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\t\t\tJeanne Reilly, director of school nutrition at Windham Raymond School District, stands in the Windham High School cafeteria as staff serves students lunch. Reilly says the new guidelines are in line with how schools are trying to cook more from scratch. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
The food pyramid is back \u2014 and flipped upside-down. <\/p>\n
The Trump administration rolled out new dietary guidelines earlier this month, including some advice that counters longstanding nutrition research, and Maine nutrition experts have mixed feelings about the changes.<\/p>\n
The administration re-adopted the iconic \u201cfood pyramid\u201d graphic \u2014 which was set aside in 2011 in favor of a segmented plate model known as MyPlate \u2014 to illustrate their advice. <\/p>\n
But the pyramid is now flipped, with animal proteins, fats, full-fat dairy and produce toward the top (where most of your calories should come from) and whole grains at the bottom. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a reversal of priorities that Maine dieticians and nutrition authorities say could be problematic, maybe even dangerous, and might set Americans up to fail. <\/p>\n
Several experts said they liked the emphasis on whole foods, promoting fruits and vegetables and warning against ultra-processed foods. <\/p>\n But the strong emphasis on protein doesn\u2019t align with most lifestyles, they said. <\/p>\n The guidelines now call for people to eat 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilo of body weight, a 50% to 100% increase from the previous guidelines, which were released in 2020. For example, a 180-pound person would be advised to eat 98 to 131 grams of protein daily, equal to roughly 12 ounces to a pound of meat or seafood (about 4-6 servings). <\/p>\n \u201cThe fact of the matter is, Americans don\u2019t have any problem eating protein,\u201d said Leslie Ouellette-Todd, owner-dietician at Nourished Lifestyles in Scarborough. She doubts there\u2019s sufficient research to show people should be eating more protein. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you overeat protein, and your body doesn\u2019t need to make muscle because you\u2019re not working out, you\u2019re not just going to automatically turn that protein into muscle mass,\u201d she said. \u201cIf it\u2019s not needed, that protein is going to be stored as fat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018CONFUSING AT BEST\u2019<\/p>\n The new guidelines emphasize eating animal protein as well as full-fat dairy, contrary to past recommendations. But at the same time, they stick to the previous limit on saturated fat \u2014 no more than 10% of total daily calories. <\/p>\n Full-fat dairy and animal proteins \u2014 particularly red meat \u2014 can be high in saturated fat. Extensive research has shown that saturated fat can increase bad cholesterol (LDL) and the threat for heart disease, though recent studies indicate saturated fat in dairy is not as detrimental. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile the limits on saturated fat have remained in the guidelines, the guidance does not actually help a person maintain those limits,\u201c said Michele Polacsek, public health professor and director of the Center for Public Health Practice at the University of New England. \u201cIt\u2019s confusing at best, and what we need for the public is clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n That contradiction can also complicate the public\u2019s understanding of their health. <\/p>\n Ouellette-Todd said statements like HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying the administration is \u201cending the war on saturated fats\u201d conflict with the written guidelines and may make it more difficult to build trust with her clients. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ll say, \u2018This document is telling me not to worry about saturated fat, but you\u2019re telling me to worry about it,’\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re struggling with now is that people will believe the nutritionist with no degree on TikTok over the dietician who has spent 20 years in nutrition research.\u201d<\/p>\n Polacsek said encouraging Americans to eat more red meat and full-fat dairy was shocking because it goes against decades of scientific evidence.<\/p>\n She and other experts said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which spearheaded the new guidelines, should have stressed the importance of including plant-based proteins in your diet. <\/p>\n Kim McDevitt, lead dietician at Longevity Maine in South Portland, said that putting a raw red ribeye steak in the upper-left corner of the new food pyramid, where the eye is naturally drawn first, \u201cisn\u2019t the most optimal.\u201d<\/p>\n She counsels clients to eat a variety of protein sources \u2014 including seafood, legumes (beans), poultry and eggs \u2014 and to limit red meat to no more than once a week. McDevitt acknowledged the debate over how much protein people actually need, but said she believes higher protein intake helps preserve muscle during the aging process. <\/p>\n \u201cI think, and the research is showing, that higher protein intake is good for us and leads to better health outcomes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n GUT MICROBIOME <\/p>\n Skeptics still lauded a number of features in the new 10-page guidelines, a far more streamlined document than the 164-page guidelines from 2020. They applauded the advice to limit added sugars, refined carbohydrates and highly processed foods, and for keeping the cap on sodium at 2,300 milligrams a day. <\/p>\n Dietician Joan Lavery-McLaughlin, head of Nutrition Works in Portland, also liked that the new guidelines are the first to make mention of gut microbiome and its importance to your overall health. But she finds that fiber gets short shrift, noting that protein is mentioned 17 times in the document, and fiber just twice. <\/p>\n \u201cFiber is so much more important to having a healthy gut microbiome than protein, and that\u2019s not communicated at all,\u201d she said. \u201cTo me, that\u2019s a huge oversight.\u201d <\/p>\n Only 5% of men and 9% of women consume the recommended daily amount of fiber (25 to 30 grams a day from food, not supplements), according to the American Society for Nutrition. Lavery-McLaughlin said plant-based protein foods like beans deliver a more complete bundle of crucial nutrients than animal proteins, including fiber and complex carbohydrates. <\/p>\n The new guidelines on alcohol are another sticking point. Past versions offered specific quantities: no more than one drink daily for women, two for men. The World Health Organization says no amount of alcohol is safe to consume, and the U.S. Surgeon General issued a warning last January that said research has found alcohol to be a cancer risk.<\/p>\n But the current guidelines state simply that most people should \u201cconsume less alcohol for better health.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone can think, \u2018Well I usually have five a day, so now I\u2019ll have four.\u2019 That\u2019s in the right direction, but it\u2019s still too much,\u201d said Ouellette-Todd. \u201cI\u2019m still going to tell our clients that ideally, you\u2019re not having more than one or two a day. And that\u2019s what the science has told us.\u201d<\/p>\n QUESTIONABLE PROCESS<\/p>\n Rebecca Boulos, Maine Public Health Association\u2019s executive director, said her main concern with the new guidelines is how they were developed. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/w2pcms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/01\/newfoodpyramid-ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg-converter_dc6548.jpg\")
<\/a>The 2026 food pyramid. (Courtesy of HHS\/USDA)<\/p>\n<\/a>Dietician Leslie Ouellette-Todd, owner of Nourished Lifestyles in Scarborough, questions the push for more protein in the new dietary guidelines. (Courtesy of Leslie Ouellette-Todd)<\/p>\n