healthy food additives?

In my effort to eat healthy, and consume less chocolate, I’ve found that nuts and seeds are a good ‘munchie buster’. I can eat just a handful with a cup of herbal tea, and it gets rid of the cravings for chocolate (well, not quite, but almost, so it’s a good substitute… for me).

Anyways, I picked up a bag of “Back to Nature 100% Natural Raisins, Almonds, Pumpkin seeds, Pecans, and Apricots”. Sounds good, right? Here's the website... http://www.kraftcanada.com/backtonature/raisins_almonds_pumpkin_pecans_apricots.aspx?click=bottomsku

100% natural. Wonderfully delicious. But wait! There’s something on the ingredient list that doesn’t look like a nut or a seed. It’s HIGH OLEIC SUNFLOWER OIL. And HIGH OLEIC SAFFLOWER OIL too? What is that?

Well, a couple of searches on the internet, and I found that high oleic oils are actually good for you. They are cold-pressed oils and contain high levels of monounsaturated fat... they good fat... the kind that the Mediterranean diet says you should consume more of.

But my question is this… Why can’t food manufacturers just leave food alone? Why do they think they need to add stuff to food to make it healthier or better for us? Why can’t a bag of nuts, be just a bag of nuts?