Public Live Draft. 

So this one is hot off the press. The new pyramid is now, the inverted pyramid.

What’s old and what is new.

At a glance. See the official document / guidelines here.

• Officially announced January 7th 2026. Ends in 2030.
• Main public directive / masthead / mantra : “The message is simple: Eat Real Food”. 
• No Added sugars. Avoid or limit processed foods.

New (highlights only)

• Meat, eggs and dairy are now on the menu next to fruits and vegetables.
• Wholegrains? down the bottom (but still reworded to “focus on wholegrain”).
• 1.2kg to 1.6kg protein per kilogram of body weight (presumably current). “Adjust as needed on your individual caloric requirements”.
• On dairy – consume full fat dairy. Specifically – three (3) servings of dairy daily.

Particularly of note is the segment for vegetarian and vegans ~ eggs are now recommended.

Old

• Saturated fats are still kept low. (Very low in fact) – 10% of TDEE recommendation.
• Eat a colourful plate. Fruits and vegetables included.
• Consume variety (including plant based) sources. including pulses, beans and lentils.
• Swap dry cooking methods with stir frying, baking, broil or grill.
• Eat appropriately to your caloric / TDEE needs. “depending on age, sex, height, weight and level of physical activity”.
• Processed foods be minimised (old). Keywords: “avoid highly processed”.
• Limit alcohol.
• Limit salt intakes (to previous values)

What “They” think.

Very positive all around. On the meat crowd that is.

I even wager Dr Raymond Peat would be somewhat proud. Except on the low sugar and  high MUFA & PUFA N3 recommendation.

 

The other side however (of course and obviously) not too happy. Some I even have to question “Why?”.

This particular one actually caught my attention. Look at the summary points “The DGA should be modified to:”. Read point number five, the very first sentence.

Why…? Yes. Exactly. I trust Dr. Ben Lynch far more on his stance and views on folic acid. As well as also – what is implied on my own nutrigenomics report. 

So what do I think?

Upon actually reading through the guidelines – I don’t think they are “that” too far off different from the previous narrative. Besides now ~ including dairy and meat proteins. They’re still advocating carbs.

There are some things worth pointing out, however. Though be forewarned, that this is in a perspective of someone from way down under – the other side of the globe.

Firstly, some slight ambiguity that could be a big deal.  On page 4, there is a line that states significantly limiting highly processed foods helps meet the goal of not exceeding 10% fat intake as Saturated Fats.

My reception on this is…. quite confused.

I don’t know about you, but when was the last time you see any “processed foods” that actually feature real butter? As in real, actual whole butter as a product listed in the ingredient on left hand side of the list? I haven’t seen it.  The only highest concentration I know from observation is synthetically / extracted SFAs – namely palmitic acid and stearic acid. And at most just “milk fats”, “milk derived products” “whey”, etc. 

The majority of processed foods meanwhile, at least on where I am, consisted of seed oils as the majority of foods. You know – the omega “666” – soy, cottonseed, safflower/sunflower. Far, far more than saturated fats.

In other words, I’d argue there is already so little saturated fats in our “processed” food supply – to say that it helps meeting the above goal, is, from my humble interpretation ~ does little to deter anyone to stop eating processed foods anyhw.

What do I mean by this? People are resistance to change to whatever their “guilt-free”, Self-Licensing internal-loop . They’d likely interpret the above as nothing more than just “another day”.

• “Huh? I already know that.”
• “I shall keep eating processed foods anyway – because my cookies (and what not) – already have so few saturated fats!”.

Unfazed, in other words. They’d just keep chucking it in the checkout aisle.

I can “complain” other things. Notably the protein 1.6g / kg requirements limit. To me and that is just me only – that is borderline starvation…..Although if it is assuming that this is in conjunction to standard high carbohydrate narrative, perhaps that is excusable.

I’m just likely to be adding nothing but noise to the fire, at this point.

Hence, in the meantime, I’m sticking with my own way of eating. 

Industry funding.

Then ~ there’s funding.

This article paints yet another critique that the guidelines is highly suspected from questionable industry funding. I am not a scientific writer, but “Hoodwinked”? ~  that I think is a little off (non-sensical?) / premature choice of word.

According to the actual research document –  there were nine (9) authors total, but seven did receive funding from the beef / cattle, dairy industries and low-carbohydrate spheres. Jeff Volek, Dr Benjamin Bilek, and also  Christopher Ramsden (for compiling the paper here) whom many might already be familiar.

I am generally anti or against anything pushed or pulled – from anything “Big” <>. That is, big ~ Institution, Pharma,  Food, epidemiology, and/or mandates in general.  In saying that, I think it’s “fair” time for opposing voice/s to be granted to speak, for once against prevalent narrative. That is – high carbohydrate, and relatively low – both proteins and fats.

When it comes to “funding” I am somewhat no longer fazed about it. Hence I remain neutral when it comes to anything to do with “funding” as a point of criticism.

After all money is leverage. You need to get your point across? You need money to be heard. Pure and simple.

This is one of those few but contentious topic ~ where I do not necessarily blame the car. But nonetheless –  I always question the motives of the driver.

Look at the science.  Agree or disagree – own your own stance. And keep science to yourself. Your belief – is your business.

Conclusion

The masthead easily explain what it should be all about. Eat Real Food. This could not be said any easier, or any shorter.

But here’s what I bet is going to happen. Media will soon pick this up. “Eat this! Not that!” tacky sensationalism will jump on the noise bandwagon, just for the sake of likes, and shares.

Give it time – things will go back to “normal”. Maybe not soon,  I think things will return to just another day, another week, another month. Or maybe even a year. Everyone will just go back to minding their own business.

In the off chances that people do stumble across this blog, I hereby invite you to remain likewise – scientifically impartial even if tides are in your favour.

Hence for what is to come soon ~ might just be something I’d rather keep things quiet to myself.

Live-It-Forward,

AW.