Lifestyle Sports: Latest from Food Politics: The MAHA Dietary Guidelines VI. Some Concluding Thoughts.

By Marion Nestle

January 15 2026

The MAHA Dietary Guidelines VI. Some Concluding Thoughts.

Let’s start with what I like about the 2020-2030 Dietary Guidelines and New Pyramid, taken together.

Eat Real Food

It’s how I eat, and prefer to eat.

It’s consistent with Michael Pollan’s Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Pollan’s version, to which I subscribe, is supported by at least three of the guidelines:

Eat vegetables & fruits throughout the day
Focus on whole grains
Limit highly processed foods, added sugars, & refined carbohydrates

The New Pyramid

It’s bright and cheerful.

It illustrates a basic nutrition message: eat a wide variety of foods from all food groups.

It’s possible to eat healthfully following this diagram if eating a wide variety of foods and balancing calories.

It’s consistent with food movement objectives, and is bringing attention to these objectives.

What’s missing and I wish were included

Eat Real Food as the first dietary guideline
Greater emphasis on plant sources of protein
Inclusion of whole grain foods in the “eat more” part of the pyramid
Policy support

The need for policy

Much about these guidelines and food guides connects with long-desired objectives for a food system aimed at promoting the health of people and the planet. As I noted in an earlier post, these guidelines focus explicitly on personal responsibility, not system change.

To create a food system that supports eating according to these guidelines and pyramid, we need:

Agricultural subsidies: for foods for people (not feed for animals or fuel for automobiles, as the current system does)
School food: kitchens and cooks in every school, gardens wherever possible, and enough money to pay for real food
Education: cooking classes for kids and adults, men as well as women
Equity: enough money to buy real food, and the space, equipment, and time to prepare it

I will have more to say about all this as time goes on, so stay tuned.

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