Plant-based foods are center stage in the new scientific report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). The committee recommended that the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines “include more nutrient-dense plant-based meal and dietary recommendation options,” prioritize plant-based protein over animal protein, and center plain water, instead of dairy milk and soda, as a beverage of choice. The recommendations are not binding, but I hope that the Department of Health and Human Services along with the Department of Agriculture will enshrine them in the official guidelines formerly known as the food pyramid.
As the former president of the Navajo Nation, mine was just one voice of many in the Native American community to speak in favor of these changes. I welcome this latest chapter in a long-standing nutrition policy evolution.
President Biden’s 2022 memo “Uniform Standards of Tribal Consultation” requires that Tribal Nations be consulted about government policies and actions. However, there was no consultation about the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Despite not being consulted, tribes made sure their voices were heard.
In addition to my testimony, the Navajo Nation; San Carlos Apache Tribe; Tohono O’odham Nation; Karuk Tribe; other tribal nations and organizations like the National Congress of American Indians, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, All Pueblo Council of Governors; and the Albuquerque Indian Health Board issued written support for plant-based nutrition in the updating of the DGA in a way that aligns more closely with a traditional Indigenous diet.
As a child living in Shonto, Arizona, a rural community on the Navajo Nation, I remember well conversations with elders about the Navajo Long Walk and the displacement of Native Americans to Indian Reservations starting more than a century ago. There, for many years, Indigenous people were dissuaded from planting, harvesting, or gathering our traditional foods but, instead, were given lard, canned meat, flour, and other unhealthful rations.
The lost emphasis on Indigenous foods and overreliance on unhealthy options from federal food programs has led to high incidence of diet-related diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes, a harm that is evidenced today by the glaring health disparities in Indian Country.
U.S. government policies beginning decades ago led to displacement, food scarcity, and rations distribution that encouraged poor health among Indigenous people. However, the federal government can now right a historic wrong while also markedly upgrading federal food policies for everyone by emphasizing the plant-based foods that were historically found in our diets. The guidelines are used as the basis for funding and nutritional guidelines for many federal nutrition programs, so changes here are not simply symbolic — they affect what foods shows up on tables across the country.
For generations, the Navajo Nation has relied on the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash. These three foods provide protein, calcium, and other nutrients, but are treated as second-class foods in the current DGA, which keeps an inappropriate emphasis on meat and dairy products. Beans and legumes are rich in protein and minerals, as well as fiber and other healthful nutrients, with essentially no saturated fat or cholesterol. I have seen firsthand the benefits of these foods in my own family, from lowering blood pressure to maintaining healthy weight. The Navajo believe and act on the increasingly popular phrase “food is medicine.”
The DGAC’s Scientific Report repeatedly recognizes the health power of plant-based foods. For protein, in particular, plant sources are given special prominence, recommending that the “protein group” be rearranged to put plants first and meat last. Specifically, beans, peas, and lentils are first, followed by nuts, seeds, and soy products. Previously, beans had been omitted from this group and instead classified as a vegetable; the DGAC now puts them at the top of the list. If enacted, this recommendation would allow federal nutrition programs to serve and accommodate more beans and legumes, which would allow for more people receiving assistance to make traditional Navajo foods and recipes.
The recommended change in the protein group would be welcome, as would be a shift in the current DGA’s inappropriate emphasis on dairy products, which most Native Americans can’t digest. Milk, cheese, and other dairy products were never part of our tradition. Dairying is a European custom, yet today, the DGA (and federal programs like the National School Lunch Program) still push us to consume milk.
According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 70%-90% of people of African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American descent are lactose intolerant, so it is encouraging to see the DGAC recommending plain water as a primary drink of choice. Including this recommendation in the DGA would be helpful to dispel the notion that dairy milk is necessary for proper nutrition.
This change would be welcomed by Native youth whose inability to digest lactose may disrupt their school day. Because of the DGA and other federal policies, it is extremely difficult for students — Native American or otherwise — to access nondairy milks at school. The next DGA need to support beverages that provide the nutrition for all Americans.
With the DGAC’s work coming to a close, special recognition is due to Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, the first Native American to serve on the DGAC. She perhaps more than any other committee member recognized the importance of the Indigenous community coming out like never before to request changes to the guidelines. I am grateful to her and her DGAC colleagues for heeding our request and suggesting improvements to the 2025-2030 DGA.
Encouraging all Americans to avoid red and processed meats; to consume beans, peas, and lentils as a preferred source of protein; and to choose water over dairy will help save hundreds of thousands of lives a year from colorectal cancer, heart disease, and other diet-related diseases that plague our country. All Americans can make their voices heard for better dietary guidelines. A public comment period will be open until Feb. 10, 2025.
Jonathan Nez served as the ninth president of the Navajo Nation from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as vice president and as a Navajo Nation Council delegate. In his 18 years in public service, Nez has advocated for health and wellness for the Navajo people and in Indian country.