A newly released set of U.S. dietary guidelines is drawing attention not just for what it recommends, but for how it’s being marketed: a revived “food pyramid,” flipped upside down, with full-fat dairy and red meat pictured prominently.
“All right, for better or for worse, probably for worse, the food pyramid is back and this time it’s upside down,” said Dr. Nate Wood, a Yale physician and former chef who teaches nutrition and directs culinary-medicine training.
Wood argues the graphic is confusing and risks
overshadowing the more consequential document behind it: the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, issued January 7 by the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture.
At a White House briefing, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. framed the update with a simple message: “Eat real food,” and urged Americans to favor vegetables, whole grains and dairy while avoiding highly processed foods and added sugars.
The guidance matters beyond personal choice and advice on what to eat. This is public policy that shapes school meals and other large-scale government food programs. That means this new upside-down food pyramid will set the standard for what many will eat through government procurement and nutrition standards.
Wood and other experts say there is substantial continuity with prior science-based advice—especially around limiting ultra-processed foods and added sugar and emphasizing fruits and vegetables.
Notably, despite speculation that the new administration would loosen limits on saturated fat, the guidelines retain the long-standing cap of no more than 10% of daily calories from saturated fat.
Nevertheless, the administration’s messaging and the pyramid’s visuals are fueling concerns that the public will take away a different understanding that is contradictory and normalize higher intakes of red meat, cheese and butter while relegating legumes, nuts and seeds to a smaller role.
Wood said that if the goal is public understanding, the image “might lead you astray,” even if the written guidance is “good science.”
Public-health and nutrition groups have offered mixed reactions: supporting the emphasis on diet quality and reducing added sugars, while warning that a meat- and dairy-forward interpretation could conflict with evidence linking high saturated-fat intake to cardiovascular risk.
Environmental analysts have also flagged potential climate and land-use impacts if the guidelines are implemented in a way that increases meat consumption.
Wood’s bottom line is pragmatic: ignore the social-media-friendly pyramid and read the document’s core pattern—mostly plants, minimally processed foods, and restraint with saturated fat and sugar.
Guest:
Dr. Nate Wood is a Yale-affiliated physician and trained chef who specializes in “culinary medicine” using evidence-based nutrition plus practical cooking skills to prevent and treat diet-related disease. He is the Founding/Inaugural Director of Culinary Medicine at Yale School of Medicine.
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This episode will be recorded on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.
