The New Food Pyramid - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly - by Dr. Michael Greger**

Every five years in the US, the federal government publishes its Dietary Guidelines for Americans (USDGA), along with a semi-iconic food pyramid visualization.  While less than 10% of Americans bother trying to follow the USDGA advice, it still shapes institutional nutrition approaches like school lunches, food labels, or what your doctor might tell you to eat (especially if said doctor is not board-certified in Lifestyle Medicine). 

This time around with the USDGA, we all know there's a lot more politicking and controversy than prior releases — and that's stacked on top of all the lobbying and commercial interests plaguing good governance.

But whether you like the slogan "Make America Healthy Again" or not, we can all agree that American health needs serious re-thinking, given that chronic illnesses now consume 80-90% of healthcare costs, and close to 20% of GDP.

So does the new USDGA credibly help American health?  We've done the work to scrutinize it, and check in with the health experts who have decades of experience and nothing to sell you.... And like a certain great Western movie, there's some good, plenty of bad, and a whole lot of ugly.

Let's kick it off with a quote from RFK Jr. that we can actually agree with:

"We have a chronic disease crisis in this country that starts in childhood with terrible diets."

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

It's upside-down in more ways than one...

Just this month, the U.S. government released the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, with RFK Jr. stating: 

“These guidelines return us to the basics. American households must prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods — protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains — and dramatically reduce highly processed foods. This is how we Make America Healthy Again."

At face value, it sounds good. But really it's just a convenient soundbite to mask a hodgepodge of questionable claims, loosely drawn conclusions, and — dare we say — fake news .

Because if you take the time to read the actual USDGA documents, you'll find both internal contradictions, and easily refuted claims.  For example, Chris McAskill's excellent YT channel, Viva Longevity! did a great compilation of the dietary guidelines of over 100 other countries (remember that all industrialized countries have better health outcomes than the US, with lower healthcare spending) — and almost all recommend a plants-predominant diet (Most governments also trust their academic research community over social media influencers and industry lobbyists).  And of course, the clearly presented totality-of-evidence published in works like Dr. Michael Greger's How Not to Die and Dr. Valter Longo's, The Longevity Diet are far beyond the latest USDGA.

But you don't need to sift through hundreds of pages of documents on the government website, because we took care of it for you. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly of the new "Food Pyramid."

THE GOOD: "Eat Real Food" Finally Gets Top Billing

To give credit where it's due, the core message of the guidelines are pretty good:

✔️Prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods

✔️Dramatically reduce ultra-processed items

✔️Cut back on refined carbs and added sugars (no more than 10g per meal)

✔️Keep sodium under 2,300mg daily

This matters because nearly 90% of U.S. healthcare spending goes toward chronic diseases fueled by the Standard American Diet.   So any steps to move away from processed foods, added sugars and excessive salt it a good thing.  

Golf clap.

But here's where the wheels start to come off... 

THE BAD: When the Math Doesn't Math

If you follow our newsletters, you know that we stick to the science and the totality-of-evidence. But when you dig into the new USDGA recommendations, you'll begin spotting plot holes and contradictions such as:

The Saturated Fat Math — Just Wrong, No Partial Credit

The guidelines say to keep saturated fat under 10% of calories which is reasonable. But the actual food patterns they recommend (steak, butter, 3 daily servings of full-fat dairy) make hitting that target impossible. It's like giving someone a budget of $100, then handing them a shopping list that totals $250. And of course, they're ignoring the heaps of evidence over many decades against animal saturated fats.  Plus how at least a third of Americans are lactose-intolerant.

The Fiber Blindspot

Only 3% of Americans get enough fiber, our most critical nutritional gap, because it's the fuel of your microbiome (whose thriving is what keeps your immune- and brain-health strong in turn). Yet the guidelines barely mention fiber, while championing protein, which Americans already consume in excess.

What's Missing from the Pictures

The new inverted "Food Pyramid" places meat and dairy in the prime real estate of the top-left corner, where eyes land first. Meanwhile, high-fiber superstars like lentils, beans, and whole grains are at the bottom of the graphic. There is zero fiber in animal products, but meat and dairy are the stars of the new pyramid. It's almost like the USDGA designed the pyramid to reflect how typical Americans are eating, instead of how they need to be eating.

The Vegan Warning Label

Plant-based diets get an overly cautionary treatment, listing an alphabet soup of potential nutrient gaps based on analysis that many experts call flawed.  When vegans are about 1% of the US population with the best median BMI, while the population majority is sicker than any other industrialized country while spending more on supplements and gorging on protein, vegans are not the problem. Longtime LeafSiders also know that the totality-of-evidence unequivocally shows that plant-based diets are not only nutritionally complete, but also vastly superior to the Standard American Diet (SAD).

Then it gets even worse!

THE UGLY: Follow the Money

Here's the part that will make you raise an eyebrow.

According to the non-profit watchdog group, the U.S. Right to Know, at least 9 of the 20 members of the USDGA committee had conflicts of interest with food and weight loss companies. 

And in a recent article posted by the non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), 8 of the 9 science researchers enlisted by the USDGA had financial ties to big food, including General Mills, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Texas Beef Council, the National Dairy Council, and the National Pork Board.

When you look at the new design of the pyramid, it's like the meat, dairy and processed food industries are not only getting protected by the new guidelines, they're getting promoted.   Due to this blatant conflict of interest, the PCRM is actually petitioning the USDA to completely withdraw the new Food Pyramid.

SO WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY DO?

Here's the liberating truth: You don't have to wait for government guidelines to catch up with science. 

The rest of the world's dietary guidelines — from Canada to the Nordic countries to the Blue Zones research — point consistently toward the same answer:

Whole food, plant-based eating wins.

✔️More fiber (the nutrient 97% of us are missing)

✔️More phytonutrients & antioxidants (the colorful compounds in plants)

✔️Less saturated fat and processed food

Better outcomes for weight, energy, and longevity

Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen and our team at LeafSide have been doing this math correctly for years, no conflicts of interest required.

** This was sent to me from LeafSide by Dr. Greger. It was so packed full of good information that I had to share it here. As with everything, take what you like and leave the rest. Even if you don't adopt a full vegan diet or you still want to have your raw milk, there is valuable information here so that you can make the most informed decision. No judgement here! You do you!