Donald Trump doesn’t want to just Make America Great Again by overhauling the global order, he also wants to reshape the waistlines of Americans. The president himself is, of course, in incredible form — “my health is perfect,” he declared this month — but according to the Department of Health and Human Services, “America is sick”, with 50 per cent of Americans either prediabetic or diabetic.
And the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is determined to “make America healthy again” (Maha) — a slogan that he used when running for president in 2024 as an independent, vaccine-sceptic conspiracy theorist, before throwing his weight behind Trump.
Last week RFK announced new dietary guidelines for Americans. Try to prioritise leafy greens and steer clear of hamburgers? Er, not exactly. “Make beef tallow great again” is how one fast-selling baseball cap has gleefully summed up the guidance.
Donald Trump has enthusiastically backed his health secretary’s promise to “make America healthy again”
ALEX BRANDON/AP
If you think I am being simplistic, the health secretary himself announced: “We are ending the war on saturated fats.” His official guidelines include beef tallow as a “healthy fat”.
To be fair, it also includes plenty of sensible advice, notably to axe all added sugar if possible, telling Americans they need to cut their addiction to “chips, cookies, and candy” as well as “sugar-sweetened beverages”. Also prudent is the advice to “eat a variety of colourful, nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits”.
The thing that has made doctors raise an eyebrow and reach for the defibrillator, however, is the headline advice: “We are ending the war on protein.” Red meat, in particular, is fine. Steak, meatloaf and cream are back on the table of God-fearing Americans. Plus, they need to aim for three servings of full-fat dairy a day.
On the day he made his announcement, RFK posted on social media a 2014 sketch from the scurrilous cartoon South Park — where the morbidly obese Eric Cartman inexplicably becomes a diet guru. The sketch finishes with a scientist saying: “Get the president on the phone. Tell him to have some steak with his butter.” To be clear, South Park was being satirical; RFK was not.
To see whether these dietary guidelines are going to make me live for ever or are a recipe for cardiac arrest, I tried out RFK’s butter and steak diet for a few days.
Robert F Kennedy Jr says it’s time to end the “war on saturated fat”
JOHN PARRA/GETTY IMAGES
Day 1
Breakfast is a bowl of bran flakes. RFK takes a very dim view of breakfast cereals, saying Froot Loops are ultra-processed devilry. These were no ordinary bran flakes, however, they were from the new Marks & Spencer Only … Ingredients range — designed specifically for those trying to axe additives and preservatives from their diet. They contain just wholegrain wheat, barley malt extract and a tiny bit of salt. My 14-year-old declares them “totally minging”. But with full-fat unhomogenised milk they are surprisingly tasty, if a little bland.
By 11am, however, I am starving and have a banana.
Lunch is chicken livers, cooked in butter, finished off with extra-thick cream and mustard, some cavolo nero, all piled on top of a slice of sourdough. Sourdough is given the RFK thumbs-up because it is wholegrain and minimally processed. It’s a wonderful meal — way more interesting than my normal sarnie or salad — and I’ve managed to hit my three portions of full-fat dairy by 2pm.
Dinner is a duck breast with some sprouts (no, they are not just for Christmas). I was going to have it with couscous, but my gym-honed 20-year-old son, home from university, pointed out that this was a “refined carbohydrate”, a big RFK no-no. So I had half a pack of “Spanish-style grains” dug out of the store cupboard.
An apple for pudding ensured I hit my daily two-fruit portion target.
Day 1: 89g of protein.
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Day 2
The new RFK guidelines suggest that a man of my weight (76kg) should have between 91g and 122g of protein daily. I need to up my protein.
So I have full-fat Fage Greek yoghurt, which has more than twice the protein level of Tesco Greek-style yoghurt, but is also three times the price. I scatter nuts and seeds on top to really make it RFK-friendly.
Lamb’s kidneys are very protein-rich, so lunch is yet more offal, with some courgettes and potatoes. I’ve already hit 81g of protein. My wife sees the plate, oozing with bloody juices, and says, “If you get a heart attack, I’m not going to become your carer,” before walking out of the kitchen.
Many nutritionists agree that protein is important, not just for bodybuilders, but all adults, especially as we get older. “Protein is broken down into amino acids and these are the building blocks for everything in our body,” says Marcela Fiuza, a registered dietitian. “So it’s very important for preserving lean body mass; it is associated with strength and longevity.”
However, she is slightly alarmed at how the guidelines appear to give priority to red-meat protein over plant protein, such as chickpeas or lentils. “I would like to see beans and pulses right at the top of that [food advice] pyramid, not halfway down. There are quite a lot of studies showing associations of consumption of high amounts of red and fatty meat with cardiovascular disease.”
It is my daughter’s 18th birthday, so for dinner we go out to Brutto, an Italian restaurant, to celebrate. I fancy the rabbit pasta, but need to avoid the refined carbs; I have the beef stew.
Day 2: 121g of protein.
Mid-experiment: embracing steak with conviction
CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES
Day 3
Breakfast is eggs fried in tallow. According to my butcher, Sal Marker Grimes, tallow is now so popular that he sells jars to customers to use as a moisturiser. Then again, his butcher’s shop is so trendy that it turns into a nightclub on Friday evenings, so I am not sure his clientele are representative.
RFK is such a fan of the rendered beef fat that he filmed himself cooking his 2024 Thanksgiving turkey in a vat of boiling tallow. “This is how we cook the Maha way,” he said, grinning. In the background was his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, wrinkling her nose in disapproval. My fried eggs are tasty, but my daughter comes down to breakfast and tells me the frying has “made the whole house smell rank”.
RFK has very strong views on cooking oils. “Seed oils are one of the most unhealthy ingredients that we have,” he said last year, adding that they are “associated with all kinds of very, very serious illnesses, including body-wide inflammation, which affects all of our health”.
Most doctors believe he is badly mistaken. “A lot of people claim that seed oils are inflammatory because they’re high in omega-6 fatty acids, but omega-6s are essential for your body. They help with brain function, skin health, even regulating metabolism,” says Dr Sophie Newton, a GP from West Yorkshire. “Swapping seed oils for animal fats isn’t supported by the science.”
It is the weekend and a dear friend is celebrating her 50th birthday at an Italian restaurant. I stick to the fish and salad (avoiding the pasta). But I fail to adhere to RFK’s “consume less alcohol” advice. The lunch doesn’t break up until 9pm. I make up for it by drunkenly wolfing down a packet of high-protein nuts on the train home and then gorging on a block of cheese.
Protein: 106g
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Day 4
You may think RFK is a coronary waiting to happen, but he has an impressive physique for a 71-year-old man. We know this because he loves to strip off at any opportunity and, with the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, has launched the “Bobby and Pete Challenge”. This is 100 push-ups or 50 pull-ups in five minutes.
On day 1 I managed 64 push-ups, but despite my heavy drinking the day before, I edge it up to 66 on day 4 — after feasting on yoghurt, nuts, seeds and sheer American willpower for breakfast.
Lunch is lamb cutlets, accompanied by kimchi. RFK is a big fan of fermented cabbage, according to Hines, who recently told a podcaster that “right now he is only eating meat and fermented vegetables”. She even claimed he made her carry sauerkraut in her handbag when they attended dinners so he could get his fix.
Newton concedes that “fermented foods are great for gut microbiomes”, and the spicy kimchi helps cut through the fattiness of the cutlets. It’s a rather good combo.
Dinner is a rump steak in tallow (more complaints from the children), with leafy greens doused in double cream.
Day 4 protein: 96g
• The RFK diet is just what America needs
Day 5 — the weigh-in
My wife reminds me that my doctor put me on statins last year because of my elevated cholesterol — probably brought on by my love of animal fat. It is time to stop this, admittedly very unscientific, experiment.
Curiously, over the four days on the Maha diet I have lost 3lb and gained some strength — I manage 72 push-ups on day 5. The weight loss is almost certainly because I cut out most carbohydrates and I studiously avoided any added sugar. No biscuits or cheeky KitKats passed my lips. I steered clear of puddings and birthday cakes.
Newton says: “Low-carb diets are the quickest way to lose weight, but once you compare at 12 months, all diet options even out.”
The new dietary guidelines for Americans are not bunkum. More protein and veg, less sugar and fewer ready meals is a decent starting point. But all my clothes smell of beef tallow and I can start to feel my arteries clogging up. I need a few days reacquainting myself with fibre and easing up on the red meat.