The 2026 Dietary Guidelines Explained: What 'Eat Real Food' Actually Means for Your Health
By Ashley Lizotte, M.S., Nutritionist and Co-Founder of Farmana. The views expressed reflect professional interpretation of federal nutrition guidance and Farmana's mission to make real food nutrition accessible.
TLDR: Key Takeaways
The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans deliver a clear message: eat real food. Released January 7, 2026, these guidelines mark the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in decades. Key changes include:
- Prioritize protein at every meal
- Choose full-fat dairy with no added sugarsLimit highly processed foods for the first time in federal guidance
- Eat whole fruits and vegetables rather than juices or processed forms
- Focus on whole grains while reducing refined carbohydrates
With 90% of healthcare spending going to chronic disease treatment and 70% of adults overweight or obese, these guidelines shift the focus from pharmaceuticals to food as the foundation of health.
The recent dietary guidelines for Americans, delivers the simplest nutritional message in decades: eat real food. This marks the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in history.
The guidelines prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods—protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains—while dramatically reducing highly processed foods that have contributed to America's chronic disease epidemic.
What Changed? The Key Shifts in Federal Nutrition Policy
The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines represent a fundamental departure from previous nutrition guidance, emphasizing simplicity and common sense over complex calorie counting. Secretary Kennedy stated that these guidelines "return us to the basics," focusing on what Americans should eat rather than what to avoid.
This shift comes at a critical time, as nearly 90% of the nation's $4.9 trillion in annual health care expenditures are for people with chronic conditions often linked to diet and lifestyle, as documented in the CDC’s 2025 report “Fast Facts: Health and Economic Costs of Chronic Conditions” from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Protein Takes Center Stage
The new guidelines emphasize prioritizing protein at every meal, a significant shift from previous editions that focused primarily on portion control. This change reflects modern nutrition science showing that adequate protein intake supports muscle maintenance, satiety, and metabolic health across all life stages.
The guidelines provide tailored recommendations for infants, children, adolescents, pregnant women, older adults, and individuals with chronic disease, ensuring protein adequacy throughout the lifespan.
Full-Fat Dairy Is Back
After decades of promoting low-fat and fat-free options, the guidelines now recommend consuming full-fat dairy with no added sugars. This reversal acknowledges that healthy fats from whole foods support nutrient absorption, hormone production, and sustained energy. The guidelines encourage Americans to obtain fats from meats, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados rather than from processed sources.
The First Federal Warning Against Highly Processed Foods
For the first time, federal dietary guidelines explicitly name highly processed foods as items to limit. The guidelines instruct Americans to "limit highly processed foods, added sugars, and artificial additives," marking a historic moment in nutrition policy. This direct language replaces the vague "limit calories from solid fats and added sugars" approach of previous editions, giving consumers clear guidance on what processed foods actually means in practice.
What Is "Real Food"? Understanding the New Standard
The guidelines define real food through a simple framework: whole, nutrient-dense foods that come from nature rather than factories. Secretary Rollins emphasized that this edition aims to "realign our food system to support American farmers, ranchers, and companies that grow and produce real food".
Whole, Nutrient-Dense Foods
The guidelines prioritize foods in their original or minimally processed forms. Vegetables and fruits should be consumed "throughout the day, focusing on whole forms" rather than juices or heavily processed alternatives. Whole grains receive emphasis while the guidelines recommend "sharply reducing refined carbohydrates" that have been stripped of fiber and nutrients. This whole-food approach ensures maximum nutrient density per calorie consumed.
Foods to Prioritize
The guidelines provide eight core recommendations for building a healthy dietary pattern:
- Prioritize protein at every meal
- Consume full-fat dairy with no added sugars
- Eat vegetables and fruits throughout the day in whole formsIncorporate healthy fats from whole foods
- Focus on whole grains while reducing refined carbohydrates
- Choose water and unsweetened beverages for hydration
- Eat the right amount based on age, sex, size, and activity level
- Limit alcohol consumption for better health
Foods to Limit
The guidelines clearly identify highly processed foods, added sugars, and artificial additives as items to dramatically reduce. This includes packaged snacks with long ingredient lists, sugary beverages, refined grain products like white bread and pastries, and foods containing artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. The emphasis on reduction rather than elimination acknowledges that perfection isn't necessary for significant health improvements.
The Health Crisis Driving This Reset
The 2025-2030 guidelines emerge from an urgent public health situation that demanded bold policy action. The statistics paint a troubling picture of America's nutritional health and the consequences of decades of highly processed food consumption.
Chronic Disease Statistics
The 2026 press release titled "Kennedy, Rollins Unveil Historic Reset of U.S. Nutrition Policy, Put Real Food Back at Center of Health" states that more than 70% of American adults are overweight or obese, and nearly 1 in 3 adolescents are prediabetic.
These conditions, largely driven by poor dietary patterns, have created a national health emergency that extends beyond individual suffering. Diet-driven chronic disease now disqualifies many young Americans from military service, threatening national readiness and limiting economic opportunity for an entire generation.
Why Policy Needed to Change
The guidelines acknowledge that previous nutrition advice failed to reverse these troubling trends. Secretary Kennedy stated that the guidelines aim to "reestablish food—not pharmaceuticals—as the foundation of health," representing a philosophical shift in how federal policy approaches wellness. Rather than managing disease with medication, the new approach emphasizes preventing disease through nutrition, potentially reducing the 90% of healthcare spending currently devoted to chronic disease treatment.
How to Apply These Guidelines to Your Daily Life
Understanding the guidelines is only the first step—implementation requires practical strategies that fit into busy modern lifestyles. The guidelines emphasize flexibility and common sense rather than rigid meal plans, making them accessible to diverse populations and cultural food traditions.
Build Meals Around Protein
Start each meal by identifying your protein source—eggs at breakfast, chicken or fish at lunch, legumes or lean meat at dinner. The guidelines provide tailored recommendations for different life stages, recognizing that a pregnant woman's protein needs differ from those of an older adult or active teenager. This life-stage approach ensures nutritional adequacy across the entire population.
Choose Whole Forms of Produce
Select fresh, frozen, or dried fruits and vegetables rather than juices or heavily processed versions. When buying packaged produce, check that the ingredient list contains only the vegetable or fruit itself, with no added sugars, sauces, or preservatives. The guidelines emphasize eating vegetables and fruits "throughout the day," suggesting that distribution across meals matters as much as total quantity.
Rethink Your Beverages and Supplements
The guidelines recommend choosing water and unsweetened beverages to support hydration, moving away from the sugar-laden drinks that contribute to chronic disease. For those using functional beverages or supplements to fill nutritional gaps, these principles offer helpful guidance: prioritizing whole food ingredients over synthetic alternatives and avoiding artificial additives aligns with both the guidelines’ spirit and sound nutrition practice.
A Farmana Perspective: Real Food Principles in Nutritional Supplements
As Farmana’s co-founder and a nutritionist who has studied these principles for 20+ years, I believe the 2025-2030 guidelines validate the approach we’ve taken since founding the company. The following reflects Farmana’s philosophy and how we interpret these federal recommendations for our product development.
The 2025-2030 guidelines create an opportunity to evaluate whether your nutrition strategy—including supplements and functional foods—aligns with real food principles. Not all supplements are created equal, and the new emphasis on whole foods over isolated nutrients has implications for product selection.
Farmana’s Approach to Real Food Nutrition
At Farmana, we believe functional nutrition should bridge the gap between whole foods and practical supplementation by combining organic whole food bases with researched active ingredients.
Products that align with these principles feature recognizable ingredients like fruits, vegetables, herbs, and mushrooms rather than long lists of synthetic compounds. They contain zero added sugars, avoid artificial sweeteners and additives, and provide meaningful amounts of vitamins and minerals within a whole-food matrix.
What We Prioritize at Farmana
When we develop our products, we prioritize organic superfood bases (papaya, beet, ginger, elderberry, medicinal mushrooms), no added sugars or artificial sweeteners, no artificial colors, flavors, or chemical additives, and highly researched active ingredients like digestive enzymes, electrolytes, or vitamins and minerals in amounts supported by nutritional science.
The guidelines' emphasis on "real food" doesn't mean avoiding functional nutrition—it means choosing products that honor whole food principles while supporting your nutritional goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans?
The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines are federal nutrition recommendations released January 7, 2026, emphasizing whole, nutrient-dense foods while limiting highly processed foods. This edition marks the most significant reset of nutrition policy in decades, providing simple, flexible guidance for all life stages.
What does "eat real food" mean in the dietary guidelines?
"Eat real food" means prioritizing whole, minimally processed foods—protein, full-fat dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains—in their original forms. It means limiting highly processed packaged foods, added sugars, refined carbohydrates, and artificial additives that lack nutritional value.
Why did the dietary guidelines change in 2026?
The guidelines changed to address a national health emergency: 90% of healthcare spending goes to chronic disease treatment, 70% of adults are overweight or obese, and 1 in 3 adolescents has prediabetes. Federal policy needed a bold reset to reverse these diet-driven trends.
Are supplements allowed under the new dietary guidelines?
Yes, the guidelines don't prohibit supplements. However, they emphasize food-first nutrition. In my professional view, choosing supplements with whole food bases and avoiding artificial ingredients aligns with the spirit of these guidelines. At Farmana, this philosophy guides our product development.
What are highly processed foods according to the guidelines?
Highly processed foods are packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat items with long ingredient lists containing artificial additives, added sugars, and refined carbohydrates. Examples include sugary cereals, chips, candy, soda, and products with artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
Author: Ashley Lizotte, MS
Ashley is a co-founder of Farmana with her Masters in Nutrition. She has spent 20 years in the health and wellness industry, working closely with functional medicine practitioners to formulate therapeutic dietary supplements and develop treatment protocols. Outside of her work - where she's deeply immersed in the latest scientific research in health and nutrition - Ashley channels her passion into local farmer's markets, perfecting her sourdough, prioritizing daily workouts, tending her garden, trying new recipes, and taking long walks with her Wirehaired Vizsla, Birdie.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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