The New Food Pyramid Prioritizes 'Real Food'

Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced updated dietary guidelines for Americans. The new recommendations promote consuming whole foods, proteins, and healthy fats.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Secretary Kennedy unveiled a new food pyramid containing red meat, vegetables, cheese, and fruits at the top.

“Today, our government declares war on added sugar,” Secretary Kennedy said. “Highly processed foods loaded with additives, added sugar, and excess salt damage health and should be avoided. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, my message is clear: eat real food.”

The Secretary described the recommendations as the most impactful reset on nutrition policy in history, advocating for an end to policies that encourage highly refined foods linked to harming health.

"Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines," Kennedy said. "We are ending the war on saturated fats."

Agriculture Secretary Brooked Rollins and Kennedy wrote, "This approach can change the health trajectory for so many Americans," as they emphasized that more than 70% of American adults are overweight or obese, linking it to a diet that has "become reliant on highly processed foods and coupled with a sedentary lifestyle."

The updated visual representation of the guidelines includes meats and vegetables at the very top, reversing the previous framework of the American food pyramid.

Christopher Gardner, a nutrition expert at Stanford University, shared his dissent on the matter with NPR. "I'm very disappointed in the new pyramid that features red meat and saturated fat sources at the very top, as if that's something to prioritize. It does go against decades and decades of evidence and research," he said.

The new guidelines set targets for calories and nutrients, which will be highly influential in determining the contents of school meals and on military bases, as well as what's included in federal food aid for mothers and infants, as the guidelines.