is like trying to save the Titanic by rearranging the deck chairs!

Jessica is right: If you eat whole foods, you can just ignore the labels. In fact, most labeled products are processed foods. If you avoid the processed stuff and try to eat mostly fresh vegetables and fruits (which *should* form the base of the USDA Pramid), you won't even see labels!

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This comment is in 2 sections.
Sect. 1
Part of the reason those labels are so confusing is that they're based on myths and outdated notions about food and health:
(1) Fat makes you fat. On a very simplistic level this "old wives tale" seems to make sense -- after all, you are what you eat, right? Well, when you think about it, it makes no sense at all. Does starch make you starchy? Does sugar make you sweet? The body does not simply convert dietary fat to body fat. In fact, you're more likely to get fat from eating sugars and starches (especially refined grains) than from eating fatty foods. There are many reasons for avoiding the wrong kinds of fats, but getting fat is not one of them!
(2) USDA Pyramid: This pyramid puts fats at the narrow top -- meaning eat very little of them -- and starchy foods at the broad base -- meaning load up on them. There's an especially strong emphasis on grain products in that starchy base, largely because when the government developed the whole industrial agriculture model, with its use of petroleum-based products (gasoline, fertilizer, pesticides) to produce massive quantities of wheat, corn, etc., it needed to develop a correspondingly huge market for all that production. Ironically, the top of the model is pretty accurate, not because fats are bad for you, but because they're so nutritious that the body feels "full" after consuming only small amounts. (Example: the most nutritious and satisfying part of milk is the cream.)

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Hempseed sounds great, but hempseeds are being sold at extremely high prices in Amsterdam. Would be a waste to press out the oil, they're meant for growing... ;D

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That's just it, Susan - you don't have to spend exhaustive time reading labels. We're supposed to have salt. We're supposed to have fat. The idea is to eat WHOLE FOODS.

This means whole milk (raw if you like it is best), cheese, whole plain yogurt, kambucha, free-range eggs, organic fruits and vegetables, organic free-range meat, wild fish, organic and non-irradiated herbs and spices, no bottled water, organic 100% juice, organic nuts, homemade chicken broth, and (only a little) sprouted wheat/spelt/quinoa/couscous, etc.
In other words, items that haven't been covered in pesticides and are in their whole, natural state.

Once you start eating this way, you'll find you rarely spend time looking at labels because most foods you'll buy don't really have too much of a label and it isn't important.

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Still find those labels confusing.

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