New Nutritional Guidelines Flip the Food Pyramid: Adm. Christine on Why It Matters for America

And we'll discuss that new footage with our panel later in the show. Right now, real food, better protein, and gold standard science could curb chronic disease and even strengthen our national security. Joining us now to assess is the assistant secretary for health, Admiral Brian Christine. >> Admiral Christine, thanks so much for joining. >> Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here tonight. Thank you, Lance. >> It's great to have you. So, the new nutrition guidelines, they're emphasizing eating uh what's called real food, uh nutrientdense diets. So, how would you define real food for the average American? >> No, Steve, thank you for asking that. And let me say first off, let me say I want to acknowledge a thank you to President Trump, a thank you to Secretary Kennedy, and a thank you to Secretary Rollins at USDA because without their leadership, without their guidance, and without their inspiration, we wouldn't have these new dietary guidelines. These guidelines turn what's come before on its head. We flipped the pyramid, if you will. We now are emphasizing whole nutrientdense foods. We are emphasizing high quality sources of protein, beef and chicken and fish and eggs. We're emphasizing fresh fruits and vegetables. And what we're doing that's radically different is saying highly processed, highly refined sugary foods have no place in our diet. And that's different than probably what you and I were brought up on. >> I mean, it's it's truly remarkable. It's not a paradigm shift. It's literally a flip upside down. uh that pyramid that we all remember like you said when we were young. Uh according to the CDC, nearly 90% of health care uh spending goes toward treating chronic disease. More than 70% of American adults are overweight or obese. Uh that's as opposed to preventing. How did we end up here? >> Steve, that's a great question and thank you for asking that. And you're right. The statistics on chronic disease in this country, obesity, diabetes, what's called metabolic syndrome, these these statistics are staggering. They're such that the majority of our young men in this country, let's say 15, 16, 17 years old, couldn't even they couldn't even perform military service because of these problems like obesity. And we've led them that way with pri prior dietary guidelines. Again, what these guidelines are going to do is, as you said, turn things on its head. but in a way that's going to make this country healthier and greater than she's ever been. This is the vision. This is the strength of Secretary Kennedy leading us forward. >> Prior to the Trump administration, what would you say was sort of the biggest misconception that we've had as a society when it comes to nutrition and lifestyle? And how is the Trump administration thinking differently about health policy and chronic disease compared to previous administrations? I think one of the biggest differences, Steve, is a is a commitment in this administration and this uh Department of Health and Human Services of radical transparency. In other words, what Secretary Kennedy has said, and this is promise made, promise delivered, is we do things with radical transparency and the highest grade science that one can imagine. If you look at our new dietary guidelines, they are backed by truly gold standard science. Everything that we are saying is backed up by science. Everything that we are saying can be reviewed by the average man or woman, particularly with the documents that we've produced. That's radical transparency. That's a basis upon gold standard science. That's what the president and the secretary have tasked us to do. That's what these guidelines do. >> I want to get your thoughts, Admiral, on uh sugar. You know, everybody loves sugar to a certain extent. And you know, I suppose it is to what extent? Um we know that there's studies uh as to how uh you know consuming too much sugar can lead to diabetes even uh not good for cancer. How prominent and pervasive is sugar in the American diet and how do you see us addressing that? >> Highly refined foods, sugary foods unfortunately are present way too much in the diet of many Americans. Part of part of that is because certainly proprietary guidelines have not really said what we have said. Listen, we speak truth here in these guidelines. We recommend no added sugar. Okay? That's what we say. We don't beat around the bush on this. We say no added sugar particularly for our children for reasons like you are stating. What we are saying is no added sugar. We say eat good protein. We really emphasize protein in this diet. High quality protein. We aren't afraid of saturated fat for instance in this. We understand that if someone is eating a steak that has a nice bit of marbling to it, or eating a piece of salmon that has high quality fats in it, we're not afraid of those things. We advocate for those things. Those are going to make our body stronger, more resilient to chronic disease, and are going to make us healthier than we've ever been. >> Now, these dietary guidelines, they're not just about personal wellness. They actually affect productivity, health care costs, even uh our nation's resilience. Why should uh the American people view nutrition as an issue of national prosperity or even national security? >> No, Steve, great. Again, great question. Like I said, and Secretary Hegsf has pointed this out. We have the majority of our young men in this country who would not be fit to serve in the military couldn't pass ent entrance exams because of obesity or some other chronic disease problem. So yes, this is a national defense issue. In terms of dollars spent, some people will say, "Well, it's just too expensive to eat in a healthy fashion." That is a lie. That is a lie from the past. Yeah. Go out, spend $7 on a quarter pounder or spend5$5 on a pound of ground beef that has some fat in it that's healthy fat and you can make four or five or six patties. It's not that you can't eat healthily. You can. What has happened in the past with prior administration is there's no question that they've said, "Oh, well, you know what? It's too expensive to eat healthy, so we're just going to shove garbage food, fake food, down your throat and tell you to eat that." That's a lie in the past. That's a lie that we've pointed out. We speak truth. >> Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Brian Christine, thank you so much for joining. >> Thank you and have a very blessed day and evening.