Americans just woke up to a food pyramid that’s been completely inverted, with steak, cheese, and whole milk climbing to the top instead of being banished to the tiny tip.
In a move that nutrition watchers are already calling historic and many Americans are celebrating, the new dietary guidelines recast “real food” as the star of the show, sidelining ultra‑processed products and sugary snacks in favor of protein‑rich meals.
It is a significant win for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) team, which set out to invert the pyramid and highlight that food is meant to nourish you, not manage you.
I have often noted the importance of red meat in a healthy, nutritious diet, as well as the fact that food science is the most unsettled of all sciences. I am pleased to see that our policymakers were paying attention to real scientists in this menu makeover.
In a striking reversal of past nutrition guidance, the Trump administration released new dietary guidelines on Wednesday that flip the food pyramid on its head, putting steak, cheese and whole milk near the top.The new guidelines urge Americans to prioritize protein and avoid the sugary, processed foods that health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said are poisonous to health.“My message is clear: Eat real food,” Mr. Kennedy said at a briefing rolling out the guidelines, where he positioned them as the key to preventing chronic disease and improving Americans’ health.
These changes are much needed. I have covered the continued revisions of consensus in dietary science extensively for Legal Insurrection since I was first invited to join this great team:
Time and time again, the “experts” have had to walk back theories built upon politicized science, government agendas, and regulatory intervention. Meanwhile, thousands of doctors have made good-faith recommendations that may have hurt the patients they were supposed to heal, and millions of Americans have made diet choices that may have actually done far more harm than good.
I am delighted to note that the new guidelines officially end this nation’s “War on Meat.”
The realfood.gov messaging site states the new DGAs “end the war on protein,” increasing the adult recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein from 0.8 grams per kilogram (g/kg) of bodyweight to 1.2–1.6 g/kg of bodyweight, suggesting a food high in protein be eaten at every meal.As in the previous DGAs, the consumption of a variety of healthy protein sources including meat, eggs, poultry, dairy, seafood, and plants (e.g., beans, nuts, soy) are encouraged.The guidelines do recommend avoiding the consumption of “chemical additives,” as well as added sugars and refined carbohydrates or starches, alongside proteins.
The new guidelines also call for real dairy with all of the fat (and flavor). It also separates whole grains from processed grains, with the carbohydrates now residing at the bottom rather than the top of the pyramid.
The updated guidelines favor full-fat dairy with no added sugars, calling for three servings per day for someone on a 2,000-calorie diet.They also suggest prioritizing “fiber-rich” whole grain with two to four servings per day and significantly reducing highly processed, refined carbs including white bread, flour tortillas and crackers.The guidelines also recommend three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruits per day for a typical 2,000-calorie diet. The guidelines emphasize eating whole foods in their original form but also say, “frozen, dried, or canned vegetables or fruits with no or very limited added sugars can also be good options.”
This truly is a signature achievement for Kennedy, who pledged to create a simple, understandable guideline. The new guidance is 10 pages long.
Previous editions of the dietary guidelines have grown over the years, from a 19-page pamphlet in 1980 to the 164-page document issued in 2020, which included a four-page executive summary.The guidance will have the most profound effect on the federally funded National School Lunch Program, which is required to follow the guidelines to feed nearly 30 million U.S. children on a typical school day.
I am sure he is quite pleased with the development:
I am sure the mainstream media and food industry will bring out “experts” to diminish this development. However, I say let’s give the new plan at least 30 years. I offer the following as proof that the new pyramid is superior.
Nice to see meat is back on the menu…as well as oysters!
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