This week, USDA and HHS released the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines, branded publicly with a simple message: “Eat real food.”

The guidelines introduce an inverted food pyramid and emphasize whole, nutrient‑dense foods; proteins, dairy, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats, while calling for strict limits on added sugars, refined carbohydrates, and “highly processed” packaged, prepared, ready‑to‑eat salty or sweet foods…. Not really all that NEW to public health professionals but this topic is gaining much traction on social media as “transformative” to public health.

Although the new guidelines do not formally define “ultra‑processed foods,” they highlight highly processed foods as a key driver of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular risk, and poor gut health, and urge Americans to favor home‑prepared, minimally processed meals. A sentiment which I believe most Americans, and health professionals, would agree with. Certain foods, let’s call them “treat” foods are meant to be consumed in smaller amounts and less frequently – after all, it’s not new that French fries and snack cakes shouldn’t be part of a routine dietary intake pattern.

Social media and search interest has spiked around questions like “What counts as highly or ultra‑processed?”, “Do I have to cut all packaged foods?”, and “How do these guidelines change what I should feed my kids?”, making ultra‑processed foods and the new guidelines a timely conversation for this episode.

Today we’re going to unpack what these new ‘eat real food’ guidelines actually mean, especially around ultra‑processed foods; what they are, how they affect health and performance, and how to navigate real life without going to extremes.

Our guest today to discuss some of these changes is PhD and Chief Nutrition Scientist, Richard Black.