Ep 363 - What Everyone's Getting Wrong About New Dietary Guidelines
Iron Culture presented by MASS
The MASS Crew
4.8 • 874 Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 105 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Iron Culture, Eric Helms and Eric Trexler discuss the recent changes to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) and the implications of these updates. They begin by addressing the shift in their podcast schedule, emphasizing the importance of mental health and balance in their work. The conversation then transitions into a detailed analysis of the new dietary guidelines, highlighting the complexities of the process behind their formulation. Helms critiques the influence of corporate interests and the political landscape on the DGAs, while also acknowledging the positive aspects of the new recommendations, particularly the increased emphasis on protein intake. The hosts explore the historical context of dietary guidelines, the evolution of public health messaging, and the challenges of effectively communicating nutritional advice to the public. In this episode, Eric Helms and MASS Research delve into the complexities of the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), discussing the implications of the visual representation of food groups and the recommendations for protein, fats, and processed foods. They critique the new guidelines for their lack of clarity and potential confusion, particularly regarding the emphasis on whole foods versus processed foods. The conversation highlights the disconnect between the written guidelines and their visual representation, which may mislead the public about healthy eating patterns. They also explore the political influences on these guidelines and how they may affect vulnerable populations, particularly in school lunch programs and social assistance programs.
If you're in the market for some lifting gear or apparel, be sure to check out EliteFTS.com (and use our code "MRR10" for a 10% discount)
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Schedule Changes
07:15 The Dietary Guidelines Controversy
20:56 Understanding the Formation of Dietary Guidelines
32:30 The Influence of Food Industries on Guidelines
33:38 The Role of the Second Committee
43:49 Changes in Protein Recommendations
44:19 The Inverted Pyramid and Dietary Miscommunication
59:55 Understanding Fats in the New Guidelines
01:09:17 The Role of Full-Fat Dairy in Heart Health
01:15:06 Alcohol Consumption: New Guidelines Explained
01:21:52 Processed Foods and Public Health Implications
01:25:03 The Impact of Dietary Guidelines on Vulnerable Populations
01:30:34 Conclusions and Future Directions in Nutrition Guidelines
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | What's up everybody? Welcome back to Iron Culture. It is me. Eric Trexler joined as always by the Dr. Eric Helms Helms. How are we doing tonight? |
| 0:15.3 | To be honest, I am in a position of great despair and guilt because this is the probably I think hitting rock bottom |
| 0:25.7 | I know we've hit rock bottom before in Iron Culture but this is like you know that we're tumbling down |
| 0:30.8 | a mountain and maybe now we're at the bottom of it it's not Monday it's not Monday And here we are. So there was commitments made over the |
| 0:41.7 | course of the, you know, almost seven year history of iron culture that we'd be here every |
| 0:45.6 | single Monday until the end of the world. And we're just blatantly breaking it. And that is |
| 0:51.5 | unfortunate. But I would just ask everyone all of the longstanding Iron Culture fans to give us a little bit of grace because this is actually an act of us trying to pull Trexler back from the depths of overworking himself to the bone. |
| 1:08.0 | So he doesn't have to do two podcasts on the same pay both front page |
| 1:11.6 | fitness and iron culture but this is the day we're going to be recording moving forward |
| 1:15.8 | and our schedule's changing a little bit uh and we sincerely apologize do you think i i |
| 1:20.9 | groveled sufficiently trucks yeah i think uh long time listeners will be confused over the uh you know uh self flagellating |
| 1:32.0 | apology for saying by the way we're going to do a different night uh and changing it by exactly |
| 1:36.8 | 24 hour or not exactly but changing it by about 24 hours i i think uh as as far as it goes with |
| 1:44.0 | uh free weekly content uh years, I feel like it's a |
| 1:48.8 | pretty good bargain and we've built up enough equity that people will arguably be okay |
| 1:54.5 | tuning in one day later. And of course, a large percentage of people view it late anyway. |
| 2:00.6 | And so they will experience literally no |
| 2:02.6 | change in their their viewing pattern uh how dare you suggest that some people are not |
| 2:07.6 | that the entirety of the iron culture following is not live with us right now i know we have i haven't |
| 2:13.7 | checked the youtube metrics but i'm assuming 10,000 people currently watching. |
| 2:18.4 | You would be surprised. |
| 2:20.9 | So I would encourage you not, that's not a kind of surprise you want in your life. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The MASS Crew, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The MASS Crew and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.