Whenever I’m witness to the lies and deceit put upon the people of the United States, such as the recent announcement by RFK Jr. about the so-called “new” food pyramid, I can’t stand by quietly. When misleading information is presented as common sense or science, especially when it affects health, animals, and the planet, silence becomes complicity.
What’s being promoted as a return to “real food” is anything but honest. Encouraging increased consumption of meat and dairy without acknowledging the full picture is deeply misleading. These recommendations ignore decades of nutritional research, downplay well-established health risks, and completely sidestep the reality of how animals are treated in modern food systems.
This Is Not Just a Nutrition Issue
This isn’t just about dietary advice. It’s about animal cruelty.
Most people trust government nutrition guidelines. They believe these recommendations are rooted in science and free from corporate influence. But when national messaging pushes more meat and dairy while glossing over how those products are produced, it reinforces a system built on suffering. Factory farming dominates animal agriculture in the United States, subjecting billions of animals to confinement, routine cruelty, and shortened lives, all hidden from public view.
How Deception Keeps Cruelty Invisible
By presenting animal products as essential, the new food pyramid normalizes higher consumption without transparency. This matters because most people already consume more than enough protein and saturated fat. The messaging isn’t neutral. It quietly supports industries that depend on keeping consumers disconnected from the consequences of their choices.
A Conversation With Leah Garcés
In a recent conversation with Leah Garcés, former CEO of Mercy for Animals and author of Transfarmation: The Movement to Free Us from Factory Farming, we discussed how intentional this
disconnect is. Leah has spent years working inside the system, engaging with farmers, corporations, and policymakers. Her insight was clear: these industries rarely change out of compassion. They change when public pressure, economic reality, and truth force them to.
Why This Matters for Public Health and the Planet
Elevating meat and dairy in national dietary guidance doesn’t just affect animals. It influences school lunches, hospital meals, institutional food programs, and cultural norms. It also ignores the well-documented environmental costs of animal agriculture, including climate impact, land use, and water consumption.
What Better Life for Animals Is Focused On
At Better Life for Animals, this is exactly the kind of misinformation we work to expose. Our mission is not to shame or dictate diets, but to raise awareness about misleading narratives that allow cruelty to persist under the guise of health and tradition.
Choosing Truth Over Silence
There are plant-forward ways of eating that support long-term health, reduce environmental harm, and dramatically lessen animal suffering. The science exists. What’s missing is the willingness to center it when powerful industries are involved.
That is why Better Life for Animals exists. To question misleading information, educate with integrity, and keep compassion at the center of the conversation.
About Cheryl Moss
Cheryl Moss is the host of the Better Life for Animals podcast, where she shares uplifting stories from sanctuaries and highlights the work of vegan activists, ethical consumers, and animal welfare leaders. A passionate advocate for animal welfare, she is dedicated to ending factory farming and is working to raise $100,000 for Mercy For Animals to support underrepresented sanctuaries.
Beyond podcasting, Cheryl is a banking professional and an accomplished children’s author. A graduate of Main Street Vegan Academy, she promotes plant-based living through her books, Gabriel, Cluck, and Pickle the Pig, which inspire young readers to embrace kindness, sustainability, and compassion for animals.
When not advocating, she enjoys Pilates, and spending time with her rescue dogs and grandchildren. Through her work, writing, and activism, Cheryl continues to inspire positive change for animals and the planet.
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