Unless you avoid all things new (and we wouldn’t blame you if you did), you are probably aware of RFK Jr.’s inverted food pyramid. Federal officials released the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, emphasizing the importance of protein, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Is that a bad thing? It actually urges Americans to limit their intake of added sugars, explaining that “no amount’ is considered part of a healthy diet. 

The new nutrition guidelines also state that no meal should contain more than 10 grams of added sugar. Health officials are targeting highly- or ultra-processed foods and refined carbohydrates. They recommend consumers avoid packaged, prepared, or ready-to-eat foods because they contain excess sodium, added sugars, trans fats, and more. Additionally, health officials encourage Americans to “eat the right amount for you,” basing daily caloric intake on weight, height, age, sex, and level of physical activity. Portion sizes and proper hydration are just as integral to your health as what you eat. 

RFK Jr. states that his inverted pyramid acts as a guideline to help people return to the basics. He wants people to prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods and reduce the intake of highly processed foods. This sounds great in theory, but there are a few issues with the new guidelines. We will explore what health experts think about the pyramid in this article.

Fear-mongering About Plant-Based Diets

It is no secret that plant-based diets have their health benefits. All you have to do is look at the supporting research. The new guidelines single out vegetarian and vegan diets as risky, exaggerating nutrient gaps without sufficient evidence. Yes, vegan and vegetarian diets have limited food options that contain some vital nutrients. There are fortified foods and supplements that can fill those gaps, though. In fact, supplementing key nutrients, such as vitamin B12, is an inexpensive and safe way to eat. The guidelines also ignore extensive research revealing the substantial health benefits of plant-based eating. If more people were plant-based, the country could save hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare costs. 

Should You Consume More Full-Fat Dairy?

The new guidelines recommend three servings of full-fat dairy products (with no added sugars) per day. The guidelines state that “dairy is an excellent source of protein, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats.” Health experts agree that one serving of full-fat dairy per day (about 1 to 1.5 ounces) is sufficient. There is not enough evidence to support the escalation of three servings per day. 

Plus, when you consider that roughly 65-70% of the world’s population is lactose intolerant, increasing dairy intake may not be the best idea. It’s also important to note that multiple servings of full-fat cheese can quickly exceed the recommended limits of daily saturated fat and sodium. Elevating cheese or full-fat dairy as a prominent health guideline may not benefit long-term health. 

Healthy Fats Are Encouraged

Healthy fats are vital for heart health, brain function, hormone production, and inflammation reduction. Additionally, they help the body absorb essential vitamins and keep you full for longer. Encouraging the consumption of healthy fats is not a bad thing, but you have to be careful where you get them. Prioritize foods that contain essential fatty acids, such as olive oil, avocado oil, walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, and other food sources. 

There are several contradictions about the consumption of healthy fats within the new guidelines, though. There is a numeric recommendation to limit saturated fat to 10% of your daily caloric intake. On the other hand, the guidelines emphasize meat and full-fat dairy consumption and varied portion sizes, so it is difficult to understand your limits in a real world diet setting. 

Not All Fruits And Vegetables Are Equal

The new guidelines encourage Americans to eat fruits and vegetables throughout the day, focusing on their whole forms. It is no secret that a diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables can deliver valuable nutrients to the body. The suggestion is three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day. 

While vegetables belong in any healthy diet, starchy vegetables (such as corn and potatoes) should be consumed in moderation. Additionally, fruits contain beneficial nutrients, but they can contain high levels of sugar, which will not benefit those with blood sugar issues. Berries are low-glycemic fruits and may be better than apples or bananas for people watching their blood sugar. 

The Best Advice For A Balanced Diet

Ideally, focus on simple, well-established dietary patterns that are supported by a large body of research. You don’t have to follow guidelines just because a guy said so. We believe it is best to focus on consuming a wide variety of plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains. Be mindful about your portions, especially if you choose to consume animal-based foods, such as meats and dairy products. Should you choose to consume meat, make sure the beef is grass-fed/grass-finished, your poultry is free range and organic, and your fish is wild caught. Dairy should be organic as well. 

Don’t focus on hitting specific nutrients or rigid targets. Make your goal to build a balanced, flexible diet that you can maintain over time.

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Get ready to eat just about every color of the rainbow with these raw vegan collard wraps. They are quick and easy to make and pack one of the biggest nutritional punches you’ll ever enjoy. The wraps include shredded purple cabbage, carrots, red bell pepper, sliced avocado, and alfalfa sprouts, and a delicious tahini-based dressing that ties everything together. Feel free to swap out ingredients for others that you either have in your fridge, or ones that you enjoy better. Just make sure that the ingredients you use are cleanse-approved, provided you are cleansing.

The trick for wraps is rolling them without breaking the collard green leaves. In order to roll the collard leaves easily, remove the thick stems. Not only does this allow for even rolling, but it also gets rid of a bitter, unpleasant, fibrous bite. To do this, simply use your knife to cut away the thick stem at the bottom of the leaf. You can also shave off the back part of the stem that runs slightly up the leaf, creating a flatter surface for rolling.

Now if rolling the leaves proves too difficult, you can always turn these wraps into tacos. That said, they are much easier to eat as wraps; not to mention, a lot less messy. The choice is yours and we don’t judge over here. The important thing is that you are making a great decision (and a healthy one at that) to enjoy this recipe as your next entree!

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Get ready to make one of the easiest salads you will ever prepare. It’s a halfway point between a salad and guacamole, but one thing is for certain: it is undeniably delicious. Plus, it is filled with healthy fats and fiber, two things that work to fill you up. That is very important if you are participating in our Full Body Cleanse, because you want to avoid those feelings of intense hunger as much as possible. Fill up on deliciousness and fresh, whole foods that offer an assortment of antioxidants and nutrients when you enjoy this refreshing spring salad.

The great thing about this recipe is that it comes together in about five to 10 minutes, and you don’t have to go the extra step to make a special dressing. Simply combine the ingredients in a bowl and serve. It makes for a great entree salad (if you are cleansing) or a wonderful appetizer or side dish. Another bonus of this avocado salad is that it contains many colors of the rainbow. If you are familiar with Dherbs, you know that we preach the concept of eating the rainbow. This essentially means that you should eat as many different colored fruits and vegetables as possible in order to obtain a wide variety of antioxidant compounds.

This easy salad calls for just six ingredients: avocado, cherry tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and lime juice. You can season the salad with sea salt and pepper, but we don’t count those as ingredients. If you don’t have sea salt and pepper in your kitchen, it’s time to level up, folks. Additionally, you can sub out the bell pepper for diced mango or strawberry if you want to add a tropical element to this salad.

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If ever there was a juice that screamed, “Summer is here,” it would be this watermelon cherry and berry beet juice. Did we create this juice because we had some leftover ingredients lying around? In truth, yes, but we are so glad that we used what we had! Sometimes, challenging yourself with the ingredients you have can yield tremendous creations, such as this refreshing, summery juice. Plus, the rich crimson color makes this juice quite the appetizing beverage.

One of the great things about this juice is that it aids your hydration efforts. Watermelon has a high water content and offers a lot of vitamin C, just like the strawberries, beets, and cherries. Now, if you don’t enjoy strawberries, you can opt for raspberries instead, but they may cause the juice to taste more tart. That is also true for the cherries that you choose, as some varieties are sweet while others are more sour (hence the name sour cherry juice). Just make sure that you pit the cherries prior to processing them through your juicer.

There is definitely a red trend for this watermelon cherry and berry beet juice recipe. It’s great to embrace the different colors of the rainbow when it comes to your diet. The “eat the rainbow” motto helps you get a diverse mix of antioxidants and polyphenols, many of which you will not get if you only eat a select number of fruits and vegetables. Beets, for example, contain betanin, which gives them their deep red pigment and may be responsible for some of the health benefits.

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What a great side dish for the upcoming holiday season! These roasted rainbow carrots with maple tahini dressing boast big time flavors!

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Red cabbage is a beautiful, vibrant cruciferous vegetable that is naturally rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. We absolutely love to incorporate it into as many recipes as possible because it is so much more than a colorful addition to salads. While it is important to eat the rainbow, you also have to feature those rainbow colors, making them more than an afterthought.

For this recipe, the way you slice the cabbage is very important. Because purple cabbage can have a slightly bitter flavor profile, you don’t want large, thick slices; rather, you want super thin slices. For this reason, using a mandoline slicer can be a great way to achieve even, thin slices. If you have great knife skills, go off and show us your skills! Otherwise, slicing cabbage in a food processor is another viable option.

Even if your cabbage slices aren’t paper thin, the sweetness of the other ingredients will balance the flavor. Carrots, dried cranberries, and apples all exhibit sweeter flavor profiles, which create a nice balance in this slaw. Then you have the nuttiness from the walnuts to hit every corner of the flavor spectrum. Just make sure that the walnuts are raw and the dried cranberries are free of preservatives and added sugars.

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In order to obtain a wide variety of antioxidants, health professionals recommend that you eat the rainbow. This is the concept of eating fruits and vegetables of all different colors to have a perfectly balanced diet. Although eating the rainbow is a popular health mantra, you may not know why it’s so important. Well, the different colors exhibit different nutrients and aligning health properties. The more colors you eat, the more varied your nutritional intake is. 

Benefits Of Eating The Rainbow

Some produce items may exhibit more vitamin C than others, while others boast lots of fiber. Plant-based foods are rich in essential vitamins and minerals, but their colorful flesh is where some of the more impressive nutrients exist. Produce items contain different pigments, or phytonutrients, that give them their signature colors, and certain fruits and vegetables have higher levels of specific nutrients than others. Red indicates a high presence of lycopene, while blue and purple indicate the presence of anthocyanins. 

A study that consisted of over 77,000 people found that those who consumed the most flavonoid-rich foods had a 20% lower risk of cognitive decline than those who ate the least. The same study found that people who ate the most anthocyanins (found in blue and purple foods) experienced a 24% lower risk of cognitive decline. Finally, people who at the most flavones (found in orange and yellow foods) had a 38% lower risk of decline than those who ate the lowest amount of these foods. 

How To Eat The Rainbow

Eating the rainbow is an excellent way to improve your overall health, but how do you do it? If you aren’t very experimental with food, this can prove difficult. If you want to eat the rainbow, it’s best to incorporate two to three different-colored fruits or vegetables at every meal. Enhance your efforts by eating a different color for every snack. Eating all of the colors every single day isn’t necessary, but it’s best to include all the colors a couple times per week. Below, you’ll find several tips on how to enjoy a more colorful diet. 

Try New Things

It can be difficult to leave your comfort zone, especially in regards to food. Next time you go to the grocery store or farmer’s market, though, fill your cart with at least one new fruit or vegetable. It’s easier to try new foods if you pick them out yourself. The whole family can benefit if you like the foods! Consider trying a papaya, dragonfruit, golden kiwi, broccolini, golden beet, or rainbow chard. 

Throw Something New In Your Smoothie

Be it ginger, turmeric, grapefruit, beets, carrots, or persimmon, adding different produce items to your smoothie is great way to introduce new colors to your diet. Additionally, changing your flavor combinations keeps your taste buds interested in smoothies. Varying your flavors is easy when you incorporate new ingredients into your smoothies. We have many smoothie recipes with different ingredients that you can view by clicking here. 

Prepare Them Differently

Don’t let yourself get stuck in a fruit and vegetable rut. When you get bored of produce items, you are less likely to continue eating them. Don’t bore your taste buds by steaming cauliflower every time you want to eat it. Cut it into thick steaks and throw them on the grill. Roast the entire cauliflower heat and smother it in a tahini-based sauce. Alternatively, use cauliflower rice as a grain replacement. A great way to incorporate new vegetables like snap peas, green beans, or bok choy is by making a vegetable stir-fry. You can also eat vegetables that you normally cook in their raw form and vice versa. 

Rethink Your Desserts

It’s very easy to incorporate different fruits and herbs into your dessert recipes. Frozen grapes make a great sweet treat to end the day, but they are also an excellent snack on a hot day. You can freeze different fruits overnight and blend them into a sorbet, using bananas for optimal creamy texture. Don’t like desserts? Make carrots and hummus or bell peppers and guacamole for healthy snacks. You can also snack on apple slices and almond butter!

Eat A Rainbow-Inspired Dish

Some dishes naturally have a diverse ingredient list, a melting pot of vegetables if you will. Stews, soups, stir-fries, Buddha bowls, smoothies, and salads are excellent vehicles for colorful ingredients. The possibilities are endless and there are so many recipes on the Internet that focus on the model of eating. 

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Are you familiar with the concept of “eating the rainbow?” Many health experts endorse this way of eating, which incorporates as many different-colored vegetables and fruits into your diet. While you don’t have to consume a fruit of vegetable from every color of the rainbow in the same day, it is beneficial to consume all colors at least twice a week. This helps you vary your nutritional intake, specifically your phytonutrient intake. Phytonutrients are flavonoids or carotenoids that exhibit powerful antioxidant activity.

If you are new to the concept of eating the rainbow, it can be difficult to figure out how to incorporate new fruits and vegetables into the dishes you make. Salads and smoothies are excellent vegetables to include a wide variety of produce items. In the case of this salad, we include an assortment of colorful fruits and vegetables. It may not include all of the colors of the rainbow, but ticks about four or five off the list.

In addition to the different colors, this salad embraces different textures. Spiralize the zucchini, peel the carrots into ribbons, shred the cabbage, halve the cherry tomatoes, and slice the red leaf lettuce. You have the option to top your salad with chopped raw walnuts and pomegranate, both of which provide unique flavors and textures. Ultimately, the citrus-forward lemon vinaigrette ties everything together. It’s both sweet and tangy, making you want to keep digging in bite after bite. We hope you love this salad!

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There are some salads that you can eat over and over again, and this is one of those salads. Whether you want to fill up for lunch or dinner, this salad is an excellent option. It’s incredibly nutritious and filled with protein, healthy fats, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. After gobbling up a big bowl, you’ll feel full without the accompanying bloated feeling that nobody wants to experience.

This salad hits a variety of different, flavorful notes. Tangy bell peppers, crunchy cucumbers, creamy avocado (plus the creamy dressing), pungent onions, acidic tomatoes, and crisp romaine lettuce. What ties all of these ingredients together, you ask? Well, it all comes down to the addictive avocado-based dressing. With notes of robust cumin and tangy lime juice, you can’t imagine this salad without this dressing. It’s so good that you could drink it!

The great thing about this dressing is that you can always make it for other salads. Once you taste it, you’ll understand our obsession. Because the dressing contains healthy fats and fiber, it actually contributes to feelings of fullness. You’ll be less likely to snack between meals when you fill up on healthy fats and fiber. Plus, fiber is essential for optimizing gut health, which is a highly-discussed and valued topic in the current health world. Lastly, this salad contains an assortment of colorful vegetables, which means it’s rich in a diverse mix of antioxidants. These plant compounds are necessary for fighting free radicals in the body, helping to reduce oxidative stress, something that contributes to chronic inflammation and disease.

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Fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other dietary plants are rich in various chemical compounds and antioxidants. Researchers continue to find evidence that focusing on these types of foods is the best way to protect against oxidative stress and inflammation. Plant antioxidants may be the most beneficial nutrients for your health, but people don’t seem to get enough of them. 

What Are Antioxidants?

Have you ever thought, “What makes a tomato red?” Well, the natural pigments that give fruits and vegetables their unique colors act as antioxidants. These are compounds that help to encourage cell health and inhibit oxidation, a process that results from excess free radical accumulation. Free radicals can damage the cells in the body and antioxidants counteract this damage by stabilizing cells. By eating foods that are rich in antioxidants, you help protect the body from conditions like heart disease, eye diseases, and even cancer. 

As a general point, antioxidants work to slow damage to cells in the body. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of antioxidants, but there are antioxidant supplements. Health experts agree that the antioxidants in fresh produce are better because they have not been synthesized in a lab. Although there are many antioxidant-rich foods in the world, the following eight foods are some of the best reliable sources.

Blackberries

The phenolic compounds, gallic acid and ellagic acid, in blackberries exhibit potent antioxidant activity. Blackberries are also rich sources of proanthocyanidins, catechins, luteolin, and anthocyanins, according to a 2012 study. That study analyzed three types of berries: blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries. While blackberries had less antioxidant capacity than blueberries, they did have more than strawberries. 

Spinach

Spinach is a low calorie leafy green vegetables that packs a powerful nutritional punch. The lutein in spinach, which is a potent carotenoid that makes carrots orange, may help promote eye health. Several reports found that lutein may help reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration. Lutein functions as an antioxidant as well, meaning spinach may help improve heart health, according to a 2018 study. 

Granny Smith Apples

These tart green apples are freshest during autumn, but you can enjoy them year round. They contain phenolic compounds, including quercetin, catechin, and epicatechin. Per an August 2015 study, one Granny Smith apple contains 3% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of manganese and 4.7 grams of fiber. Granny Smiths are common in fall dessert recipes, but enjoy them fresh to enjoy their full nutritional profile. 

Potatoes

Potatoes may not be at the top of your antioxidant list because people associate them with carbs. Although there are unhealthy variations of the potato, including chips and french fries, they actually exhibit a wide variety of antioxidants. To get the most antioxidants, it’s best to choose colorful potatoes, including yams or purple and red potatoes. A 2016 study found that antioxidants in potatoes may help to reduce the risk of heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases. 

Broccoli

Similar to other leafy green vegetables, broccoli has a diverse nutritional profile. Broccoli is rich in protein, fiber, calcium, and phenolic compounds, which are chemicals that plants produce. Phenolic compounds help to fight against oxidative stress because they are high in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties. A 2014 study found that broccoli’s phenolic compounds may fight back against inflammation, allergies, and other diseases. 

Cranberries

According to the USDA, cranberries are one of the top fruit sources of antioxidants. The antioxidant capacity per cup is 8,983, coming in just shy of the antioxidant capacity of blueberries. Cranberries contain numerous polyphenols, including the flavonoids catechin and anthocyanin. Catechin is currently under review for its potential ability to prevent or reduce the risk of cancer. 

Red Kidney Beans

In general, beans are rich sources of antioxidants. Red kidney beans happen to contain anthocyanins and other polyphenol antioxidants, according to an October 2016 study. Flavonoids can affect cell signaling and exhibit anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and neuroprotective properties in in-vitro studies. In addition to the antioxidant content, red kidney beans are also rich in fiber, protein, and manganese.

Blueberries

You cannot have an article about antioxidants and exclude blueberries. They are some of the best sources of antioxidants, but they also have nutrients that maintain a healthy brain, heart, and bones. A 2019 study found that eating one cup of blueberries per day for six months reduced the risk of heart disease by 12-15%. A previous 2015 study found a diet rich in blueberries reduces the risk of cancer cell growth, diabetes, and heart disease. 

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