Episode 257: The New Food Pyramid vs. The Old MyPlate

0:00:11.7 Mike Vacanti: Hello, Jordan.

0:00:12.4 Jordan Syatt: What’s up, Michael?

0:00:13.2 Mike Vacanti: You got sick.

0:00:15.4 Jordan Syatt: Dude, insanely sick. I’m still insanely sick. I was just telling you, my watch gives me a training readiness every morning after a night of sleep. And I didn’t sleep at all last night just because I was coughing the whole night. And my watch told me it was a one. The lowest score has ever been, just a one.

0:00:34.0 Mike Vacanti: One out of 100.

0:00:35.2 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Not good at all.

0:00:37.7 Mike Vacanti: Oh my gosh!

0:00:38.4 Jordan Syatt: It’s really bad. Just because I didn’t sleep. Every time I’m about to go to sleep, I just keep coughing.

0:00:41.9 Mike Vacanti: The silver lining is that watch works.

0:00:44.5 Jordan Syatt: It definitely works. It knows what’s going on.

0:00:46.5 Mike Vacanti: I’m sorry, dude.

0:00:47.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. It’s crazy. How are you feeling? Are you better?

0:00:49.6 Mike Vacanti: I’m on the mend. It’s like the three-week mark has me feeling like 95 plus percent.

0:00:56.8 Jordan Syatt: Oh, good. Okay. So you’re almost there.

0:00:59.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah.

0:01:00.4 Jordan Syatt: Good.

0:01:01.0 Mike Vacanti: And we’re headed down to Florida tomorrow for 10 days of UV, so that will also help.

0:01:06.1 Jordan Syatt: That’s going to be amazing.

0:01:07.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. That’ll finish it off, that sunlight.

0:01:10.1 Jordan Syatt: Get out of Minnesota.

0:01:12.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Little winter escape.

0:01:15.1 Jordan Syatt: Good, good.

0:01:16.5 Mike Vacanti: What else is happening other than just grinding this illness?

0:01:19.8 Jordan Syatt: My training and nutrition have been terrible just because I’ve been so sick.

0:01:25.2 Mike Vacanti: What have you been doing?

0:01:26.5 Jordan Syatt: So the sickness comes and goes in waves. Like the worst is at night with coughing. So during the day, I’m relatively okay. I still am coughing, but I’ll get my steps in most days. There have been some days where my steps were at like 500 just because I’m sick. It’s just horrible. But in days where it’s good, I’ll get my steps in. I’ll do some light strength training and stuff. But the nutrition has just been, I can’t stomach protein. I just can’t. So I’m literally just having carbs, just bagels and pita chips. It’s all I can do.

0:02:07.5 Mike Vacanti: Like comfort-ish food?

0:02:09.9 Jordan Syatt: No. I consider comfort food like higher fat, like lasagna type of a comfort food. But I can’t eat that. I’m eating just…

0:02:20.7 Mike Vacanti: Liquid? You’re not a soup guy when you’re sick?

0:02:23.5 Jordan Syatt: I do like soup, but I like spicy soup, and so that can restrict your airways a little bit. So a lot of tea. Tea with honey. A lot of tea with honey.

0:02:35.1 Mike Vacanti: Nice.

0:02:35.6 Jordan Syatt: And just plain untoasted bagels and pita chips is all I can stomach right now.

0:02:43.5 Mike Vacanti: Protein shake?

0:02:44.6 Jordan Syatt: No. No way, dude.

0:02:46.0 Mike Vacanti: Just because it doesn’t… You don’t have stomach issues though. It just doesn’t sound good to you?

0:02:50.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I don’t have severe stomach issues. It’s more just like, ugh, I don’t want to be having that sit in my stomach right now. Especially with all the coughing. I don’t know.

0:03:00.2 Mike Vacanti: I could be wrong on this. Isn’t protein intake good for expediting recovery from an illness like this?

0:03:05.6 Jordan Syatt: It hasn’t been in any of the recommendations I’ve been finding on AI. Hasn’t recommended increase your protein intake at all.

0:03:12.8 Mike Vacanti: No, no, no, not increase. Definitely not. But zero compared to like 60 grams per day, for example.

0:03:18.9 Jordan Syatt: Oh, I’ve been getting 60. I’ll get 60 for sure.

0:03:22.8 Mike Vacanti: Well, that’s like your…

0:03:24.0 Jordan Syatt: They’re the tagalongs and stuff. And I’ll have like salmon here.

0:03:28.8 Mike Vacanti: 60 from bagels alone?

0:03:30.5 Jordan Syatt: I had some steak last night. I had a filet last night. So I guess that’s…

0:03:34.5 Mike Vacanti: You’re getting protein.

0:03:36.1 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, I’m getting protein.

0:03:36.7 Mike Vacanti: Not to mention you’re like… Has your stance on general amount of recommended daily protein come up since it hit the lowest, which was probably a couple years ago, or has it stayed there?

0:03:50.9 Jordan Syatt: No, it’s stayed there as like the floor. I do think there’s a lot of benefits to eating more than that, but the floor is still the floor.

0:04:00.3 Mike Vacanti: Cool. Well, hopefully you’re better ASAP because this is not fun.

0:04:06.5 Jordan Syatt: God willing, bro. It’s horrible.

0:04:08.6 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Let me bust out my list here.

0:04:12.0 Jordan Syatt: You got a big list?

0:04:13.1 Mike Vacanti: I do not. In fact, I have two things on my list.

0:04:19.5 Jordan Syatt: Oh, good. Okay.

0:04:20.9 Mike Vacanti: I’ll start with a 2026 fitness/nutrition goal of mine.

0:04:28.3 Jordan Syatt: Oh, okay.

0:04:29.8 Mike Vacanti: I’m going to go high food quality this year.

0:04:33.4 Jordan Syatt: I love that goal.

0:04:34.4 Mike Vacanti: I think there are some leaks in my diet that are potentially leading to reduced energy/general sense of well-being/probably performance/basically everything in life except, I mean, there will be an aesthetic payoff, but that’s 0% why I’m interested in this. I’ve just never really committed to eating almost exclusively “clean” like one ingredient foods only, basically.

0:05:09.3 Jordan Syatt: Wow.

0:05:10.4 Mike Vacanti: I shouldn’t say only. I should say like 90 plus percent of calories just to be realistic. But I’m interested in trying that approach for a period of time to see how I feel cognitively, in the gym, just ability to focus, how I’m feeling day to day.

0:05:32.7 Jordan Syatt: Is this like paleo? You going paleo on me?

0:05:35.1 Mike Vacanti: No. I don’t think I’m going paleo.

0:05:36.5 Jordan Syatt: Okay.

0:05:36.9 Mike Vacanti: I think I’m going… What am I going?

0:05:40.3 Jordan Syatt: Just early 2000s. Clean eating, bro.

0:05:44.9 Mike Vacanti: Here’s what it is. I make food choices out of convenience too often during the day. Like I have a set breakfast, three to four that I rotate that are great. And then we’re always having healthy dinners, so that’s not a concern. But during the day, I’ll just have more takeout, more like fast food.

0:06:09.3 Jordan Syatt: Like just casual?

0:06:09.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah.

0:06:10.8 Jordan Syatt: Okay.

0:06:11.4 Mike Vacanti: Or Chick-fil-A or… What’s something else around here that I’ll have? Even like a higher protein frozen type of meal and snacking. I could probably not snack during the day and add an extra meal. And I think that would be beneficial long term, probably to my health, but more importantly, and the reason I’m interested is like how I feel day to day.

0:06:46.4 Jordan Syatt: What are you snacking on usually? Like protein bars?

0:06:49.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah. I’ll probably have two to three protein bars a week.

0:06:55.3 Jordan Syatt: Like a MET-Rx.

0:06:56.4 Mike Vacanti: Love the MET-Rx. That’s been it. But you know, anything, Barebell, the Quest, going back years, like Quest chips. That’s just a terrible… I mean, look, it’s actually a great snack if your goal is to lose body fat. For 99% of people, getting 20 grams of protein with only five carb, five fat, you like hit that saltiness as a replacement for actual potato chips. It’s an unbelievable snack. This is like a, what I’m doing is not something I would recommend for basically anyone.

0:07:28.9 Jordan Syatt: Okay. So like what are you trying to add in?

0:07:32.5 Mike Vacanti: Just another meal that’s like something healthy. A big salad with a protein option. Beef, rice and fruits. It feels obvious to me and maybe I have to actually name them, but one ingredient foods.

0:07:54.1 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:07:54.5 Mike Vacanti: Fruit, vegetables, fish, meat.

0:07:57.4 Jordan Syatt: Dude, I love that. Amazing.

0:08:00.1 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:08:00.3 Jordan Syatt: That’s going to be a good 2026.

0:08:03.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:08:03.2 Jordan Syatt: Year clean eating.

0:08:05.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. I’m interested if… I’m very curious because I am a creature of habit and convenience is very tempting. So we’ll see. I’m not the most confident in this, but it’s something I’m interested in.

0:08:21.5 Jordan Syatt: You think it’s going to increase your energy and mental clarity?

0:08:24.2 Mike Vacanti: For sure. Yeah. I think I have a lot of, I wouldn’t say deficiencies micronutrient wise, but leaks basically, places where I’m far from optimal that I think will pay dividends.

0:08:39.2 Jordan Syatt: I like that. Good, dude. Let’s go.

0:08:41.7 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:08:42.2 Jordan Syatt: What about your training? Keeping it the same?

0:08:44.6 Mike Vacanti: Training is solid. Yeah. Training is good to go.

0:08:49.7 Jordan Syatt: Good.

0:08:50.2 Mike Vacanti: I’m not a big like change everything at one time guy either.

0:08:53.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Just one variable.

0:08:54.7 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah. Who knows? Maybe I’ll do the splits this year. Who knows?

0:08:58.5 Jordan Syatt: I’d be so furious if you mastered the splits before I did. I’d be so angry.

00:09:02.4 Mike Vacanti: What’s funny is, like the inverse of that I think would be motivating if I said that and you were in my shoes.

0:09:15.4 Jordan Syatt: What do you mean?

0:09:17.4 Mike Vacanti: I think if I said that about something, that would motivate you to want to do it. I’m not going to do the splits, but I want you to continue to do the splits.

0:09:26.8 Jordan Syatt: Oh, I will.

0:09:28.0 Mike Vacanti: Good. Good.

0:09:28.8 Jordan Syatt: Because I know you’re working on them in secret.

0:09:30.5 Mike Vacanti: Remember the time I tricked you?

0:09:31.6 Jordan Syatt: With Jiu Jitsu?

0:09:32.3 Mike Vacanti: No, with that picture.

0:09:34.0 Jordan Syatt: Oh, yeah. I was like, what the fuck? You sent me a picture where I couldn’t see your face or the guy’s face, but it looked like you. Yeah. I thought that was you. I was furious.

0:09:43.0 Mike Vacanti: What do you call that? A pancake?

0:09:45.8 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Pancake split.

0:09:47.1 Mike Vacanti: I was like, hey, man, just testing my range on these. Is this good? You like called me immediately.

0:09:53.7 Jordan Syatt: It was like a perfect pancake. It was just unbelievable. I was like, how the fuck are you doing that?

0:09:57.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any ’26 fitness related, it doesn’t even have to be goals, but just thoughts, I guess.

0:10:08.2 Jordan Syatt: I mean, aside from being sick, I feel like everything’s pretty good. Like my training is good, nutrition is good overall. I like my training right now. It’s fun. I have a good variety. I do want to start doing more Jiu Jitsu again. But, yeah. I mean, you’re going to laugh. You’re going to lose it when I say this. I’m obviously, with the security team and everything, really enjoying that stuff and we want to do more specific training for that. So we’re looking at renting out this space for CQB. I don’t know, which is like close quarter combat, basically. Where it’s like you go into a building and the way that police and SWAT and whatnot will train for like dealing with an active shooter in a building. They’ll often use airsoft guns to train how to go in and try and clear rooms. And so that’s not necessarily like strength and conditioning or flexibility or cardio, but it is tactical skill-based training that we’re looking to get into more so. Excited for that. But otherwise, no, not… Really keeping everything the same as it’s been last few years.

0:11:28.2 Mike Vacanti: That’s awesome. That can get lumped in here. Absolutely.

0:11:31.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:11:31.2 Mike Vacanti: Is the Jiu Jitsu just because you miss it or is it for more practical purposes because you want to be sharper on…

0:11:40.2 Jordan Syatt: A little bit of everything. I miss it. I think it’s so good for my brain. It’s just so good to just be really thinking in these more high-stakes situations while also improving your conditioning, improving your strength, and like very deliberate thought and very present in the moment. Not on your phone for an hour straight. Just a lot of high-level thinking. Well, high-level, high-intensity fitness is incorporated. It’s different than standard cardio when it’s almost mindless and you can watch TV or whatever. It’s different than standard strength training where you have rest periods and you can look on your phone and whatnot. And I would lump mobility into that as well. You do an intense set, then you can get on your phone, or you’re just walking around with a rest period. With Jiu Jitsu, it’s like an hour straight of no phone, intense cardio and very focused.

0:12:36.4 Mike Vacanti: Flow state.

0:12:37.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah. Very present.

0:12:39.3 Mike Vacanti: There’s probably some crossover there mentally between that and big wave surfing, except Jiu Jitsu is for a longer period of time. Any kind of high stakes, like you can’t be thinking about anything other than what you’re doing.

0:12:54.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

0:12:54.8 Mike Vacanti: Or you’re screwed.

0:12:56.0 Jordan Syatt: Big wave surfing, dude. Holy shit! I don’t know what made you think of that, but dear Lord, that stuff is crazy.

0:13:01.7 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah, it is.

0:13:03.2 Jordan Syatt: You look at the size of the human relative to the wave and you’re like, are you kidding me, dude?

0:13:08.4 Mike Vacanti: It’s scary.

0:13:09.0 Jordan Syatt: What the fuck is that? That is…

0:13:10.9 Mike Vacanti: Do you think that being where you live now compared to where you were before, like pre-move, or I guess pre-two moves ago, hurt your ability to be consistent with Jiu Jitsu or made it harder?

0:13:26.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, 100%. Just because I’m not as close to the academy and I think more than anything realistically, it’s having two kids and my priorities changing. That’s like, if I didn’t have kids, it would be way easier to justify getting out, going to class, all that. But really what started to slow it down was I was missing putting my daughters down to sleep at night so that I could make it to Jiu Jitsu. And I was like, I hate… I would be doing Jiu Jitsu and being like, shit, I wish I was putting them to sleep. And then that’s like, all right, I’m not doing this anymore. I don’t want to miss that.

0:14:05.5 Mike Vacanti: It’s not a trade you want to make.

0:14:07.1 Jordan Syatt: No. Not right now.

0:14:08.4 Mike Vacanti: All right. So more Jiu Jitsu in 2026.

0:14:11.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Back in the Jiu Jitsu world.

0:14:14.4 Mike Vacanti: I think for someone like you who, for example, going back to our airplane analogy, not analogy, our airplane story of what’s the longest you’ve ever sat and stared out the window of an airplane and pondered life. And you said 45. And I thought you were about to say minutes, and you said seconds, which at this point makes a ton of sense. I think certain people and certain brain types with long-distance cardio do get a lot of mental benefits from working through problems in their mind while they’re, whatever it is, running, swimming, just doing something for 45 minutes or an hour straight. Whereas for you, being able to be hyper-focused on something rather than just brain wandering is probably really good.

0:15:10.8 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I think that’s so true. Because if I’m doing even a longer run, which I’ll do outside, I’m listening to something. Like I’m listening to an audiobook or…

0:15:21.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Talking to someone.

0:15:22.8 Jordan Syatt: Dude, I’m actually listening to this very interesting audiobook right now. I just started it a few days ago. I’m not sure how I feel about it right away because it’s all about morality.

0:15:36.7 Mike Vacanti: Okay.

0:15:37.2 Jordan Syatt: I know you’re already like, what are they saying there is, there is subjective reality. I know where you’re going with it. Let me find the name of this.

0:15:47.4 Mike Vacanti: I didn’t go anywhere with it.

0:15:48.4 Jordan Syatt: I could see it in your face.

0:15:51.1 Mike Vacanti: It was an interesting…

0:15:53.2 Jordan Syatt: So, the name of the book is called “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.” And it’s by this researcher, Jonathan Haidt, or Haidt. I don’t know if I’m pronouncing it properly.

0:16:04.5 Mike Vacanti: Haidt. Is this a new book by him?

0:16:06.2 Jordan Syatt: No. So he wrote “The Anxious Generation.” I think “The Anxious Generation” came out after.

0:16:10.3 Mike Vacanti: Okay. So this was probably like pre-2015, I would imagine.

0:16:16.1 Jordan Syatt: March 3rd, 2012. March 13th, 2012. Yeah. Yep.

0:16:19.1 Mike Vacanti: Okay.

0:16:19.8 Jordan Syatt: I wrote something down that I think will describe what I understand of it so far. So, most of us believe we arrive at our opinions by thinking carefully and weighing evidence. Jonathan Haidt’s idea is that we don’t reason our way to moral beliefs. We feel our way there, and then we use reason to defend what we already believe.

0:16:50.4 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. There’s probably a lot of that in the world.

0:16:53.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Where people are just like, they… Because right now I’m still early on and he’s talking about how he’s done all the research before what he did, and then the research that he independently did across cultures, across genders, across socioeconomic statuses, and looking at how the train of thought around, okay, are we born with our moral beliefs? Are we taught our moral beliefs? Are they a mix of the two? Is it something that we just feel? It’s all these different thought processes. And I just thought it was very interesting the way that he’s been explaining it thus far in terms of just purely what he found, not in terms of what he believes yet, but in terms of what he found in terms of how people will sort of come to a conclusion based on whether something is moral or not, based on a combination of what they’ve been taught, what they’ve been told, what the societal norms are. And then how they’ll end up using their objective reasoning, what they believe to be their logical reasoning to defend what they believe, even if they can’t articulate it, even if they can’t say why they believe it, they’re just like, that’s wrong. And the way that he designed his studies, it seemed brilliant. But, yeah. Very interesting read thus far.

0:18:17.8 Mike Vacanti: You definitely threw me by leading with, I’m reading a book about morality.

0:18:22.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I could tell that your face had an expression where you’re like, where are you going with this?

0:18:26.7 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah.

0:18:29.6 Jordan Syatt: Why? What did you think?

0:18:31.9 Mike Vacanti: I don’t know that… I think that based on what you’re describing, and I’m almost positive I read the first chapter or two and returned it, it’s several years ago. It seems like it’s a lot more than just morality.

0:18:55.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Correct.

0:18:57.3 Mike Vacanti: Because, look, his work on social media and teenagers and all of the negative effects, I think he pioneered that field, basically. He’s probably the one seed of anyone who’s done work in that area. Yeah.

0:19:24.5 Jordan Syatt: You don’t like him.

0:19:25.3 Mike Vacanti: I love him. I think his work’s incredible. You confused me because you said, I’m reading a book about morality, and then you said, it’s written by Jonathan Haidt, who’s outwardly atheist, and you can’t… Those are two positions that are philosophically impossible to hold.

0:19:45.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I understand that. I think if what I understand of the book thus far is I think he’s leading towards getting to a point where how to have conversations with people who you might disagree with.

0:19:57.8 Mike Vacanti: Amazing.

0:19:58.5 Jordan Syatt: I think that is the cornerstone of the book, so you can better understand why people have arrived at the decisions they made or why they believe what they believe, and then how to actually have a legitimate conversation with them and understand where they’re coming from, rather than just battling it out. That’s where I think he’s coming from. And I can already see a little with just a little bit of the foreshadowing or from what I’m sort of assuming, we might have different beliefs on morality, but it’s also, for me, I’m like, okay, that’s fine. We can have different beliefs on that and then also talk about it. And I think that’s what he’s trying to get at with this book.

0:20:37.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. I mean, you see that in our big topic for today with the new food pyramid.

0:20:43.3 Jordan Syatt: Oh, man.

0:20:45.8 Mike Vacanti: What you described and/or what he is writing about, which is, you feel your way into your beliefs and opinions and then use evidence to justify them.

0:20:55.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Exactly.

0:20:58.3 Mike Vacanti: And crazy, he wrote this in 2012 because it’s probably more prominent now than it was then, 14 years ago.

0:21:06.1 Jordan Syatt: That’s exactly right. Yeah. With social media and all of that. That’s exactly right.

0:21:09.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Well, good, man. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. We’ll have to continue to get updates on anything good coming from that.

0:21:17.5 Jordan Syatt: Are you reading books 2026? Is this the year of the audiobooks?

0:21:20.7 Mike Vacanti: I’ve been audiobooking. Yeah.

0:21:22.1 Jordan Syatt: Oh, let’s go. Anything good or no? You don’t want to say anything?

0:21:26.5 Mike Vacanti: Just continuing to make my way through the Bible.

0:21:29.8 Jordan Syatt: Love it. Where are you right now?

0:21:31.8 Mike Vacanti: I’m deep. I’m deep. I just finished…

0:21:33.6 Jordan Syatt: Are you in the New Testament?

0:21:34.6 Mike Vacanti: I am. Yep.

0:21:35.6 Jordan Syatt: Oh, let’s go.

0:21:36.5 Mike Vacanti: Just finished 2 Corinthians.

0:21:40.0 Jordan Syatt: Okay. Is that before the Gospels? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?

0:21:45.4 Mike Vacanti: No. Well done, Jordan. Well done.

0:21:46.6 Jordan Syatt: You like that one?

0:21:47.0 Mike Vacanti: Well done. No, the Gospels open the New Testament.

0:21:52.9 Jordan Syatt: Oh, okay. Do you have a favorite, John?

0:21:55.3 Mike Vacanti: A favorite gospel?

0:21:56.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:21:57.7 Mike Vacanti: I think that John is the most popular favorite gospel, I would say. Funny enough, I had never read the Book of John prior to this read, where I’m just going straight through from Genesis to Revelation. Probably Matthew. Just because the Sermon on the Mount is such an unbelievable piece of, speaking of morality. Like. Yeah. I don’t even know what you would call it. Lessons, parables, teachings. Yeah. It is interesting though, the difference in style in the Book of John compared to the prior three Gospels, which I wasn’t aware of.

0:22:51.3 Jordan Syatt: Like, writing style?

0:22:53.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Writing style and just bringing more ideas into the picture. There’s a lot more repetition between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then more… I mean, there’s a lot of repetition, but then more new stories/new concepts in John.

0:23:12.4 Jordan Syatt: Oh, interesting.

0:23:12.8 Mike Vacanti: Was my take on my audiobook read through.

0:23:19.0 Jordan Syatt: I’m on social media a lot less lately, a lot less lately. But when I’ll go to people’s profile, I feel like I see in people’s Instagram bios, John quoted or referenced much more than anyone else. So sometimes people will put a chapter and a verse, like John this one, this one, or Luke this one, this one. I feel like I see John referenced more than all of the others combined.

0:23:54.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. There’s a bunch of very popular verses out of the book of John.

0:24:01.3 Jordan Syatt: Mm-hmm.

0:24:02.0 Mike Vacanti: Yes, sir. So that’s what I’ve been audiobooking.

0:24:04.3 Jordan Syatt: Good. Let’s go, man.

0:24:05.9 Mike Vacanti: Should we dive into this new food pyramid?

0:24:09.4 Jordan Syatt: Bro.

0:24:10.0 Mike Vacanti: Should we give a little background?

0:24:10.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I’ll tell what I told you, was it yesterday, the day before or something? I haven’t been on social media much at all since I’ve been sick, which has been great. But I went through one of my old Q&As and a number of people had asked me, what are your thoughts on the new food pyramid? And I haven’t seen any posts on it. When I’ve been on, my entire feed is all Iran and a little bit of Venezuela. That’s all I see right now. And so I haven’t seen any fitness content, which is great. I’m tired of seeing fitness content, so I haven’t seen. I didn’t know if anyone else has made posts about it or anything, but a lot of people were asking me. So I went to the website and I dug through everything and looked through the fine print and I really mainly paid attention to the outward facing imagery and then the text that accompanies it. I will say, when I first looked at it, I was very worried because I thought, before I even looked at it, I thought that there was going to be like, you should be drinking raw milk and you should never have seed oils. And I thought that was going to be on the pyramid. I thought this was going to be the major thing. And I was very happily surprised that no mention of raw milk, no mention of seed oils being bad. It was just outwardly facing, it was like, okay, so they flipped this thing upside down, and…

0:25:47.0 Mike Vacanti: The food pyramid from our childhood flipped upside down.

0:25:48.6 Jordan Syatt: From our childhood. Yeah. Yep. So they got rid of the MyPlate, which, to be fair, I actually really like the imagery of the MyPlate. I was like, I think that the MyPlate is a great, easy to understand visual for people.

0:26:02.5 Mike Vacanti: And we can throw that on the screen.

0:26:04.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I like the MyPlate a lot in terms of the visual aspect of it, but they went back to the pyramid. Cool, whatever. Not a big deal in my opinion. I know some people were furious about it. But huge emphasis on protein, huge emphasis on high quality fats, huge emphasis on food quality. Huge emphasis on whole grains, which I thought they were going to get rid of grains completely. I thought they were going to say like, no grains, no carbs, just carnivore, really. I thought that was mainly it.

0:26:40.7 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. I thought no carbs was a real possibility on there.

0:26:44.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. And it was a big emphasis on vegetables. I didn’t expect that. I thought they were going to, you don’t need vegetables, they’re bad. And realistically, it was a very well-balanced, healthy, high quality diet. There were some things I didn’t like. For example, I don’t think they needed to put butter on there. I was like, why? You don’t need to put butter on the… It shouldn’t be in the pyramid. I was like, all right, that’s unnecessary. I think that they put too much of an emphasis on high-fat dairy. I think that lower-fat or no-fat dairy, you get all the benefits of dairy without the extra calories and without the extra fat. And you could get higher quality… But it also did have olive oil, nut seeds. It had other great sources of fat. But I was like, we don’t need the butter, we don’t need to emphasize high-fat dairy. So those were the things that stood out to me in the imagery which I addressed in my post. But other than that, I was like, honestly, it’s pretty good. And there was even a note on the pyramid that was saying, is this a strict diet? And I’ll read it. I’ll read you what this note said. I highlighted this as well. I thought it was… I was shocked that it said this. It says, is the new pyramid a strict diet? It says, no. The new pyramid is a flexible framework meant to guide better choices, not dictate exact meals.

0:28:08.0 Jordan Syatt: It supports cultural traditions, personal preferences, and different lifestyles while reinforcing one core goal, eat real foods most of the time. I was like, that’s fucking awesome. How can anyone hate on that? This is great. It’s not saying it’s end-all, be-all. You can incorporate any of the foods that you regularly incorporate within your culture, your religion, your beliefs. There were no pictures of things like plant-based proteins, but it did mention animal and plant-based proteins are great. I know some people are like, yeah, it would have been better if they included pictures of tofu. And that’s fine. But also tofu, a picture of tofu just looks like a block. It’s not as easy to draw tofu as it is to draw an apple or a turkey or whatever it is. So, either way, I thought, all in all, it was very good. And then I posted it and…

0:29:05.2 Mike Vacanti: Was this on your stories or your feed?

0:29:06.9 Jordan Syatt: On my stories. Thank God it was on my stories. My feed would have been a shit show. Because then I start getting all the messages privately. And the first message I got was from an RD, a registered dietitian. And she was like, thank you so much for posting this, because I felt the exact same way. But I’ve seen a lot of my colleagues here in the fitness industry just bashing them and saying how horrible they are. And I can’t really wrap my mind around it because this is all really good stuff. And they’re not that different than the previous recommendations. Like, they’re not that different. And then I posted that and I was like, I just said, I was like, if anyone’s bashing these, they’re really just looking for views. They’re not really that upset about it.

0:29:52.5 Jordan Syatt: And then the floodgates opened and people were like, I bashed them. I bashed them. They’re bullshit. And all these different angry messages started coming in, and people were like, saying a whole bunch of different things. Number one, they were saying, my issue is that they’re framing this as completely different than before, and they’re not that different. And I was like, yeah, that’s a fair criticism. Like, if you go to the website, they do frame them as completely different than before, and they’re really not that different. So that’s a fair criticism. But also…

0:30:14.6 Mike Vacanti: From my plate.

0:30:15.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. But for me, someone asked my thoughts on the pyramid, not on my thoughts relative to the previous recommendations. So I just gave my thoughts on the current recommendations, not on, hey, let’s compare these two. But that is a fair criticism because they did make it seem very, like the previous guidelines were absolutely horrible. And they weren’t. They weren’t bad. There were some issues, but just like this, there are some issues as well. And some people were just really upset. And a bunch of people were messaging me, being like, I think what’s going on is going back to, you have your beliefs and then you try and use reason to defend them. I think a lot of people are just, they don’t like this administration and they don’t like RFK, which is fair. That’s totally fine. I get it. I think RFK says a lot of really dumb shit, especially in regard to nutrition. But I try and separate how I feel about the administration, or I try and separate how I feel about the person saying the message from the actual message. And I’ve had a lot of practice with this, like even looking at Hitler. Sometimes I’ll try and look at what Hitler said, taking it away that Hitler said it, and I’ll be like, okay, let’s just look at this one thing that Hitler said. And it’s like, I think people really struggle with that.

0:31:38.9 Jordan Syatt: They struggle to separate the messenger from the message and how they feel about the person saying it. And it’s one of the reasons, one of my favorite things that independent journalists will do is they’ll walk up to people on the street and they’ll be like, hey, what do you think about this quote that, I don’t know, someone said, some political figure. And they’ll be like, oh, I really agree with that. And then they’ll be like, well, did you know that actually this person said it? And they’re shocked because it’s someone that they actually either like or they don’t like. And it’s the exact person that they aren’t a fan of or that they are a fan of, and they’re shocked about it. And it’s not about the words that were said, it’s about the person who is saying it. And I think that’s what’s happening here. A lot of people are just upset with the administration and they carry that into whatever they’re putting out there.

0:32:21.4 Mike Vacanti: Well said, and great story. I think it’s awesome that you hadn’t seen anything prior to making your post and just went straight to the source and and then were able to say what you really thought without being biased by knowing that like A, B, C, D, E, F, G colleagues of mine all said this and this and this and this and this and then letting that play in and then your writing style is probably going to be more defensive. You’re going to..

0:32:51.1 Jordan Syatt: Yes. I’m going to be hedging. Exactly.

0:32:52.9 Mike Vacanti: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It’s just, I mean, one of the benefits of reducing your social media consumption right there.

0:33:02.8 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Just more authentic creation.

0:33:04.8 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Exactly. And helpful and true. Yeah. Until you said that to me, then when we were on the phone, I literally pulled up the pyramid because I hadn’t dug deep on it and started just literally looking at all of the individual foods on there and their ranking, basically how high or low they were on the pyramid. Like, oh, salmon up there. Good. I see olive oil there, avocado there. Awesome. Fruits, vegetables. A better source of carbohydrate than whole grains. Makes sense. All pretty reasonable stuff for the most part. So I actually wasn’t that surprised that people were bashing it because, like you said, people hate this administration and then aren’t going to like any policy, even if it’s something they agree with and vice versa, the same way, for the most part, unfortunately. But, yeah. What did they do to make it seem like this was drastically different from MyPlate? Because the content I’ve seen about government nutrition recommendations over the last five to eight years, I guess, always pulls from the 1997 food pyramid.

0:34:28.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah.

0:34:29.2 Mike Vacanti: And I guess I don’t know how many renditions of the food pyramid there were from our childhood and elementary school until 2011 when MyPlate was introduced. So I don’t know if the ’09 version of the food pyramid was way better than the ’95 version of the food pyramid. But, yeah. I haven’t seen much about MyPlate despite it being around for 15 years.

0:34:54.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. So on the website. Let’s see if I can pull this up and read directly from the website. What is it? It’s the new food pyramid. It’s going to take me to the website. One sec. I like the tagline, eat real food. I like that.

0:35:13.4 Mike Vacanti: That’s what I’m doing this year.

0:35:14.7 Jordan Syatt: I actually, I enjoy it. And I know some people like, well, all food is real food. Yeah, but I mean, when you…

0:35:21.0 Mike Vacanti: You have to be such an annoying kind of person to say that.

0:35:24.1 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah.

0:35:25.7 Mike Vacanti: You know exactly, like, eat carrots. Not a collagen protein bar with like 20 grams of erythritol in it.

0:35:34.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:35:35.1 Mike Vacanti: And yes, that’s a fine thing to eat, but you understand the difference.

00:35:39.7 Jordan Syatt: Okay. So here’s where… Should I just read the whole thing? It’s an interesting site. You gotta keep scrolling down and like it’s an interesting site.

00:35:45.9 Mike Vacanti: Read us what you think we’ll like.

00:35:48.6 Jordan Syatt: I’m just going to read everything. America is sick. The data is clear. 50% of Americans have prediabetes or diabetes. 75% of adults report having at least one chronic condition. 90% of US healthcare spending goes to treating chronic disease, much of which is linked to diet and lifestyle. And then it says, for decades we’ve been misled by guidance that prioritized highly processed food and are now facing rates of unprecedented chronic disease. That I think is disingenuous.

00:36:19.2 Mike Vacanti: Is that true? Yeah.

00:36:19.8 Jordan Syatt: I think that’s disingenuous.

00:36:22.1 Mike Vacanti: Read it again.

00:36:23.2 Jordan Syatt: For decades, we’ve been misled by guidance that prioritized highly processed food and are now facing rates of an unprecedented chronic disease. And for whatever it’s worth, this even included in this slide, it included the 1992 food pyramid.

00:36:39.7 Mike Vacanti: Weren’t sweets at the very top of that?

00:36:41.5 Jordan Syatt: It says fats, oils, and sweets used sparingly at the very, very top. And then the bottom is grains. Then in the middle, you’ve got fruit and vegetables, and then you’ve got dairy, yogurts and meat and poultry and fish and beans and nuts. So that’s not all processed food, number one. Number two is that’s from 1992. There have been many other iterations since then, including the MyPlate and other later iterations of the food pyramid. And to be fair, that is a… I think calling it disingenuous is the most charitable thing to say about it.

0:37:19.6 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. It’s kind of a lie.

0:37:20.1 Jordan Syatt: It’s a lie. Yeah.

0:37:21.3 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:37:22.8 Jordan Syatt: So I don’t like that. And I think a lot of people were upset about that, which is fair. And then it says, we can solve this crisis. For the first time, we’re calling out the dangers of highly processed foods and rebuilding a broken system from the ground up with gold standard science and common sense. This one I struggle with, actually the dangers of highly processed foods. So they did make that distinction. That’s good. It does seem a little bit fear-mongery. Which I don’t think I’m too happy about, that fear-mongery type thing. But again, going back to the actual what’s included, I think it’s really good, man. I think it has oatmeal and nuts and seeds and shrimp and avocado and yogurt and salmon right at the top. And it even has canned green beans and frozen peas to show that you can have foods that are more accessible and affordable, that you don’t need to buy it fresh all the time. These are really good things.

0:38:27.8 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:38:29.4 Jordan Syatt: So when you get into the fine print, it does demonize seed oils, which I’m not a fan of. And I will say, one of the things that I am really happy about, and I was shocked by, in the fine print, it’s saying you should be keeping your saturated fat to under 10% of your total calories, which is correct. And I thought this administration was going to be, saturated fat isn’t bad. Like, you should eat a lot of it. And then people were saying, yeah, but it’s misleading because they put steak right at the top, and that’s very high saturated fat. It’s like, yeah, but it has salmon right next to it and it has chicken right next to it. And so people are saying it’s contradictory. I was like, yeah, but just because it has steak at the top doesn’t mean it’s saying you should only be eating steak. It also has, again, the salmon and the chicken and these other foods.

0:39:21.7 Mike Vacanti: And the monounsaturated fats and…

0:39:23.9 Jordan Syatt: And the shrimp.

0:39:24.9 Mike Vacanti: Canned tuna, shrimp. Exactly.

0:39:25.8 Jordan Syatt: So it’s like you can eat steak… I literally had steak last night. Like, you can have steak as part of an overall healthy diet. I think that’s generally what this is. You can have these foods, and if you’re tracking your saturated fat, then of course your red meat consumption isn’t going to be as high as the other stuff. So, yeah. I’m really not overly upset about it at all. I think, overall, they’re very good. Now, what I will say, I think we’ve done a pretty fair job of explaining some things that we like and things that we don’t like about this new iteration. And a lot of people were saying the MyPlate was so much better. I think MyPlate had some really good things, and MyPlate also had some really bad and dumb things. For example, I think the best thing about MyPlate is the imagery. It’s so simple and it’s so easy to follow. However, one of the things that I think MyPlate really didn’t emphasize enough was food quality. It lumped everything into one, and it didn’t make a differentiation between whole foods and highly processed foods. There was no differentiation between that. By the way, in MyPlate, it included pizza sauce as a serving of vegetables.

0:40:49.0 Mike Vacanti: Interesting.

0:40:50.0 Jordan Syatt: So if you had pizza and there’s pizza sauce on it, it counted the tomato paste as a serving of vegetables, which is, come on, that’s just fucking stupid.

0:40:58.9 Mike Vacanti: It’s a little ridiculous.

0:41:00.1 Jordan Syatt: I think, realistically, crazy enough, a combination of these two is probably better than either one of them alone. I think MyPlate really did not emphasize food quality enough. And I think that the food pyramid would be better just going back to the MyPlate imagery and also emphasizing food quality and also probably having a little bit, like not emphasizing you need to have full-fat dairy and da da da da. I don’t think that was not necessary. And you don’t need to have butter on there. But they’re both very good with some serious flaws.

0:41:34.1 Mike Vacanti: It almost seems like both can stand together because one is a pyramid ranking how much total of certain types of foods you should have, giving more specific examples, whereas one is like a on a meal-by-meal basis, the portion of protein, fruit, vegetable, whole grain, dairy, like more category.

0:41:58.6 Jordan Syatt: Also, and for whatever it’s worth, in the MyPlate, I believe the vegetable portion was really, really big.

0:42:04.9 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:42:05.4 Jordan Syatt: That’s just not realistic, dude.

0:42:08.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:42:09.0 Jordan Syatt: That’s just not realistic for…

0:42:09.8 Mike Vacanti: It’s probably like 30% bigger than the protein.

0:42:11.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. And it’s like, I love the emphasis on vegetables, but realistically, I mean, this is why it’s helpful to actually coach people. When people would tell me, hey, I’m struggling with getting all these vegetables in for breakfast or something, it’s like, yeah, you’re not going to make typically a big salad and make that 30% to 40% of your plate for breakfast. I think you’re right to have both options. Like, hey, this is generally have all your meals fit on one plate, and here are a bunch of food options to choose from, and let’s try and make the majority of your foods real food. It’s like, I think a… And then we have this issue of competing administrations. I think every administration wants to make their mark in history. So rather than being like, hey, here’s something really good about MyPlate, let’s incorporate this into ours. Like, no, we’re just going to scrap it entirely and it’s going to go back to the old traditional American way of the pyramid. I think it would have been better to incorporate both into it as opposed to just scrapping it entirely.

0:43:19.3 Mike Vacanti: The other thing, because I was also surprised at the lack of carnivore-ishness to the new food pyramid. And I think that’s because a branding mistake or our perception of this administration is slightly confused or the MAGA portion of it. Because basically every hardcore carnivore person on social media who’s making hardcore carnivore content is MAGA.

0:43:54.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah. It’s exactly right.

0:43:56.1 Mike Vacanti: However, a very, very small percentage of people who are MAGA are carnivore people.

0:44:03.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, that’s right.

0:44:04.1 Mike Vacanti: You know what I’m saying?

0:44:04.8 Jordan Syatt: That’s a great point.

0:44:05.5 Mike Vacanti: So we see these people who literally only eat meat and they have these long beards and their total test is 1800 because they’re jabbing their self in the butt and they’re strength training constantly and doing a lot of good things. But then they’re also like, got their American flag in their bio and their yada yada. So we’re like, oh, carnivore MAGA go together. But really, I don’t know. I guess I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am that there are pretty solid recommendations here.

0:44:34.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. And I think I was so surprised that raw milk wasn’t on there because, I mean, I’ve seen RFK sitting down with Paul Saladino taking shots of raw milk on social media. And I was like, oh, this is not going to be good. I think I was so happy to not see that stuff on it that I was just like, oh, this is really balanced. Okay. Great.

0:44:56.8 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah.

0:44:57.4 Jordan Syatt: And we also have to say almost nobody follows the government guidelines. Almost nobody. I think Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are far more influential in people’s choices around nutrition than the government nutrition guidelines, whatever they may be. It’s funny because people will blame whatever the government guidelines are on the health of the country. But then when you actually survey people and see what they’re eating, it’s never what their government is recommending in any way, shape or form. So then it’s like, all right, is this… Listen, it does matter because school lunches are impacted by it, government workers lunches and foods are impacted by it, and also education is impacted by it. So yes, they matter. But in terms of actual behavior change for the overwhelming majority of Americans, 99% of Americans, I just don’t think people are paying attention to it.

0:46:00.4 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah. I think you’re right on that. Did you see, and I don’t even know if this was a real headline, but no more soda in SNAP?

0:46:10.2 Jordan Syatt: No way. Really? I didn’t see that.

0:46:13.1 Mike Vacanti: Yes. Soda and other sugary drinks are being removed from what can be bought with SNAP food stamps in an increasing number of states.

0:46:21.9 Jordan Syatt: Oh, okay.

0:46:23.1 Mike Vacanti: With restrictions starting in 2026 as the USDA grants states waivers to ban “junk food” to improve nutrition. Though this is causing confusion and concern for retailers and recipients about implementation and fairness.

0:46:37.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I think you and I spoke about this. We had like a mini debate about it.

0:46:41.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:46:42.2 Jordan Syatt: I don’t know how I feel about that.

0:46:43.7 Mike Vacanti: Look, I would never want a government to tell someone what they can or cannot buy with their own money, period. Full stop.

0:46:55.3 Jordan Syatt: With their own money is the key phrase there.

0:46:57.1 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. It’s the key phrase.

0:46:59.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I struggle with that. I’m trying to remember what we came to. Maybe it was like, you have a limit. Almost like you have X number of points for…

0:47:07.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. We came to some kind of compromise on it that is probably reasonable.

0:47:15.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I think that would make sense. It’s like, hey, you’ve got this many points for sugar-filled beverages. And once those points are up, you can’t buy more sugar-filled beverages with this money. Just trying to look after your health. No limits on whole foods and all of that stuff. And maybe even incentives for foods that are higher quality food. Maybe even having some type of an incentive for, hey, if the majority of what you’re buying is this, you get X, Y, Z. I don’t know what it could be.

0:47:50.3 Mike Vacanti: I mean, even more stamps.

0:47:52.2 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah. You get… Yeah.

0:47:54.1 Mike Vacanti: Crazy though. I mean, not that crazy, but…

0:47:56.7 Jordan Syatt: So that’s down to the state level. That’s not a federal implementation.

0:47:59.3 Mike Vacanti: Apparently that’s what’s going on. Again, I literally just caught headlines. I don’t actually know.

0:48:04.0 Jordan Syatt: Okay.

0:48:04.1 Mike Vacanti: But if that’s happening, it’s a good thing that we’re not scrolling because there’s a subset of people who are completely outraged. Jordan, I hope you feel better.

0:48:18.0 Jordan Syatt: Thank you, bro. I hope so too, man. I really hope so too. This is not fun. But thank you everyone for listening. We appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Hope you eat some real food. Eat some real good food.

0:48:33.3 Mike Vacanti: Yes. Yes.

0:48:35.3 Jordan Syatt: Get your fitness going. Have a good 2026. Make sure you’re helping a lot of people. If you’re a coach, putting out great content, helping people as much as you can. That’s it. Thank you so much.

0:48:45.4 Mike Vacanti: See you next week.