I’m going to say this as gently as possible: dietary guidelines are not your friend.
Several are the byproduct of expensive corporate ‘sponsorships.’ Others are steeped in dated research and spread potentially harmful advice.
This isn’t your fault, but it is your problem.
It’s time we put them under the scrutiny they deserve.
But first: what’s the point of a dietary guideline?
Dietary guidelines are a relatively new concept. The first US guidelines debuted in 1980 to ‘help Americans make healthier choices.’
Unfortunately, these guidelines had the opposite effect. Americans live shorter, sicker, more disease-ridden lives than many of their global counterparts.
There are three reasons why I don’t like dietary guidelines:
- They’re easily influenceable. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, for example, accepts funding from Kraft, Coca-Cola, and General Mills. There is documented evidence of corporate interference with position papers, which calls into question their motivation to ‘serve people.’
- They lack scientific research. Dr. Edward Archer published an exhaustive paper on the lack of scientific research on dietary guidelines. As an interesting side note, he also found that government officials recognize the lack of evidence for guidelines. They either choose to publish them anyway or tamper with the evidence.
- They don’t work. We’ve followed these guidelines for nearly 50 years, and yet, we are fatter and sicker than we’ve ever been.
But rather than tell you, I’ll show you instead.
What are the worst dietary guidelines to follow?
Let’s start with the guidelines you probably grew up with:
The food pyramid
You probably don’t need me to describe the food pyramid — it’s one of the oldest and best-recognized dietary guidelines.
It depicts several different ‘levels’ of food based on priority, with the idea of eating more foods at the bottom and fewer foods at the top.
Notice their recommendation to eat six to 11 servings of carbs per day. Research shows excessive carbohydrates are a major factor in insulin resistance, which today affects 40% of US young adults.
Anecdotally, I followed the food pyramid religiously as a child. I exercised, ate plenty of bread, and limited meat, dairy, and eggs.
And yet, I was clinically obese most of my life.
When I stopped following the guidelines, I lost 100 pounds and kept it off.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The DGA is the government’s official dietary recommendation until the end of 2025. In my opinion, the core elements of dietary advice should not need ‘updating’ every few years. What’s good for your metabolic health today will be good for it tomorrow.
If you’re unfamiliar with the DGA, I’ll give you the short version:
- You should limit sugars, alcohol, saturated fat, and sodium.
- You should stay within your calorie limits.
- You should eat nutrient-dense foods.
There are a few suggestions that hold merit. I’m also an advocate of limiting alcohol and eating nutrient-dense foods.
But studies show many Americans could stand to get more sodium, not less. Plus, studies show the artificial cap on saturated fat is perpetuated from incomplete and insufficient evidence.
And again, counting calories won’t necessarily make you healthier. Remember: being thin does not always equate to being healthy.
The ADA’s guidelines
The American Diabetes Association recently has come under fire, and for good reason. The ‘Diabetes Plate Method’ is seriously flawed and harmful to those with type 2 diabetes.
The short version:
- Divide a nine-inch plate into a half and two quarters.
- Put non-starchy vegetables and lean protein in each quarter.
- Put ‘your quality carbohydrate choice’ into the other half.
Now repeat for all three meals.
I won’t belabor the point too much, but if you follow me on X, you know how misleading this is. Carbohydrate-rich foods make your insulin resistance worse. If you’re prediabetic, it could push you over the edge.
I want you to know there are solutions for diabetes, even without medicine.
It’s possible to control and reverse chronic disease.
Just not with these dietary guidelines.
The AHA’s guidelines
As a heart surgeon, it pains me to see such terrible advice from the American Heart Association. Their most recent guidelines have aged like milk.
Some highlights:
- “Avoid salt.” Please don’t do this — salt is key for metabolic health. There’s evidence to suggest that most Americans don’t get enough salt. If you’re not eating processed foods, you probably need to increase your intake.
- “Choose whole-grain carbs instead of refined carbs.” ‘Whole-grain’ doesn’t always equate to ‘minimally processed.’ They sell whole-grain donuts, after all. Neither of us would call that healthy food.
- “Use liquid plant oils instead of animal fat (like tallow) or tropical oils (like coconut oil).” This is based on misleading advice that saturated fat is bad for your heart. Plus, in this context, we know ‘liquid plant oils’ means ‘seed oil.’ You should know studies link seed oils and vegetable oils to higher rates of obesity and chronic disease.
This is just a birds-eye view — there’s a lot more to unpack from this dietary ‘guideline.’ If you’d like to take a closer look, I wrote a complete guide to the AHA’s guidelines.
What the guidelines get wrong
- A plant-based diet isn’t the solution to metabolic health. You can eat metabolically healthy with a vegan or vegetarian diet, but it’s much harder to do. It’s also much easier to fall into the processed food trap — the Impossible Burger is filled with fake sugars and seed oils, and vegan substitutes for items like bacon and cheese are heavily processed.
- ‘Calories In, Calories Out’ will only take you so far. A calorie is not just a calorie, and not all foods are the same. We need to stop pretending we can ‘burn off’ excess calories and make unhealthy foods ‘disappear’ from our bodies. Case in point: studies show Americans aren’t eating more or exercising less, but we’re still struggling to manage the rampant obesity problem.
- Limiting dietary fat and cholesterol is not the answer. Science has disproved the dietary cholesterol myth several times over, and contrary to popular belief, fat in your diet is a cornerstone of metabolic health
What the guidelines get right
While less-than-scientific, these dietary guidelines aren’t completely inaccurate.
There are several kernels of truth worth discussing here:
- Eat less processed food. No matter your dietary preferences, whole, real food is key to metabolic health.
- Add more movement to your day. It’s easy to be sedentary. It’s a lot harder to be active.
- Minimize sugar. The journey toward cutting sugar will look different for everyone. However, even a few less sodas per day will have an extraordinary impact.
The only dietary guidelines you’ll ever need
If you could leave this article with one takeaway, it should be to eat whole, real foods and avoid ‘near food objects.’
You don’t have to take my word for it, though. Like these dietary guidelines, you should put everything to the test.
I want to empower you to make informed decisions: not blindly follow diets or feel forced to comply with ‘official’ dietary guidelines. Call everything into question — including me — so you can make the best choices for your metabolic health.
If you’re curious, you can read more articles posted on my blog and fact-check my research with the links in each post.