RFK Jr.’s new dietary guidelines recommend protein, full-fat dairy, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains at every meal. The slogan “Eat real food” is a mantra embraced by his circle of influencers.
RFK Jr. releases new dietary guidelines
Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced new dietary guidelines and said his message was clear: “Eat real food.”
WASHINGTON – Get ready for a meal with sauerkraut.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tests his culinary skills with celebrity chefs to motivate Americans to eat healthily.
President Kennedy will launch a new cooking series, “The Real Food Show,” on July 30 to introduce new dietary guidelines for Americans to provide affordable meals that are easy to prepare at home, President Kennedy said in an exclusive sit-down interview with USA TODAY.
The Health Ministry secretary, who is an evangelist of fermented foods and once brought his personal stash of sauerkraut into restaurants, said the recipe features kimchi, sauerkraut and yogurt.
As he prepares to change the way Americans eat, the Secretary of Health and Human Services also spoke about cooking with family as an antidote to loneliness. his own eating habits (“I eat anything; I don’t have a gag reflex”); his status as a weight loss guru among members of Trump’s cabinet; and the eating habits his wife forbade when they went out to dinner.
New dietary guidelines released in January prioritize protein, full-fat dairy, vegetables, fruits and whole grains at every meal. The “eat real food” slogan that accompanies the new guidelines is an oft-repeated mantra among his influential circle, which includes boxing legend Mike Tyson.
“When we announced the dietary guidelines, there was an immediate positive response, but there was also some concern from the public and from critics that this food was much more expensive than the ultra-processed foods that we eat,” Kennedy said before the show began. “That’s not true.”
HHS says the program will show people how to prepare healthy meals at a cost of less than $5 per serving, whenever possible.
The first few episodes feature chefs Andrew Gruel and Robert Irvine. The program will be broadcast online here. In the first episode with Gruel, RFK Jr. creates a recipe for “Crispy Salmon Cake with Apples, White Beans, and Green Salad.”
President Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign, with its promise to combat childhood chronic disease by reducing environmental toxins, ultra-processed foods and “overmedicalization,” is finding common ground among a bipartisan group of voters, primarily known as MAHA moms.
“Americans have forgotten how to cook.”
Kennedy said the show can teach people that cooking at home is cheaper and healthier.
“Fast food isn’t cheap either. Meals cost $12 to $14,” he said. “People can eat cheaper, more delicious food at home. But many Americans have forgotten how to cook. Cooking is becoming a lost art.”
Part of the job of President Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services is to “reintroduce” cooking to Americans, he said.
More than half of men and nearly three-quarters of women regularly cook at home, according to a 2023 study published in the American Academy of Nutrition’s peer-reviewed journal, State of Nutrition.
“Sacred ritual” to break isolation
President Kennedy said cooking is not just a way to get good nutrition, but a “sacred ritual that has been abandoned.”
“There is a sense of malaise in this country and widespread isolation,” he said.
Addiction is a disease of isolation and disconnection, he said.
“And one of the ways we can start connecting people again is through the sacred ritual of cooking again, creating something beautiful and useful with our families and sitting down and enjoying it with them.”
Practices what he preaches: Kennedy cooks two meals a day
The Secretary of Health and Human Services was quick to admit that his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, is the best cook in the family.
President Kennedy said he cooks two “rudimentary” meals a day, but that his wife is “a much better cook.”
When they are together or when the kids come home, Hines takes over Skillet.
“She loves to cook and she loves to bake,” he said. “She’s a very, very good cook.”
His repertoire consists of eggs, bacon, cheeseburgers, and hamburgers.
“I can make a really good omelet,” Kennedy said, adding that he learned that from Chef Gruel. “And my specialty is steak, meat, and fish.”
Here are some ways to eat sauerkraut
Kennedy, known as a lover of fermented foods, used to make his own sauerkraut and bring it to restaurants.
“I used to carry one, but I got too many complaints,” he told USA TODAY.
When asked if it was from other customers, Kennedy replied, “Mostly my wife. It’s hard to carry it around without spilling it. And if you spill it, you have other problems.”
He doesn’t make it himself either.
“I use store-bought sauerkraut,” he said. Then the Secretary of the Ministry of Health explained the correct way to eat it.
“Eating one bite at a time is the way to eat,” he says. “You take a bite of meat, you take a bite of sauerkraut. It’s kind of the prescribed perfect way of eating. You know, I don’t get it perfect every time I try it.”
Trump Cabinet weight loss guru
Kennedy isn’t the only one on a “meat and fermented foods” diet. He said other supporters include Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.
He said they all lost weight through dieting.
How does it feel to be the weight loss coach in Trump’s cabinet? “It was a lot of pressure,” he said with a laugh.
“I’ll literally eat anything.”
When asked what the most exotic food he’s ever eaten, Kennedy replied, “I’ll literally eat anything, because I don’t have a gag reflex.”
“I love experimenting with food,” he said. “When I travel, I eat street food.”
Kennedy may be a carnivore diet fan, but she’s also tried a vegan diet several times.
But it never lasted long.
“I felt an atavistic craving for protein,” he said.
His wife joked that it lasted all 24 hours.
“I’ve done everything I can to get the kitchen ready and all that, but I can’t keep going for very long,” he said. “I feel hungry all the time.”
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. You can follow her at X @SwapnaVenugopal..
