The New Food Pyramid
Sort of - what they got right and then then the nonsense
An Upside-Down Pyramid: Turning Nutrition on Its Head (or Just Turning It Into Mistletoe?)
An upside-down food pyramid is meant to signal that nutrition has been turned upside down.
In practice, it looks less like a scientific breakthrough and more like bad mistletoe — confusing, vaguely festive, and absolutely nothing you’d want to be kissed under.
The newly released U.S. food pyramid, tied to the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines, has ignited controversy not because Americans suddenly follow food pyramids (they don’t), but because of what this graphic symbolizes: who got the ear of power, which industries felt left out, and how nutrition advice keeps getting repackaged instead of measured.
Some critics immediately noted that this looks suspiciously like the worldview of those whispering into the ear of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — figures aligned with the carnivore and “ancestral diet” crowd, including influencers like Paul Saladino and his circle.
To be fair:
Saturated fat was kept capped at 10% of calories, despite pressure from those who wanted far more — something RFK Jr. himself acknowledged.
Ultra-processed foods are finally being called out.
Added sugars are discouraged more forcefully than before.
But this pyramid feels like a peace offering to the new carnivore movement, one that conveniently overlaps with the interests of the cattle and meat industry. Food pyramids have always been industry-influenced. This one simply reflects the reality that someone decided the carnivore crowd needed its own lobbyist.
The good news?
Almost no one follows these things.
The bad news?
They still shape policy, school lunches, and public confusion.
And if you are serious about your health, let’s be clear up front:
👉 Do DASH or the Mediterranean diet.
We’ll come back to why — with data.
A Deeper Controversy: Ultra-Processed Foods and the Kevin Hall Resignation
Before we even get to fats, protein, or carbs, we need to talk about something far more troubling.
RFK Jr. allowed Kevin Hall — the foremost researcher in America on ultra-processed foods — to resign.
Dr. Hall did not leave quietly. He resigned because he felt his research was being censored.
This matters enormously.
Hall’s work at the NIH provided some of the clearest experimental evidence we have that ultra-processed foods drive overeating and weight gain independent of macronutrients. When the country’s leading expert on UPFs says he can’t freely communicate his findings, that should concern anyone who claims to care about “real food” and scientific integrity.
Keep that in mind as we move through the pyramid.
Let’s Start the Controversy Where It Always Starts: Saturated Fat
What the New Pyramid Signals
The upside-down pyramid softens decades of warnings about saturated fat. Butter, full-fat dairy, and red meat are visually rehabilitated — though, again, saturated fat is still officially capped at 10% of total calories.
That cap matters.
It’s the thin line between evidence and ideology.
What the Data Actually Show
Here’s what hasn’t changed despite the re-branding:
Saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol
Higher LDL causally increases cardiovascular disease risk
Replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fats lowers cardiovascular events
Replacing saturated fat with refined carbohydrates does nothing
This is not controversial in outcomes science.
What is controversial is pretending that butter and olive oil are metabolically interchangeable. They are not.
This is exactly why the Mediterranean diet doesn’t ban fat — it qualifies it. Using olive oil as a prototype, which is a mono-unsaturated fat.
Protein: Reasonable Idea, Sloppy Execution
The pyramid’s emphasis on protein reflects a real issue:
Do Americans consume enough protein? YES, most get plenty of protein, and protein deficiency is rarely seen in clinical situations.
Older adults lose muscle without adequate intake - but also because they simply cannot absorb as much and need more exercise which facilitates protein absorption and use.
GLP-1 users and post-bariatric patients need protein prioritization - but again, it is rarely an issue, and these are disease, drug, and surgery specific criteria.
What the pyramid fails to do is distinguish protein quality:
Fish ≠ red meat
Legumes ≠ processed meat
Protein with fiber ≠ protein with saturated fat
Once protein adequacy is met, source matters more than quantity.
Again, the Mediterranean model handles this quietly — and correctly.
Carbohydrates: Demoted, but Misunderstood
Refined carbohydrates deserve their demotion.
Whole grains do not.
The pyramid risks repeating an old mistake: treating carbohydrates as a monolith.
What the data show:
Whole grains improve insulin sensitivity
Fiber reduces cardiovascular risk
Gut microbiome diversity depends on complex carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are not the enemy.
Carbohydrates without fiber are.
Fruits and Vegetables: Still the Least Controversial Truth
Higher intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with:
Lower all-cause mortality
Reduced cardiovascular disease
Lower cancer risk
If anything, the pyramid understates their importance.
This remains the most boring and reliable finding in nutritional science.
Sugar and Ultra-Processed Foods: The Strongest Data, the Loudest Silence
Here, the pyramid and the data finally align.
Ultra-processed foods are linked to:
Obesity
Diabetes
Cardiovascular disease
Increased mortality
Which brings us back to Kevin Hall.
You cannot claim to wage war on ultra-processed foods while sidelining the scientist who proved — experimentally — how harmful they are.
And the Carnivore and Keto crowd want to claim the mantle of “whole food”, but they are mostly selling supplements, courses, and coaching, and have never published a paper in their life. They are confidence men selling poor health dressed up to look healthy because they have abdominal muscles.
Alcohol (We’ll Go Deeper Later)
The new guidelines quietly discourage alcohol without firm limits.
That’s probably wise.
I’ll be doing a separate, dedicated post on alcohol, because the science here is nuanced, politicized, and frequently misrepresented.
For now: less is better, and “heart-healthy wine” was always an oversold story.
If You’re Serious About Health, Skip the Pyramid
Food pyramids are graphics, not medicine.
If you want a dietary pattern that:
Predicts longevity
Reduces cardiovascular disease
Improves metabolic health
Has randomized trial support
Then your best options remain:
DASH
The Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet, in particular, uses a 9-point scoring system that directly correlates with outcomes — not ideology, not influencers, not industry pressure.
Pyramids come and go.
Outcomes endure.
