Free Saturated Fat Handout and The Case for the New Dietary Guidelines Committee Recommendations
I’ve spent the past week reading comments, position papers, blogs, and posts reacting to the new food pyramid and Dietary Guidelines. Many professionals are understandably concerned about the emphasis on meat, whole dairy, and fats like tallow—and I share those concerns. I woke up at 3:00 am after reading the news about the New Pyramid and started figuring out how to tackle the challenges.
What often gets lost, however, is the math. If someone is truly following the recommendation to keep saturated fat at or below 10% of total calories, there is very little room for these foods. For most people, that’s about 200 calories or roughly 21 grams of saturated fat per day. A single tablespoon of tallow contains about 13 grams of saturated fat, and even a lean, well-planned diet can easily approach that limit without intentionally adding high-saturated-fat foods. In practice, this makes widespread use of tallow or full-fat dairy incompatible with the guideline itself.
Beyond that point, much of the conversation veers into politics and money, with claims that large meat interests will benefit. This is where frustration rises—and where educators matter most. Your role could be most productive if you refocus on the scientific advisory report and the historical context of the Dietary Guidelines.
At the big-picture level, the Guidelines have consistently served the public good. How else would most Americans know to reduce added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium? Where else would the public find a rigorous meta-analysis of nutrition research from the past five years every five years? That work is a tremendous public-health benefit. The real challenge has never been the guidance—it’s been attention and application by consumers who mostly don’t follow them.
Now, people are paying attention. And that’s where you come in: to offer clarity, perspective, and practical guidance on eating more whole, minimally processed foods, while keeping added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat within guidelines for individuals with food preferences, misinformation, and budget constraints. One of the most important takeaways from the current Guidelines is the recognition that ultra-processed foods dominate the American diet—and that when they account for nearly half of what people eat, they undermine health. The other issue is determining what an ultra-processed food is and how to navigate the NOVA system. Vinegar is lumped in with processed oils!
Consumers are struggling. Time constraints, limited cooking skills, and budget all work against them. Packaged snacks are tempting, fast food is inexpensive, more than 75% of adults are overweight, and rates of diabetes continue to rise. Anyone working in public health understands the alarm and challenges.
I want to make the case for the Dietary Guidelines by helping people understand what they have consistently offered over time. Right now, you have the public’s attention. This is the moment to use it well. Everyone is fired up!
Our posters below show the slant we have taken from making a healthy, whole foods plate (I still love MyPlate), to showing off the abundance of whole foods, to only filling an upside-down pyramid with healthy clip art. Should a pyramid be upside down? Maybe in the art world, check out Pyramide Inversée.
Here is a handout we prepared for a reader who is a dietitian in cardiac rehab - she was so worried about the saturated fat issue. It is editable in PowerPoint, so feel free to make it your own.
