I have been asked, so here goes.
You know I am a supporter of — and an advocate for — eating what I call “real food.”
I also believe the closer it is grown to where you live, the better.
But I keep hearing “Why did he turn the food pyramid upside down?”
The questions are in regards to new direction from United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Perhaps a little history of the recommendations from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) along with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH, the medical research arm of DHHS), and the reasoning for the current changes, will help.
Good grief!
Got all those acronyms out of the way.
Whether you agree or disagree with — like or dislike — the secretary, or feel individual people are qualified or not is not the issue. Let’s look at what they have and are trying to do.
So, a little history lesson: Versions of a food pyramid have existed in other countries before the U.S. developed its own, but I am going to focus on the ones we know here in the United States of America.
The original food pyramid, as many of us knew it, was introduced in 1992. In 2005, it was replaced (most people do not even realize this) with another pyramid. It was then replaced with what was called MyPlate in 2011.
A lot of older generations did not know that had even happened because it was taught to school children in health or home economics (now known as family consumer science) classes. It never really made it out to the public masses. People didn’t live on social media platforms then, and the “knowledge” did not get disseminated as it does now.
And now, in 2026, we have a new food pyramid.
The second food pyramid that nobody knew about was just a different graphic. It basically “pushed the same agenda” as the original, so I am not going to spend time on it.
So, the topic at hand? The original pyramid with the traditional wide base and narrow top, the change to MyPlate, and now the change to the new food pyramid, the graphic for which is actually an inverted or upside-down pyramid the way most of us think.
The original food pyramid was heavily influenced by the research of Ancel Keys — whose study of 22 countries was pared down to 16 and then further down to seven before publication — and it was considered controversial by many. His research supposedly drew a correlation between high consumption of fats (particularly from animals) and heart disease, so the American Heart Association got behind it.
The Sugar Research Foundation also got behind it, as it put the focus on animal fats and took some of the heat off of sugar consumption. This original pyramid had a base (what we were told should be the majority of our food caloric intake) of grains and starches, recommending six to 11 servings per day. Moving up the graphic, next came three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruit. Above that were two to three servings of dairy and two to three servings of meat. The tip of the pyramid was for consumption of “sparing” fat, oil and sweets. The pyramid dictated the prescribed number of servings.
It very definitely painted plant foods as good and animal products as bad.
Then came MyPlate.
The graphic changed in an effort to make it new and catchy. So, a place-setting graphic of a plate with four sections and a glass. Instead of numbers of servings, it focused on proportions. It was still heavy on grains (encouraging whole, less processed grains) and pushed eating a variety of vegetables (discouraging potatoes, especially fries) while it cut back on fruits, and said proteins should come from fish, poultry, beans and nuts, with limited red meats.
The glass represented water, saying to limit juices and dairy. Limited oils were pushed, and it was encouraged that they be “healthy” such as olive and canola.
Now, we have a new pyramid.
To me, the graphic may be confusing to a lot of people. Unlike all previous versions of dietary guidelines, there is no “prescription,” no formula or recipe to follow (perhaps blindly). It is left up to individuals to think and design their own diet.
What the new pyramid says is eat whole, natural foods. Eat less processed foods containing addictive sugar and chemicals and things our bodies are not designed to digest and utilize.
It stresses eating variety. Remember, man is an omnivore.
The new pyramid says eat more protein (our bodies need it to grow and repair) and less sugar.
It says eat “real food.”
So — personally — I think the new pyramid is a step in the right direction. Just my opinion, so take it for what you think it is worth.
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Maureen Harkcom grew up on a Lewis County dairy and operated a beef and native hay operation and developed an equine competition facility. She can be reached by email at maureen.harkcom@gmail.com.
