Understanding the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

By Sue Delagrange, MS, RDN, LD

The story of dietary guidance in America begins in 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln founded the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), recognizing the deep connection between food and health. Early guidance focused on combating malnourishment and ensuring food safety. By 1958, the USDA introduced the concept of food servings, and in 1977, Senator George McGovern’s landmark Dietary Goals for Americans made history as the first federal guidance to suggest limiting certain foods — sparking significant pushback from the food industry.

In response, the first official Dietary Guidelines for Americans were published in 1980. By 1990, Congress mandated updates every five years. The iconic Food Guide Pyramid debuted in 1992, later replaced by MyPyramid in 2005 and MyPlate in 2010. The 2015 guidelines shifted focus to overall healthy eating patterns, and the 2020-2025 edition introduced life-stage recommendations for the first time. Now, the 2025-2030 guidelines call for a bold return to whole, real foods.

1. Eat the Right Amount for You

• The calories you need depend on your age, sex, height, weight, and level of physical activity.
• Pay attention to portion sizes particularly for foods and beverages higher in calories.
• Hydration is a key factor in overall health. Choose water (still or sparkling) and unsweetened beverages.

Adjust energy intake and expenditure to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. Try to balance how much you eat with how active you are. For the first time, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide specific recommendations on primary means of hydration.

2. Prioritize Protein Foods at Every Meal

• Prioritize high-quality, nutrient-dense protein foods.
• Consume a variety of protein foods from animal sources, including eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat, as well as a variety of plant-sourced protein foods, including beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy.
• Swap deep-fried cooking methods with baked, broiled, roasted, stir-fried, or grilled cooking methods.
• Consume meat with no or limited added sugars, refined carbohydrates or starches, or chemical additives. If preferred, flavor with salt, spices, and herbs.
• Protein serving goals: 1.2-1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, adjusting as needed based on your individual caloric requirements.

Protein is essential, and your body absolutely needs it. Protein builds and repairs almost all the tissues in your body — your bones, muscles, blood, hair, nails, and organs. It gives you energy, keeps your immune system strong, and helps you feel full and satisfied after meals.

You can get all these benefits, and more, from plants, without the need for meat or dairy products. Research shows a diet higher in plant-based proteins is beneficial for reducing your risk of chronic disease like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

3. Consume Dairy

• When consuming dairy, include full-fat dairy with no added sugar. Dairy is an excellent source of protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals.
• Daily serving goals: 3 servings per day as part of a 2,000-calorie dietary pattern, adjusting as needed based on your individual caloric requirements.

Prior versions of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans specifically recommended fat-free or low-fat dairy products.

4. Eat Vegetables & Fruit Throughout the Day

• Eat a variety of colorful, nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits.
• Eat whole vegetables and fruits in their original form. Wash thoroughly prior to eating raw or cooking.
• Frozen, dried, or canned vegetables or fruits with no or very limited added sugars can also be an option.
• If preferred, flavor with salt, spices, and herbs.
• 100% fruit or vegetable juices should be consumed in limited portions or diluted with water.
• Vegetables and fruits serving goals: 3 servings of vegetables per day, 2 servings of fruit per day

Focus on eating vegetables and fruit throughout the day, especially whole forms. While frozen, dried, or canned vegetables and fruits are good options it is important to check the amount of added sugars and sodium. By draining and then rinsing your canned vegetables you can eliminate one-third of the sodium.

5. Incorporate Healthy Fats

• Healthy fats are plentiful in many whole foods, such as meats, poultry, eggs, omega-3 rich seafood, nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy, olives, and avocados.
• When cooking with or adding fats to meals, prioritize oils with essential fatty acids, such as olive oil. Other options can include butter or beef tallow.
• In general, saturated fat consumption should not exceed 10% of total daily calories. Significantly limiting highly processed foods will help meet this goal. More high-quality research is needed to determine which types of dietary fats best support long-term health.

While reducing the amount of highly processed foods will help to reduce the amount of saturated fat you consume, you should also choose sources of unsaturated fat most of the time. Replace saturated fats with healthy unsaturated fats such as nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, and avocado oil.

6. Focus on Whole Grains

• Prioritize fiber-rich whole grains.
• Significantly reduce the consumption of highly processed, refined carbohydrates, such as white bread, ready-to-eat or packaged breakfast options, flour tortillas, and crackers.
• Whole grains serving goals: 2-4 servings per day, adjusting as needed based on your individual caloric requirements.

The new guidance is consistent with prior messaging to focus on nutrient-dense, high-fiber sources of carbohydrates, but with a new call to avoid highly processed packaged foods. Foods such as whole-wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal are better options than refined grains such as white bread or white rice.

7. Limit Highly Processed Foods, Added Sugars, & Refined Carbohydrates

• Avoid highly processed packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat, or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies, and candy that have added sugars and sodium (salt). Instead, prioritize nutrient-dense foods and home-prepared meals. When dining out, choose nutrient-dense options.
• Limit foods and beverages that include artificial flavors, petroleum-based dyes, artificial preservatives, and low-calorie non-nutritive sweeteners.
• Avoid sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas, fruit drinks, and energy drinks.
• While no amount of added sugar or non-nutritive sweeteners is recommended or considered part of a healthy or nutritious diet, one meal should contain no more than 10 grams of added sugar.
• When selecting snack foods, added sugar limits should follow the FDA “Healthy” claim limits. For example, grain snacks (e.g., crackers) should not exceed 5 grams of added sugar per ¾ ounce whole-grain equivalent, and dairy snacks (e.g., yogurt) should not exceed 2.5 grams of added sugar per 2/3 cup equivalent.

Choose minimally processed foods instead of ultra processed foods. Go with foods close to their natural state, with minimally added commercial ingredients.

8. Limit Alcoholic Beverages

• Consume less alcohol for better overall health.
• People who should completely avoid alcohol include pregnant women, people who are recovering from alcohol use disorder or are unable to control the amount they drink, and people taking medications or with medical conditions that can interact with alcohol. For those with a family history of alcoholism, be mindful of alcohol consumption and associate addictive behaviors.

If alcohol is not consumed, do not start; if alcohol is consumed, limit intake. Alcohol can increase your risk of high blood pressure and other health conditions, so if you do not drink, do not start.

Nutritional support is available at no cost.

Cancer Services’ Registered Dietitian, Sue Delagrange, offers free one-on-one nutrition consultations for cancer patients and survivors. Sue can help you navigate treatment side effects, dietary restrictions, and healthy habit changes tailored to your needs. Contact your client advocate at (260) 484-9560 to request a referral.

New to Cancer Services? Start the process by Requesting Services.