Washington – The Trump Administration is “turning the food pyramid upside down” with new guidelines for feeding programs that will emphasize eating plenty of proteins and healthy fats. The recommendations will directly impact daily meals served in America’s public schools, military bases, prisons and various federal facilities.
“Today our government declares war on added sugar. Highly processed food loaded with additives – added sugar and excess salt – damage health and should be avoided,” stated Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a White House press release.
“We are ending the war on saturated fats,” said Kennedy, referring to products that are generally sold at room temperature like cheese, butter and fat in meats, which are now recommended to form the bulk of diets alongside meat and produce like carrots and broccoli. “Diets rich in vegetables and fruits reduce disease risk more effectively than many drugs. Whole grains outperform refined carbohydrates. These new guidelines replace corporate-driven assumptions and will revolutionize our nation’s food culture and make America healthy again.”
Kennedy said prior food guidelines were the result of corporate influence. He said the new guidelines are the most significant reset on nutrition policy in history, as he called for an end to policies that promote highly refined foods and are harmful to health.
“The hard truth is our government has been lying to us to protect corporate profit-taking, telling us that these food-like substances were beneficial to public health. Today the lies stop. The new guidelines recognize that whole, nutrient-dense food is the most effective path to better health and lower healthcare costs. Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongfully discouraged in prior dietary guidelines.”
High-quality proteins like poultry, red meats and beans, fats from eggs or dairy, fruits vegetable and fiber-rich whole grains are in – And starchy carbs such as white bread, crackers, or sugar-sweetened beverages as well as pre-packaged and ready-to-eat treats like chips, cookies and fast food are out.
Officials said the change to recommendations won’t directly affect SNAP participants, which is overseen by Congress, but will become the gold standard for over 100 government feeding programs in over 10 government agencies.
“We have five times higher obesity rates than any other country in the developed world. This is because of our diet,” a Health and Human Services official stated.
“The American Medical Association (AMA) applauds the Administration’s new guidelines for spotlighting the highly processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, and excess sodium that fuel heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic illnesses,” said Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, President of the AMA. “The guidelines affirm that food is medicine and offer a clear direction that patients and physicians can use to improve health.”
But not everyone took to heart the new Trump Administration guidelines.
“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,” said Christopher Gardner, a nutrition expert at Stanford University, who was a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which reviewed nutrition evidence in a 2025 Scientific Report. “It does go against decades and decades of evidence and research.”
Mr. Gardner is in favor of increasing plant-based sources of protein, such as beans, rather than emphasizing animal protein.
Both the American Heart Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which includes thousands of nutrition professionals, point to evidence that excess saturated fat is linked to heart disease. And the new guidelines do still include a long held recommendation to limit saturated fat to 10% of your daily calories.
“It’s pretty clear that overall milk and cheese and yogurt can be part of a healthy diet,” says Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist, a public health scientist, and the Director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University. “Both low-fat and whole-fat dairy versions of milk, cheese and yogurt have been linked to lower cardiovascular risk…Highly processed foods are clearly harmful for a range of diseases, so to have the U.S. government recommend that a wide class of foods be eaten less because of their processing is a big deal and I think a very positive move for public health.”
While the guidelines do not use the term “ultra-processed,” they do stress that Americans should eat “real food that nourishes the body.” And the guidelines do strongly stress that no amount of added sugar should be given to children under the age of ten years.
Virgin Islands Farmers like Dale Browne of Sejah Farms have stressed for years that eating more locally grown produce, including fruits and vegetables, will lead Virgin Islanders to a healthier diet and happier lifestyle.
“The fight is about the locals eating more homegrown foods. Plain and simple,” said Mr. Browne. “We need to have less reliance on what we bring in from the States which is not always the healthiest choice.”
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