The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans – Best Ever for Eco-Ag?
Every five years or so, the USDA releases an updated version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. As nutritionist Marion Nestle has pointed out in her book Food Politics and elsewhere, the process of writing these guidelines is always politically charged and influenced by food industry lobbying. As a result, they’ve never strongly promoted the healthiest diet possible. The newly released 2025–2030 guidelines don’t, either. But they’ve taken a major step toward that goal.
“The message is simple: eat real food,” the guidelines begin. “American households must prioritize diets built on nutrient-dense foods—protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains.”
Unlike previous guidelines, which usually followed some version of saying that all foods could be part of a balanced diet in moderation, these guidelines straight out tell Americans to “avoid highly processed” foods as well as “sugar-sweetened beverages.” For the first time ever, they say that “no amount of added sugars is recommended” for children.
For many years, the Dietary Guidelines have only recommended that half of grains be whole. The new guidelines replace the old “grain” category with a “whole grain” category and urge Americans to “significantly reduce the consumption of highly processed, refined carbohydrates.”
Of course, the part of the Dietary Guidelines that’s gotten the most attention is their strong emphasis on animal protein. Marion Nestle points out that the recommendation for daily protein intake is higher than most nutritionists consider adequate, and the prominent steak on the new food pyramid definitely shows the influence of the beef lobby. However, there is a section specifically for vegetarians and vegans, which includes the important advice to “significantly limit highly processed vegan or vegetarian foods.”
The most controversial part of the new guidelines is that they reverse the USDA’s decades-old recommendation to eat low- or nonfat dairy products. Butter, for the first time ever, is prominently featured right in the middle of the pyramid, rubbing shoulders with an avocado and olive oil. Old-school nutritionists, who still think saturated fat is a major cause of heart disease, lament this change.
Strangely, one of the biggest criticisms of the new guidelines is that the document is too short. It’s only 10 pages long; the 2020-2025 guidelines had 164 pages. The big difference is that the new guidelines are targeted directly at consumers. Nobody needs a degree in nutrition to understand what “eat real food means.”
So what should eco-farmers make of the new guidelines? As Joel Salatin points out, production methods aren’t mentioned at all. There’s no distinction between grassfed or feedlot beef. But, to be fair, no Dietary Guidelines have ever said anything about production methods.
Are the guidelines perfect? No. Are they the best we’ve had in 80 years? Yes. And if people actually listen to them and start eating more unprocessed, whole foods, it will only be one more small step to get them eating grassfed animal products, organic produce, and regeneratively grown whole grains.
