My mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when I was five years old. Over the next decade, I watched helplessly as the disease destroyed her body, taking everything from her except the ability to breathe. Witnessing her relentless decline throughout my childhood, with experts unable to explain the cause of my mother's sickness, led me to study academic research and the findings of leading scientists, searching for answers about autoimmune disease. After years of investigation, I reached a conclusion that I share with some medical doctors and researchers: Many chronic diseases have metabolic origins, and the foods we eat can directly impact their development and progression.

What I learned ultimately led me to question the foundation of our nation's dietary advice, the USDA Dietary Guidelines. These guidelines meant to protect the health of American citizens were introduced in 1980. They don't just shape federal nutrition programs—they influence how doctors think about nutrition and how Americans eat. The guidelines recommend six servings of grains per day, including three servings of refined grains—all of which convert to sugar in our bodies. They continue to promote industrial seed oils over natural fats like butter. Since the guidelines' introduction, rates of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, autoimmune conditions and mental health disorders have soared. Science journalist, Nina Teicholz, author of "The Big Fat Surprise," has documented that these guidelines "are based on weak evidence and substandard methodology."

Today, we face a critical moment in this unfolding public health crisis. While chronic diseases continue to skyrocket, including in children, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services have just released their recommendations for the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Tragically, the recommendations, which will dictate how Americans eat for the next five years, fail to address one of the biggest threats to public health: ultra-processed foods. Rather than acknowledge their devastating impact, advisory committee member Deanna Hoelscher of UT Health Houston School of Public Health told Stat, "Until we get a better definition for what we mean as 'ultra-processed foods,' it's going to be difficult to look at this." Yet Dr. Jerold Mande, former USDA Deputy Under Secretary and current professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health argues, "The next secretaries of health and agriculture could say, 'We don't know why but ultra-processed food is making us sick.' That's all they need to take the next step and set some guardrails in the new guidelines."

The catastrophic impact of these guidelines becomes even clearer when we examine the science of human cellular biology that they ignore. Every cell in our body depends on mitochondria, organelles that convert nutrients from food into energy. Columbia University researcher, Dr. Martin Picard, describes mitochondria as "information processors of the cell," influencing both physical and mental health through intricate communication networks. The foods we eat directly impact this system. While nutrient-dense natural foods support mitochondrial function, the high-carbohydrate, processed food diet promoted by the USDA disrupts cellular metabolism.

This biological understanding is driving a metabolic revolution in medicine. New Zealand neurologist Dr. Matthew Phillips's groundbreaking research shows how supporting mitochondrial function through ketogenic diets—which do the opposite of what the guidelines recommend by emphasizing healthy fats and limiting carbohydrates—can improve outcomes for patients with conditions like Parkinson's and ALS. In psychiatry, the recognition that mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain is driving pioneering research supported by Metabolic Mind and the Baszucki Group. Leading psychiatrists like Dr. Chris Palmer, author of "Brain Energy," and Dr. Georgia Ede, author of "Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind," are seeing patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and treatment-resistant depression find remarkable relief and healing through ketogenic diets.

The medical establishment may dismiss these cases as mere anecdotes, but what they call anecdotal represents a life-changing reality for people freed from symptoms of psychosis, lupus, MS, and many other chronic conditions. My own autoimmune diabetes has been in remission for 15 years through this approach.

Yet, the medical community remains largely in the dark about these developments. "Doctors receive virtually no nutrition education in medical school," explains Dr. Casey Means, author of "Good Energy." This knowledge gap perpetuates a healthcare system focused on managing symptoms rather than addressing root causes.

Given the mounting evidence—from cellular biology to clinical outcomes—we must recognize the dietary guidelines crisis for what it is: a failure of government policy that is undermining Americans' health at the cellular level.

To promote metabolic health and drive policy reform, Metabolic Revolution, a grassroots organization (that I co-founded), recently brought together medical doctors and individuals healed by dietary interventions to testify before USDA representatives. They testified about the harmful impact of poor nutrition and the therapeutic potential of real, nutrient-dense food.

I’m advocating for change now because our current trajectory is unsustainable. In a nation already ravaged by chronic disease and soaring healthcare costs the Dietary Guidelines Committee has recommended five more years of sickness and suffering. Americans, however, can choose to heed scientific truth and align their diets with the biological reality: our mitochondria thrive on protein and natural fats, not the processed carbohydrates promoted by federal guidelines. We deserve a system that prioritizes both disease prevention and healing. When our dietary guidelines ignore decades of scientific evidence while chronic diseases devastate millions of American lives, we face not just a policy failure, but a moral one. Our health is our right.

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Jessica Apple is a writer, editor, and co-founder of the grassroots organization, Metabolic Revolution. Metabolic Revolution is a call to action for individuals, healthcare professionals, policy makers, and society as a whole to embrace a new paradigm of health that addresses the root causes of chronic diseases. Join us!