RFK Jr. Just Rolled Out a New Food Pyramid. It's Actually Less Deranged Than the Old One.

"On Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man who works out in jeans, presented an overhaul of the tried-and-true nutritional pyramid. You know the one. It was probably pinned up in your elementary school science class, advising how much of each food group you ought to be eating. The health secretary's edit represented a total inversion of the classical structure. Americans, Kennedy asserted, should be consuming gobs of red meat and dairy, and comparatively smaller amounts of bread, cereals, and pasta."

"Americans, Kennedy asserted, should be consuming gobs of red meat and dairy, and comparatively smaller amounts of bread, cereals, and pasta. Flour tortillas, he proclaimed, are out. Same with "packaged breakfast options" and "crackers." And also, when you cook your protein-an item that, according to Kennedy, we should be serving at every meal-we ought to first coat our pans with healthy fats. You know like, um ... "butter" or, barring that, "beef tallow.""

"And, frankly, I think that's because Kennedy isn't entirely wrong here. In fact, a lot of the advice in the pyramid is sound. Many experts have been enthusiastically warning us away from processed foods for years. And while our ongoing protein obsession is a fad, more protein certainly does help build muscle and strength, and there's at least some evidence it can aid in weight loss. On those facts alone, this is one of Kennedy's more legitimate ventures to Make America Healthy Again."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented a reversed nutritional pyramid that elevates red meat and dairy while reducing recommended intake of bread, cereals, pasta, and certain processed breakfast items. The plan specifically disfavored flour tortillas, packaged breakfast foods, and crackers, and advised coating pans in saturated fats like butter or beef tallow when cooking protein. The proposal called for serving protein at every meal. The recommendation appeared amid controversial Department of Health and Human Services actions involving trans people, research funding cuts, and vaccine policy. Some guidance aligns with evidence against processed foods and for protein's role in muscle and weight management, though messaging has been politicized.

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