Q: Is eating packaged sunflower seeds a bad thing if I wanted to lose fat?

A: If it's oil-roasted sunflower seeds, then throw them out. However, raw or dry-roasted sunflower seeds can certainly be a part of a healthy diet, including for fat loss. The thing to remember is that you need to have a balanced diet overall and, ideally, to have balanced each meal. So your goal is to roughly get the same amount of calories from protein, fats, and carbs. Sunflower seeds are roughly 85% fats by calories, 10% protein, 5% carbs which is, of course, not balanced. So if you eat them, eat them in moderation. For example, they would be a great complement to a chicken (protein) + salad or other veggies (carbs). They can also make a passable snack when there's simply no way for you to have a complete meal. But remember to stay within overall calorie guidelines for the day -- one cup of kernels (without the hulls) has a whopping 800 calories, so limit snacks to less than a handful. If you're not sure how many calories you should be eating in one day, fill out http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/fitnessguide and see its suggested daily diet.