Ep. 145 | New 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans – What You Need to Know [Part 2]

Have you seen the new 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and wondered if you should follow them? You may have seen talk about them on the news and social media, and don’t know quite what to believe. The slogan of eating more ‘real foods’ sounds good though, and the New Pyramid diagram seems to show that all foods - including butter, steak, whole milk and cheese – would be fine to eat and that we don’t really need to worry about the amounts eaten. But DO we need to worry? And what about the recommendations about protein and nutritional adequacy issues in vegan and vegetarian diets?

Let’s talk about this. In this episode, we’ll take a deeper dive into the New Dietary Guidelines for Americans and look at 3 more KEY things you need to know about them, to inform your own health. We’ll touch on protein, what the Guidelines say about vegan and vegetarian diets, and what has been found through research. Listen in! 

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Episode Highlights & Key Timestamps:

• [2:02] How you can get support to live an active, vibrant life
• [3:56] A quick recap of Part 1: 2 key things to know
• [4:34] Key thing #3: Protein - more is not necessarily better 
• [5:46] Learn what the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is
• [8:43] Key thing #4: Well-planned plant-based diets can be both healthful and nutritious 
• [10:10] What studies show when comparing vegan and vegetarian diets with meat-based diets
• [12:52] Possible nutrient inadequacies in an omnivorous or regular diet
• [13:37] How and what you eat on any dietary pattern matters
• [16:01] An action step you can take

Listen Here

Related Episode:

119 | What To Supplement? Here Are 3 Key Nutrients Vegans AND Meat-Eaters Need

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Read Transcript Here

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References:

1. 2025 – 2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://realfood.gov/. Published January 7, 2026. Accessed January 15, 2026.
2. Dietary Reference Intakes: A Risk Assessment Model for Establishing Upper Intake Levels for Nutrients. National Academy of Sciences.1998. 
   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK45182/#:~:text=That%20is%2C%20the%20RDA%20is,life%20stage%20and%20gender%20group
   Accessed January 17, 2026. 
3. Bauer J, Biolo G, Cederholm T, Cesari M, Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Morley JE, Phillips S, Sieber C, Stehle P, Teta D, Visvanathan R, Volpi E, Boirie Y. Evidence-based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people: a position paper from the PROT-AGE Study Group. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2013 Aug;14(8):542-59. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2013.05.021. Epub 2013 Jul 16. PMID: 23867520. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23867520/. Accessed January 17, 2026. 
4. Tieland M, Franssen R, Dullemeijer C, van Dronkelaar C, Kyung Kim H, Ispoglou T, Zhu K, Prince RL, van Loon LJC, de Groot LCPGM. The Impact of Dietary Protein or Amino Acid Supplementation on Muscle Mass and Strength in Elderly People: Individual Participant Data and Meta-Analysis of RCT's. J Nutr Health Aging. 2017;21(9):994-1001. doi: 10.1007/s12603-017-0896-1. PMID: 29083440. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29083440/. Accessed January 17, 2026.  
5. Thomas DK, Quinn MA, Saunders DH, Greig CA. Protein Supplementation Does Not Significantly Augment the Effects of Resistance Exercise Training in Older Adults: A Systematic Review. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2016 Oct 1;17(10):959.e1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2016.07.002. PMID: 27670605; PMCID: PMC5065619. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27670605/. Accessed January 17, 2026. 
6. Taylor CA, Abrams SA, Booth SL, Byrd-Bredbenner C, Eicher-Miller HA, Fung T, Jernigan VB, Talegawkar SA, Tobias D, Adler M, Beckman K, Cruz CM, de Jesus J, DeSilva D, English LK, Fu S, Hiza H, Kuczynski K, McClain V, Pannucci T, Raghavan R, Richardson L, Scanlon K, Stoody E. Can nutrient goals be met when animal sources of foods and beverages are removed from the Healthy Vegetarian Dietary Pattern for ages 2 years and older?: Food Pattern Modeling Protocol. June 2024. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Nutrition Guidance and Analysis Division. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/2025_DGAC_FPM_Q2_Protocol_RemovingAnimalBasedFoods_v2_508c.pdf. Accessed January 17, 2026. 
7. Neufingerl N, Eilander A. Nutrient Intake and Status in Adults Consuming Plant-Based Diets Compared to Meat-Eaters: A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2021 Dec 23;14(1):29. doi: 10.3390/nu14010029. PMID: 35010904; PMCID: PMC8746448. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8746448/. Accessed January 17, 2026.
8. Dawczynski C, Weidauer T, Richert C, Schlattmann P, Dawczynski K, Kiehntopf M. Nutrient Intake and Nutrition Status in Vegetarians and Vegans in Comparison to Omnivores - the Nutritional Evaluation (NuEva) Study. Front Nutr. 2022 May 16;9:819106. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.819106. Erratum in: Front Nutr. 2022 Jul 27;9:975159. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.975159. PMID: 35651513; PMCID: PMC9149309. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9149309/. Accessed January 17, 2026.