I followed RFK Jr.'s diet for a week. Readers had strong reactions.

I spent a week eating to the White House's new food guidelines and a $15‑a‑day budget, a plan that emphasizes whole foods, full fats, and proteins. The experiment was meant to be lighthearted, but the story went viral and quickly produced a wide range of reader responses.

Food debates rarely stay about food. They often reflect fights over identity, class, politics, and control: people stigmatize and shame others for body size, question thin people who use medication, and layer on partisan reactions—from conservatives who pushed back on Michelle Obama’s school‑lunch effort to progressives skeptical of the MAHA‑inspired, Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. food pyramid. Jill Chodak, a dietitian, summed it up: “We love, in our country, to polarize things.” I read every email and comment. Some offered cooking tips and personal health stories; others called me names—one reader labeled me “Marie Antoinette,” another emailed “Stoopid” and suggested I get a refund for my journalism degree (I don’t have one).

United States

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