The Trump team released a new food pyramid Wednesday, and it’s as confusing and completely out-of-touch with reality as the rest of the administration’s actions.
The new pyramid is an inverted triangle that features protein, dairy, healthy fats, fruits, and vegetables at the top and whole grains at the bottom. But its guidelines are difficult to understand and fail to address how the Trump administration has been making those foods more expensive and harder to access.
Food and milk sit in a shopping cart during a Forgotten Harvest distribution event in Michigan on Oct. 24, 2025.
Let's break it down.
The Trump administration vowed that its "ending the war on protein," providing a new guideline for Americans to eat 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of their weight.
Using the metric system here is an utterly bizarre choice. Ask the average American how much they weigh in kilograms, and I’d venture to guess you'd get a lot of blank stares.
What's more, what does a gram of protein even look like? Most Americans don’t have food scales in their homes, so how would they know how to gauge what a gram of chicken, steak, or nuts looks like?
Also, the American Heart Association said in a statement that it’s concerned that the new guidelines are advising Americans to eat too much red meat and fat, which “are linked to increased cardiovascular risk.”
“We are concerned that recommendations regarding salt seasoning and red meat consumption could inadvertently lead consumers to exceed recommended limits for sodium and saturated fats, which are primary drivers of cardiovascular disease,” the statement said. “While the guidelines highlight whole-fat dairy, the Heart Association encourages consumption of low-fat and fat-free dairy products, which can be beneficial to heart health.”
The administration then goes on to say that Americans should eat three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day, a much easier concept for Americans to understand. But Republicans have made it much harder for people to access those very foods.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks while Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz listens in October 2025.
For example, the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” cut $187 billion from food stamps, which could cost 3 million young adults access to nutrition assistance. And fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables are far more expensive than shelf-stable processed foods, which will now be all that SNAP recipients can afford.
In April, the Trump administration also cut $1 billion from programs that provided schools and food banks with fresh fruits and vegetables from U.S. farmers, which allowed low-income Americans to access the very foods that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz say they should be eating.
If the administration actually cared about health, it would be advocating for more assistance for poor communities to be able to access fresh fruits and vegetables, not crusading against them by vilifying food stamps.
More than anything, it’s infuriating to watch the Trump administration embrace the very same idea that former first lady Michelle Obama promoted when Barack Obama was president—an idea that the right screamed about, accusing her of trying to create a “nanny state."
But now they’re signing on to the Trump administration telling parents not to give kids under 10 years old any added sugars. Because in Trump’s America, not even cupcakes are welcome.
