Why The New Food Pyramid Is The Best Nutrition Guidance We’ve Ever Had
The reaction to the new food pyramid has been loud and mostly negative.
Take this New York Times headline: “Several of Kennedy’s Dietary Advisers Have Ties to Meat and Dairy Interests.” Scroll through the comments and you’ll see the tone immediately. Most critical, many cynical, almost all dismissive.
My feeds lean left, so I’ve mostly seen criticism. I’m sure there’s praise elsewhere. But that’s the issue. Nutrition has become so politicized that people pick a side before they read the recommendations. And when that happens, we lose sight of the only goal that matters: helping people eat better and improve their health.
Public health guidance should be judged on evidence, not ideology.
By that standard, these are BY FAR the strongest nutrition guidelines we’ve ever had.
Is it perfect? Nah.
But it finally gets several big things right, things we’ve needed for decades. And yes, there are still a couple of issues worth criticizing.
Let’s break it down.
The Good:
1. Higher protein targets
This is the single biggest upgrade in the new guidelines.
For the first time, the food pyramid reflects what decades of research and real-world coaching have shown: most people do better with more protein than the old minimums. The updated target of 1.2–1.6 g/kg of bodyweight per day is a major improvement over prior recommendations that routinely left people under-eating protein.
Personally, I’d push most adults higher. Closer to 0.7–1.0 g per pound of bodyweight, especially for those focused on fat loss, muscle retention, appetite control, or healthy aging.
I also understand why the guidelines stopped where they did. Public health advice has to balance what’s ideal with what’s realistic at scale. Even so, this shift alone will meaningfully improve body composition, blood sugar control, satiety, and long-term adherence for millions of people.
Long overdue.
2. Emphasizing minimally processed foods
The “eat real food” message is finally front and center, and it’s one of the strongest parts of the new pyramid.
A diet high in ultra-processed foods consistently correlates with:
Higher calorie intake
Poor appetite regulation
Weight gain
Increased risk of chronic disease
This is clear in the research and obvious in daily life. Ultra-processed foods are engineered to be easy to overeat, low in fiber, and hyper-palatable. When they dominate the diet, overeating becomes the default. Over time, that leads to fat gain and higher risk for nearly every major chronic disease.
By emphasizing whole foods, simple ingredients, and recognizable meals, the new pyramid addresses the root problem rather than blaming individual willpower.
This one is cut and dry.
3. Lower added sugar recommendations
This is another strong move.
Added sugar intake in the U.S. remains far above levels associated with good metabolic health, especially in children. Diets high in added sugar are linked to problems like poor blood sugar control, higher blood fats, fatty liver, and trouble feeling full after meals. A big reason is simple: sugary foods are easy to overeat, and overeating over time leads to weight gain and chronic disease.
But it’s not just about calories.
Frequent sugar intake, especially from liquid or refined sources, causes repeated glucose and insulin spikes. Over time, this disrupts insulin signaling, blunts satiety, and bypasses normal fullness cues, making overeating more likely.
The new guidelines take a much firmer stance on limiting added sugars early in life. Is the suggestion of no added sugar for kids under 10 extreme? Uhhhh, yes. For sure.
But I understand the intent. Bombarding kids with added sugar shapes taste preferences, reward pathways, and long-term habits. I’ll give my future kids cake on their birthdays, I’m not raising robots! But added sugar is something I’ll watch closely.
The direction here is right, even if the wording is aggressive.
4. Clarifying what “healthy fats” actually means and reducing emphasis on refined carbs
For decades, people were told to fear fat in general. This pyramid finally corrects that.
Healthy fats are no longer vague or implied. They’re clearly encouraged, particularly from whole-food sources and olive oil. That clarity matters because fat improves satiety, nutrient absorption, and metabolic stability when consumed in appropriate contexts.
At the same time, the guidelines reduce emphasis on refined carbohydrates.
Let me be very clear: there is nothing wrong with a piece of bread or a bowl of pasta in an otherwise healthy diet. But refined carbs are:
Low in nutrient density
Easy to overeat
Not ideal for blood sugar control when consumed in isolation
They shouldn’t be the foundation of the diet, and this pyramid finally reflects that reality.
5. Less than 10% of calories from saturated fat
This recommendation stays, and it’s widely misunderstood.
Not all saturated fat acts the same because the food matrix matters. That simply means the nutrients that come with the fat. Protein, calcium, and food structure change how the body responds.
Why butter and tallow are more questionable:
Butter and beef tallow are mostly saturated fat, without much protein, fiber, or minerals to change how the body handles them. That’s important because saturated fat directly affects how cholesterol is processed in the liver.
Here’s the simple version of what happens:
Your liver removes LDL (“bad”) cholesterol from the blood using LDL receptors. Saturated fat reduces the activity of those receptors. When fewer receptors are working, less LDL is cleared from the bloodstream, so LDL levels rise.
More saturated fat → fewer active LDL receptors → higher LDL cholesterol.
That’s the core mechanism.
Foods like yogurt and cheese contain saturated fat too, but they also provide protein, calcium, and fermentation byproducts that appear to blunt this effect. Butter and tallow don’t. They’re mostly just fat, so the LDL-raising effect is clearer and more consistent.
Butter and tallow are not toxic. But when they’re consumed in high amounts, they push cholesterol in the wrong direction for many people.
Can some saturated fat fit into a healthy diet? Yes. Should it be the foundation? No way.
6. A more nuanced take on sodium and electrolytes
This is an underrated but important upgrade.
Older guidelines treated sodium as simply “bad.” The new pyramid is more accurate: sodium is essential for hydration, with a general target of <2,300 mg per day, and clear recognition that highly active people may need more to replace sweat losses.
Yes, higher sodium can raise blood pressure, but not for everyone. Salt sensitivity varies, and most excess sodium comes from ultra-processed and restaurant foods, not home cooking. For active people eating mostly whole foods, too little sodium can impair hydration and performance, and adding it can be helpful.
Same nutrient, different context. That nuance is a real win!
The Questionable:
1. Three servings of full-fat dairy per day
This recommendation raised eyebrows, and I get why.
To be clear, full-fat dairy (other than butter) is generally health-promoting. Fermented dairy like yogurt and cheese is associated with lower cardiovascular risk, improved metabolic health, and better weight outcomes. Calcium, protein, probiotics, and the dairy fat matrix all play a role here.
But three servings of full-fat dairy every day feels excessive as a default recommendation.
The bigger issue is individual response. Lactose tolerance, digestion, satiety, and total calorie needs vary widely, and a fixed daily target doesn’t account for that. For some people, three full-fat servings can also crowd out other nutrient-dense foods without adding clear benefit.
Is there a conflict of interest here? Maybe I don’t know.
What I do know is that this recommendation won’t harm most people, but it may not be necessary for optimal health either.
2. Recommending butter and tallow
The guidelines correctly distinguish between different types of fats, but the public conversation often collapses that nuance. In practice, butter and tallow end up being discussed—or even pictured—alongside fats like olive oil, as if they belong in the same category.
That’s not supported by the evidence.
One useful way to cut through the noise is to compare butter and tallow to fats with a strong track record for health, like olive oil. Olive oil has hundreds of studies behind it, including randomized trials, showing benefits for heart health, cholesterol, and metabolic function. That’s why it’s consistently recommended as a primary fat source.
Butter and tallow don’t have that level of support.
They’re mostly saturated fat, lack protective nutrients, and reliably raise LDL cholesterol by slowing the liver’s ability to clear it from the blood. That doesn’t make them toxic, but it does make them poor choices as staples.
The fear around seed oils is also overblown. Despite online claims, there’s no strong human evidence that seed oils are uniquely harmful. For most people, oils higher in unsaturated fats are likely healthier than butter or tallow, especially for cholesterol and heart health.
Just like bread or pasta, butter and tallow can exist in a healthy diet, but they shouldn’t be framed as health foods.
The Bad:
1. Making alcohol guidelines more vague
This one doesn’t make sense.
As evidence has strengthened that no amount of alcohol improves health, the guidelines moved in the opposite direction by softening the language.
Here’s what we know:
Alcohol increases cancer risk, even at low doses
Earlier heart-health benefits were largely explained by healthier lifestyles, not alcohol itself
From a health standpoint, less is better, and none is best
And look, I enjoy a glass of wine, a Negroni, a dirty martini, or a Guinness as much as the next guy. People will still drink. That’s reality.
But the science no longer supports pretending there’s a “healthy” level of alcohol. Public health guidance should reflect risk clearly, not blur it.
This was the moment to be clearer, not looser.
2. The lack of emphasis on fiber
The guidelines do a great job emphasizing protein. That’s one of their biggest strengths. Fiber, though, doesn’t get the same treatment.
After years reading nutrition research and eight years working with hundreds of people, I’m confident about this: fiber is one of the most consistently health-promoting, lowest-downside nutrients we have, and most Americans eat far too little of it.
Higher fiber intake is linked to:
Better blood sugar control
Improved fullness and appetite regulation
Better gut health
Lower risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes
In the real world, fiber makes healthy eating easier. People feel fuller, snack less, and regulate calories more naturally. Given how under-consumed and effective fiber is for metabolic health, the guidelines could have pushed this harder.
That was a missed opportunity.
Final thoughts: The best food guidance we’ve ever had.
Is the new food pyramid perfect? No. But it’s a massive improvement over anything we’ve had before.
It prioritizes protein, real food, and metabolic health in a way that actually reflects modern nutrition science. That alone makes it worth defending, even while pointing out its flaws.
Americans are overweight, sick, and struggling, and progress requires direction. For the first time in a long time, this pyramid points us in the right one.
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If you’re trying to eat healthier because you want to lose fat and feel better, you don’t have to figure it out alone! I put together a short, practical eBook called How To Finally Lose Fat In The New Year that walks you through exactly what to focus on and what to ignore.
Download it below:
Best,
John
P.S. This weekend we’re driving up to Dallas to pick up our new puppy, Mabel, and we couldn’t be more excited!
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