Foundations of Healthy Eating: Plant Foods, Healthy Fats, and Carbs

“Despite what people often hear, there’s actually substantial agreement in nutrition science about the foundations of healthy eating,” said Karen Della Corte, Dr.Rer.Nat., M.Sc., a BYU Assistant Professor of Nutritional Science and a lead researcher behind the global food pyramid. “We wanted to bring those shared principles together and translate an extensive body of scientific evidence into a coherent and practical food guide pyramid.”

Designed to be adaptable across global regions and cultures, the new International Food Guide Pyramid stands on three core guidelines:

1. Make plant foods the foundation of a healthy diet: While meat does not need to be eliminated from one’s diet, it should not be the biggest part of one’s meal
2. Choose healthier sources of fat and protein: Beans, fish, poultry, and yogurt are preferable to red and processed meats, and canola or olive oils are preferable to butter or tallow
3. Prioritize carbohydrate quality: Increase consumption of fiber-rich, whole grain carbs with a low to moderate glycemic index (GI). 

“When you’re designing a meal, start by thinking about the plant foods you want to emphasize,” Dr. Della Corte summarized. “What vegetables, whole or lower-GI grains, beans, or lentils could you include?” 

Dr. Della Corte also underlined that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats, particularly those from plant oils, can improve long-term cardiovascular health.

For the development of the International Food Guide Pyramid, Dr. Della Corte and 22 other prominent nutrition scientists from around the world compared national and regional dietary guidelines from Canada, Germany, Australia, China, the Netherlands, the U.S., and the Nordic countries. They also synthesized evidence from more than 250 scientific publications and drew on the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet to identify shared principles of healthy eating. 

Contradictions in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 

On the other hand, the latest DGAs encourage the consumption of fat sources like butter or beef tallow—a favorite ingredient of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement, which U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) has helped popularize, claiming it as a healthy alternative to seed oils (e.g., canola). The DGAs also “end the war on protein” (per official messaging on realfood.gov) by increasing the adult recommended daily allowance for the macronutrient. While the consumption of meat, full-fat dairy, and eggs is highly encouraged, the DGAs do not discourage eating a variety of healthy protein sources, including plant foods and seafood.

Critics of the DGAs asserted that the guidelines “prop up the meat and dairy industries at the expense of human and environmental health,” spread “blatant misinformation that 'healthy fats' include butter and beef tallow,” and create confusion by acknowledging saturated fats should be limited while promoting animal protein, butter, and full-fat dairy.

However, the International Food Guide Pyramid and the Trump Administration’s DGAs agree on the advice that people should minimize added sugars, refined carbohydrates, and less-nutritious processed snacks.