Happy Mid-January: What I’m Hearing, Reading, and Learning About Aging Well

I hope your year is off to a healthy start. Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t, but my husband and I make a yearly strategic plan, complete with a mission statement and goals for the year. I’ve written about it on my blog (you can find all my blog posts my website by clicking here) and we find that a yearly review of the previous plan helps us stay on target with our goals for eating well, moving well, and being well.

What I’m hearing

What the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines Say (and Why They’re Confusing) I have been asked a lot about my thoughts on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2025 from RJK, Jr. My top-level thought is one of confusion. The visual pyramid does not match up with written guidelines (click here to read the 10-page document). and press conference doesn’t always match with either.

• The visual shows grains at the very bottom meaning you should eat less of them, yet the written document encourages 2-4 servings of whole grains every day.
•  Meat, whole milk dairy, butter, and cheese are featured prominently at the top of the inverted pyramid, yet the guidelines recommend keeping saturated fat to less than 10% calories. Reducing saturated fat is supported by decades of research and is championed by the American Heart Association as a dietary strategy to promote heart health. You can’t do that by eating fatty red meat and butter. In my last blog, I wrote about whole milk dairy so choosing full-fat cheese and milk is not as harmful to heart health as we once thought, but it is higher in calories. (click here for the post).
• The comments that Dr. Oz made about alcohol were head scratching. Every health organization states that if alcohol is consumed it should be at a very low intake level. Dr. Oz claims it is a “social lubricant”, so it is good for bonding over meals. No argument about the benefits of eating meals with others, but you don’t need alcohol to do that. Previous guidelines suggested that if alcohol is consumed it should be limited to one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men. Dr. Oz gave some flip advice, “don’t’ drink alcohol for breakfast.” I don’t think you need a medical degree for that advice!
• Lastly, RFK, Jr says that the “war on protein is over.” Not sure what he is talking about because the war on protein never existed.
• Which leads me to wonder….

What about plant protein?

Plant proteins still matter for healthy aging. Plant proteins are good for people and the planet, yet they get short shrift in the new guidelines. Eating protein at every meal doesn’t mean eating meat at every meal. Dried beans, peas, and lentils pack a protein punch and deliver fiber (an under consumed nutrient) along with vitamins and minerals. A question I am often asked is….

Are canned beans as healthy as dry beans? (Short answer: Yes)

Yes, because they started out as dry beans or peas. Think of canned beans as “wet” versions of a dry bean. I know that sound like an oxymoron but dry refers to the bean or pea when harvested – not to their hydration level when canned.

What I’m Reading

Food Intelligence by Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall. I’ve been a fan of Dr. Hall’s research on how our food shapes our diet when he worked at the National Institutes of Health. Teaming up with Belluz, a journalist, they have written a book that describes our current food environment through a scientific lens that explains complex biology and physiology in easy to digest way. Instead of getting your food news from social media influencers, try reading this book to up your food IQ!

What I Learned This Week

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is a document designed to improve the health of its citizens and serve as a road map for federally funded food and nutrition programs, such as school lunch. People don’t eat guidelines, they eat food. Sometimes, whole foods and sometimes processed foods. We don’t need to demonize processed foods because in many cases they are more affordable, accessible, and easier to prepare. I wish everyone had the know-how, skills, and time to cook, but sometimes we just don’t. So, remember this from the guidelines:

Key Takeaways

• Eat more fiber-rich whole grains; carbs are not the enemy. Did you know that 95% of Americans do not meet fiber recommendations? And fiber is found in carbs…fruits, vegetables, whole grains.
• Aim for a minimum of eating 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit; fresh is fine but so is frozen, canned, or dried.
• Healthy fats include more than olive oil and avocado; canola and soybean oil also contain healthy polyunsaturated fats. Replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats lowers heart disease risk by 30%.
• Just say no to the saturated fats in beef tallow and butter.

So, continue to eat well, move well, and be well in 2026 and make small steps to be healthier in all three areas.

PS. My one small change for the new year

One thing I’ve started doing is paying more attention to hydration. I am starting each day with an 8-ounce glass of water to perk me up and make me feel less like a wilted houseplant!  What is your small change?