No. I thought they were a good low-cal, low fat snack and bought them. As I am munching away enjoying the crispy little wafers I begin to read the ingredients. They contain partially hydrogenated oils (from soybean and cottonseed). This is poison to our bodies. Unfortunately, I did not discover this until I had eaten the whole bag!

Hydrogenated oils and partially-hydrogenated oils (aka trans-fats) are not poison to our bodies. That is ridiculous. All this hype about trans-fats has led people to believe that trans-fats are somehow evil or poisonous, but that just isn't true. There's nothing wrong with trans-fats, as long as you don't eat too much of them. Almost anything in life is dangerous when done to excess, and that is the problem with trans-fats in the United States: people are eating far too much of them. The secret is moderation.

The truth is that there is no such thing as a healthy or unhealthy food. All food is good for you (in moderate amounts). Even potato chips -- potato chips are mainly fat and complex carbohydrates, which most people think of as "bad," but they're not bad. Your body needs fat and carbohydrates. One or two servings of potato chips, once or twice a week, isn't bad for you. Eating a whole bag of potato chips every afternoon is bad for you. Same thing with chocolate. Chocolate is packed with nutrients that are good for your body, but it is also packed with fat. So in small amounts, chocolate helps make up a healthy diet, but in excessive amounts, it will make you fat. Same thing with pizza. Most people think of pizza as junk food, but it is just bread and cheese (complex carbohydrates and protein), with meat or vegetables on top. Pizza is a perfectly healthy meal, unless it is eaten every single day.

The same is true of so-called "healthy" foods. People think canned tuna is healthy because it has no fat and is high in protein. But too much protein causes liver and kidney damage, and it can also cause bone problems, as excess protein literally sucks the calcium from your bones. Additionally, canned tuna is very high in salt, which can lead to heart problems.

People also think that fruits and vegetables are healthy. They are (they are packed with lots of vitamins, and they also have fiber, which aids your digestion). But a diet consisting of almost nothing but fruits and vegetables will kill you, since they do not have the protein, fat, and complex carbohydrates that your body needs.

The bottom line is that all foods have nutrients that your body needs, so there is no need to cut any food out of your diet. The trick is just, as I said, moderation. The healthiest diet consists of small amounts of a wide variety of foods, with about 40% of your calories coming from carbohydrates, 30% from protein, and 30% from fat.

As to your specific question: rice cakes are low in fat, but they are also low in almost every other nutrient (except for complex carbohydrates and a small amount of B-vitamins). If you are looking for a more nutrient-rich, low-fat snackfood, try Glenny's Soy Chips. They sound gross, but they're really good, and they also have some protein, calcium, and other vitamins in them.