EAT. REAL. FOOD.

What do the majority of adults struggle with the most when it comes to eating healthy? From my experience in working with 100’s of people over the years it is – What to Eat and Meal Planning. Even with New Year’s Resolutions still burning strong, the best intentions face conflicting priorities around time, effort and convenience; common caveats that derail progress.

America has certainly had its share of diet trends and fads including Atkins, Mediterranean, Zone, South Beach, Reversing Heart Disease (Dr. Dean Ornish: Vegan/Plant-based), Anti-Inflammatory (Dr. Andrew Weil), Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight, Paleo, Keto and so many more. What do most of these diets have in common? Surprisingly more than the previous U.S. Dietary Guidelines, heavy in carbohydrate foods! 

Fast forward to January 07, 2026, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) release of the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, for 2025-2030.¹ By inverting the pyramid upside down, and hence the nation’s nutrition guidance, the shift is quite frankly revolutionary! 

EAT. REAL. FOOD.²

How did this recommendation ever become ‘revolutionary’? Namely because vested industries and lobbyists that influenced food policy and subsidies tipped the scale on what foods could disproportionately be mass produced, along with the highest profit margin, sacrificing America’s health for massive incentives.³

Unfortunately, the main Medical and Nutrition professional groups were also heavily incentivized to promote junk-foods and sugar-laden beverages known to contribute to the sky-rocketing levels of Obesity, and as a result, Type 2 Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, Heart Disease and a plethora of other disorders. Government and professional agencies influenced food policy for over 100 years, with the development of “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” spanning 40 years.⁴ 

Author and journalist Michael Pollan, in his book, “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto”, popularized the adage, “Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants”⁵, along with the recommendation to, “Just Eat What Your Great-Grandma Ate”.⁶ He correctly pointed out, “Food. There’s plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it? Because most of what we’re consuming today is not food, and how we’re consuming it – in the car, in front of the TV, and increasingly alone – is not really eating. Instead of food, we’re consuming “edible food-like substances” – no longer the products of nature but of food science. Many of them come packaged with health claims that should be our first clue they are anything but healthy. In the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion”.⁵

The key differences between the Old U.S. Dietary Guidelines (1992)⁷ and the New U.S. Dietary Guidelines (2025)⁸ are as follows: 

Old Guidelines: 

1. 6 – 11 servings of CHO/Refined Grains per day
2. Low Fat
3. Low Cholesterol
4. Low Saturated Fat
5. Vegetable oils recommended for cooking/frying, etc. 
6. Focus on Calories: Calories In and Calories Out
7. Protein recommendations at 0.8 gm/KG. For a 180 lb man, that equals 65 gm/day
8. Sugars: no limits given, only to “use sparingly”
9. Implicitly discouraged excessive intake of processed foods and added sugars; no specificity provided 

New Guidelines: 

1. 2 – 4 servings CHO/Whole Grains per day
2. AVOID: Ultra-Processed Food/s (UPF)–targeted as the enemy of health
3. Focus on Eating Real Foods: High-quality protein, full-fat dairy and fermented foods, abundant vegetable and fruit servings, healthy fats in whole foods and when cooking (olive oil; heat-stable butter and beef tallow for cooking) 
4. Recognition of the Microbiome, critical to the immune system and gut-health⁹
5. Increased Protein at 1.2 – 1.6 gm/KG: for the same 180 lb man, that equals 98 – 131 gm/day
6. Focused on the ‘biological definition of food’, which supports life, and helps with growth and repair (junk food does not sustain life)
7. AVOID: Seed oils: high heat causes oxidation and free radicals formation leading to wide-spread inflammation 
8. AVOID/limit: foods and beverages that include artificial flavors, petroleum-based dyes, artificial preservatives, and low-calorie non-nutritive sweeteners^9,10
9. Limit on refined sugars – not to exceed 10 grams of added sugars per meal

The new recommendations, in my opinion, reflect a synergy between a Paleo/Keto/Mediterranean diet along with the Weston Price Foundation (WAPF) dietary guidelines¹¹, based on the research of Dr. Weston A. Price, advocate for a diet centered on whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods, including traditional fats like butter, lard, tallow, coconut oil, and cod liver oil, as well as fermented and properly prepared whole grains, raw dairy, and bone broths.

Main Takeaways: 

Optimal Health is non-negotiable. Prevention and preventative strategies (via Nutrition and Fitness) are the keys to a life full of Vitality. So, what are the best practices with all these themes in mind? 

1. Get to know the New U.S. Dietary Guidelines (2025-2030)⁸. The recommendations are sound and offer additional suggestions in how to achieve them.
   
   
2. Work with the RAC’s Registered Dietitians! The RAC RD’s are skilled in translating complex nutrition concepts into execution, providing guidance and accountability.
   
   
3. Be open to EXPERIMENTATION – Learning new skills in food preparation (cooking, chopping, and planning) takes practice! (Be OK with the process and learn from ‘flops’–it happens!) For help, Jamie Oliver has some nice, basic video instructions on YouTube, including how to dice an onion¹² and how to cook rice.¹³
   
   
4. Choose more FRESH foods over boxed food items. Start reading labels and choose items with recognizable ingredients.
   
   
5. Get to know new foods at Natural Food stores. Be willing to try new vegetables, fruits, different brands of common staples and swap out one product at a time. Adding (vs. restricting) often works well during the transitioning between products.
   
   
6. Be curious, have fun experimenting and bring in an element of ‘play’ – who knows, you may discover a whole new world of options you never knew existed, that is, until you tried!  

References: 

1. https://tdefender.substack.com/cp/183858962; https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2008942060661797295; https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/fact-sheet-historic-reset-federal-nutrition-policy.html
2. https://realfood.gov/
3. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/academy-nutrition-dietetics-millions-food-pharma-agribusiness/
4. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/history
5. https://michaelpollan.com/books/in-defense-of-food/
6. https://michaelpollan.com/reviews/just-eat-what-your-great-grandma-ate/
7. The New Dietary Guidelines Admit They Were Wrong (Here’s the Proof) Dr. Eric Berg, DC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEl1YABvfx0
8. https://cdn.realfood.gov/DGA.pdf
9. https://www.racmn.com/blog/enter-the-matrix-gut-health-and-your-personal-microbiome
10. https://www.racmn.com/blog/skin-sense-do-you-have-skin-in-the-game
11. Westin A. Price Foundation (WAPF): https://www.westonaprice.org/
12. How To – chop an onion. YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs8cQ_tjsF8; 
13. How To – cook rice. YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0oz1RhcN9I