Episode 213: USDA New Food Guidelines & What That Means For Your Hair

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back everybody to the Alopecia Angel podcast. I’m your host, Johanna Dahlman. I’m very excited to be talking with you today. It is the beginning of 2026 and we’re off to a great start. Flashing news, the USDA, the United States Department of Agriculture has new mandates for our food guidelines and what they recommend and what they deem as healthy and not healthy. And lo and behold, they’re catching up to everyone else and they’re realizing that processed food is not healthy.

Thank you for making that statement because now. Even though this food pyramid is not perfect, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. And so what I wanted to do is first talk about the food pyramid.

Let you know that it’s been in various stages within the last 100 years. It’s been a guideline for Americans, but at the same time, every country has their own guidelines on what they think is healthy, not healthy, and what they recommend you eat and not eat. The other thing to this is that let’s not forget about lobbyists, let’s not forget about people pushing their own agendas, let’s not forget about certain departments who have a keen interest on what gets passed, what gets said and what doesn’t get said. Let’s also look at how food impacts us on a general note.

So it impacts us because it’s our wellbeing, it’s how we perform, it’s how we optimize, and of course it’s how we support our body. But at the same time, what these guidelines do. Is what I’m assuming is giving you just a general overview. Just a really general overview and for probably for the last a hundred years that it’s been available, it’s also given us a lot of misinformation and that misinformation isn’t necessarily cleared up with this new guideline.

However, at the same time, it has placed us on a better trajectory. It is definitely encouraging us to incorporate Whole Foods and taking out the processed foods For those of you who’ve already been on a Whole Foods type diet, good for you, that’s a great starting base. Now, for those of you who are listening to me because of hair loss, this too shall change. Diet is foundational, however, it’s not everything. And so diet alone is not going to heal your hair loss. But going back to the USDA, food is foundational. Yes, there’s changes in the guidelines.

And for those of you who are listening to me, who are in other countries. Whether that’s Europe, the UK whether that’s Australia, Brazil, or anywhere else, I would have you question those guidelines. I would have you question what your governments are saying, because I will tell you as someone who’s lived in the US but also lived in Argentina, Brazil, Netherlands, Japan, and who’s traveled extensively, I’ve always questioned what governments say. So much so where when I was diagnosed with alopecia and I was talking and seeing doctors in the US and Europe and everywhere else. I was questioning their options, I was questioning their toolkit.

I was questioning the pharmaceuticals that they were trying to push on me. I was questioning their strategy and I was also questioning the functional medicine doctors, trying to, just do all this testing and seeing what sticks, throwing it to the wall and seeing what sticks. That’s also not a strategy. And so I question the way people operate doesn’t matter whether you’re wearing a lab coat or not, not or a suit or not or anything else. I question. And I think we should all be questioning. Because even when I was pregnant in the Netherlands, I had asked, the, it’s called the Consultatiebureau, it’s the bureau of being pregnant and, newborns and new moms and this type of thing where that you have to go.

It’s like it’s going to an official government place where you have to do all these check- ins with and without your baby. And I asked him, I was like, what should I be eating? It was almost like I was messing with them because I was. I knew better, I was more educated and definitely much more competent in this realm as someone who’s already healed herself from alopecia and someone who at 40 who also got pregnant on the first try naturally. And so I was questioning their pyramid, questioning their guidelines, and they even had the audacity to say to me that a prenatal was optional. That I didn’t need supplements, that, being pregnant just meant just, eating whatever their pyramid said, which I gotta tell you, it’s upside down.

Their pyramid is upside down completely, especially for someone with an autoimmune disease, which, okay, yeah it’s sleeping, it’s in remission, whatever you wanna call it, it’s gone. But at the same time. That diet and lifestyle being pregnant is gonna look different as someone who’s never had an autoimmune disease, does this make sense? And so it’s never gonna be a one size fits all. No guideline is gonna be a one size fits all. And so if you are given a guideline and saying: Hey, this is what you should be doing, I’d say run the other way because it should be personalized to you. This is what we do inside the Hair N’ Heal program. Everything is personalized. Even if we all have the same type of hair loss, it still has to be personalized to you. I can’t expand on that anymore.

I can’t shout that from the rooftops anymore because it’s so important to have it be tailored to you, to your situation. Because even, let’s just say even if we all in this room had the same type of hair loss, a, the factors of us healing would look different. The triggers, the blind spots would look different. The whys of why we have this hair loss will also be different. It’s never gonna be carbon copy, the same. It’s not a copy paste. This is definitely very unique to each person because we’re all so different. This is where the beauty happens. Is where you start personalizing and taking in every aspect of that person so that they can succeed, so that they can heal, so that the hair growth can come, so that the hair loss stops. This is where, at the end of the day, any guideline, any one size boxed diet, whether it’s carnivore, keto, Atkins, or Weight Watchers or anything else, misses the mark. It absolutely misses the mark.

And so this is problematic still, and I would still encourage you all to take these guidelines with a grain of salt. It’s not perfect. It’s a move in the right direction, but again, it’s not perfect and it’s not tailored to you. This is exactly why a lot of the things that you’ve done for your hair loss, including the Nutrafols the Viviscal, the serums, the Minoxidil, the Rogaines the JAK inhibitors or anything else that you’ve done for your hair loss maybe is not working for you. Or maybe it stopped working or maybe it’s even backfired. Because again, it’s not personalized to you and this is the key ingredient. It’s gotta be personalized.

There’s nobody from L’Oreal coming and saying: Oh, you have this type of texture and you have this, and you have that, and this is the type of shampoo you need. Or this is the type of, elixir you need for your hair. None of these things would work anyways. It’s a bigger situation and requires more of you and requires more than just the outside scalp and hair strand aspect of it.

So going back to the USDA, the guidelines are a step in the right direction. Whole foods 100% over processed foods, should not even be in your cabinet at this point hopefully. And really, it’s tailoring it to you, making this the best way possible for you to succeed, and in this case, in hair loss. But for other people, they also have maybe other chronic issues going on, other health issues going on, which many, if not all, can be helped, assisted, supported, and even reversed with diet and lifestyle.

So diet is definitely a key point, but I would still have you question. And so going back to my pregnancy situation, I questioned the midwives, I questioned this bureau, I questioned everything because the recommendations were lackluster. The recommendations would’ve had me, probably in a worse state, and probably, deficient not just for me, but for baby as well. And so thankfully I was much more educated, much more, knowledgeable and empowered to take the reins and to do what was best for me and my baby without having to listen to them or having to take on their recommendations or anything else.

And so this is a place where once you know more or as much as the person you’re speaking with, it just makes things a lot easier. Because no one’s gonna be trying to pull the wool over your eyes. No one’s trying to, give you this generic, aspect of pregnancy or of hair or of diet and lifestyle or of this or that. Now it’s you saying: Okay, this is what’s best for me because I know me better than anyone else. This is where I want people to get to. This is the exact location, that empowerment, that confidence that comes out, and the wherewithal, the awareness, and knowing yourself from the inside out, exactly all these nuances to you so that you can understand how to grow that inch of hair as I do each month.

And you know how to avoid hair loss for the rest of your life as I do too. And so this is the beauty of the Hair N’ Heal program. But kudos to the USDA who are trying to make improvements, at a snail’s pace, but definitely trying to make improvements. And then also the US government has also come out with a new vaccine mandate. And this too, while I was pregnant and while I was trying to verify what made most sense for me and for my baby, I was comparing in contrast at the time I was living in Europe. So I was also comparing in contrast what the US, UK, Netherlands had to say, what times, what ages, what you know, months, years, etcetera, certain vaccines were needed.

And then moving back to the us what did this look like? Every state functions as you may or may not know as its own entity. So there’s mandates within the state, within the federal guidelines, and, it’s quite complex and it can be overwhelming, but at the same time, the more you know, the more you understand the pros and cons, the better it is for yourself.

And just a quick little history on vaccines. Normally it would take anywhere from 10 to 30 years to get a vaccine to market. However, we’ve seen gross negligence with vaccines that have been out to market a lot sooner. One being the COVID vaccine, which only took 18 months, if not less. And then you also had Gardasils HPV vaccine, which took about 3 years, if not less. And there was also ramifications with both of those. And there was also ineffectiveness with both of those. And so that’s the thing too.

It’s not just about having a bandaid to a situation, it’s also how effective is it? Does it last long? And do I need to have a booster every so often or is it just one and done like the chickenpox vaccine? Is it a one and done or is it more beneficial to go through it myself? Like I did, I was 4 years old when I had the chickenpox. And in Europe, just for those Americans who are listening in some countries they don’t even give it to you. They have it available, but guess what? You have to pay extra for it.

And so they just have this herd immunity situation happen in daycares and yeah. And so then all the kids get chickenpox all at the same time. And so it’s one of those things where, which one is more beneficial? Going through it, or getting the vaccine? And so again, this should be your choice. This should be your situation, but it also should be on you to do your research and to understand what this looks like. And so not every case is the same, not every situation is the same. And it may or may not require, that next step. But at the same time, empowering yourself is so key, but then also making these changes and bringing the public awareness to it and not hiding the data, and not hiding the information, the lobbyists or anything else that goes along with it.

Two big news there for the US, you can choose to see it good or bad, either way. I would encourage you, depending where you sit, either way, if you think it’s good, great. If you think it’s bad, great. Either way, whatever side you’re on, I would say question. I would just say question it. Because many times, again, it’s not personalized to you, it’s not personalized to your experience or to what you want or to what your goals are. And that’s a big one. What are your goals? So if you’re here with me now is because you want your hair back.

Another thing I wanted to talk about is that the Hair N’ Heal program now is open enrollment. Meaning we take you on when you want. So when you’re ready, when you want the hair growth to happen, come start. Let’s get a call or email us at hello@alopeciaangel.com and you can start as soon as possible. Open enrollment to me makes more sense because I think back about when I was going through hair loss and. It was so devastating that had I had somebody guide me and take me from zero to a hundred in less than 8 weeks, I would’ve wanted that consultation, that appointment. I would’ve wanted to get started as soon as possible, like yesterday.

I know many of you are in that same situation, so I don’t wanna have anyone wait any longer. So open enrollment is now the way we operate. So when you’re ready, we are here for you, when you are ready. We are happy to help you get your hair growth in less time. If you don’t know where to start, go to our homepage, alopeciaangel.com. You can grab a consultation. I have 2 different types. I have a free one to talk about the program, and I also have a strategic consultation just for you.

And then on top of it, we also have, the free training that can give you an inside scoop of what this looks like, how we actually help, what are the factors we’re looking at when it comes to hair loss and hair growth and how this would benefit you in the long term? And also the questions you should be asking any hair care professional because at the end of it, my runarounds led me to creating Alopecia Angel, so that you can see hair growth in less time. Thank you so much. Hope you’re well. I look forward to speaking with you.

Take care. Bye.