The food pyramid has been flipped. The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has placed emphasis on healthy fats and protein. The new flipped food pyramid was accompanied by the message of “eat real food.”
The new dietary recommendation was unveiled Jan. 7, but the actual effects aren’t estimated to go into practical effect until 2027.
“As of right now the dietary guidelines are not going to affect the National School Lunch Program. Although this could change depending on what the current government administration decides,” said LOSD Director of Nutrition Services Cristobal Castro.
The new guidelines are not immediately going into effect, and changes are still being made for the next year.
“This past week they changed the milk types allowed to be served in schools and how we can analyze the saturated fats with milk versus the rest of the menu. Added sugar limits are going into effect SY [School Year] 26/27, and lower sodium limits in SY 27/28,” said Castro.
Health teacher Bethany Nedrow has already implemented the new food pyramid into her health class, breaking down the complex language of the pyramid.
“At the top [of the pyramid], he [RFK] has changed where protein and dairy go off a certain amount of grams that you should be consuming a day,” said Nedrow. “So that was new, and I think that was very confusing for our generation of students, because they’re thinking, how do we do math with that? So I broke it down for them, that if your goal of your body weight is something, you have to times it by that amount.”
The new food pyramid still has room for improvement.
“RFK does have a certain amount, like two to three servings. But again, language wise, what does the serving look like to the average person?” said Nedrow. “I think he could further explain more about that dairy, meat and maybe make the language a little easier for Americans to grasp as a whole.”
