That’s probably not a totally fair assessment of the new official US Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030. But it does, for the first time, turn the familiar Food Pyramid upside-down. And it wants Americans to ‘prioritize protein at every meal’…
Should we have expected more from the Trump Administration? You really have to ask? The new official US Food Guidelines, released a few days ago are nothing short of a joke. Well… We might have been able to take it more seriously if it had not recommended eating more red meat and pumping the protein.
The main recommendations spit in the face of current nutritional and health knowledge.
Nevertheless, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary (DHHS) Robert F. Kennedy has mandated nothing short of turning the traditional food pyramid upside-down! Perhaps… An unin-tended symbol of the mess he and his minions made of whole effort.
The ‘new basics’…
The official Department of Health and Human Resources ‘Fact Sheet’ webpage is headed: ‘Trump Administration Resets U.S. Nutrition Policy, Puts Real Food Back at the Center of Health’.
Then, it goes on to address the Guide’s main thrusts in point form… Starting with: “Prioritizing Pro-tein: While previous Dietary Guidelines have demonized protein in favor of carbohydrates, these guidelines reflect gold standard science by prioritizing high-quality, nutrient-dense protein foods in every meal.”
“This includes a variety of animal sources, including eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat, in addition to plant-sourced protein foods such as beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy.”
To be fair, the points that follow cover some truly commonsensical issues, including:
- Consume full-fat dairy with no added sugars
- Eat vegetables and fruits throughout the day, focusing on whole forms
- Incorporate healthy fats from whole foods such as meats, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados
- Focus on whole grains, while sharply reducing refined carbohydrates
- Limit highly processed foods, added sugars, and artificial additives
- Eat the right amount for you, based on age, sex, size, and activity level
- Choose water and unsweetened beverages to support hydration
- Limit alcohol consumption for better overall health
“The Guidelines emphasize simple, flexible guidance rooted in modern nutrition science,” The official news release states. In reality… ‘Yes and No’.
It goes on to say: “The Guidelines also provide tailored recommendations for infants and children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, older adults, individuals with chronic disease, and vege-tarians and vegans, ensuring nutritional adequacy across every stage of life.”
They call the overall approach ‘Evangelizing Real Food’…
The goals …
… Include Reducing Health Care Costs and Prioritizing Health Outcomes, Not ‘Health Equity’.
My take
I turned off the ‘Give It a Fair Reading’ lobe of my brain as soon as I realized the new US Food Guide-lines put protein at the top of the priority list. And ‘red meat’ is specifically and conspicuously men-tioned. Someone needs to remind the Trump DHHS that current science holds red meat is at the root of a whole encyclopedia of diseases and conditions including: all-cause mortality, colorectal and other [cancers], atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, and possibly other inflam-matory processes.”
And the Mayo clinic is just one health authority that contends folks in the developed, Western countries are getting too much protein already.
Among other major faux pas and omissions in the new Dietary Guidelines… No recognition that the world is headed for a food source reckoning, triggered by global warming. In the not-too-distant future (historically speaking) we’ll all be forced to switch from traditional animal proteins to a plant-based diet.
And did I mention that, in spite of extensive searching, I found no webpage where the Guide itself is actually posted? (At least, not as of the date this post is being written…)
Overall… What the DHHS calls a ‘nutrition policy reset’ that, ‘Puts Real Food Back at the Center of Health’ is at odds on many points with the EU, UK, Canadian and other national Dietary Guides. The Trump/Kennedy manual is not a guide I’d follow…
~ Maggie J.