There has been a cultural sea change over the last year when it comes to health in America. It is shepherded by an unexpected coalition of nutritionists, longevity experts, wellness influencers, holistic and functional medicine doctors, moms wearing babies and natural deodorant, mushroom shamans, and some vaccine skeptics. They’ve gathered under the banner of Make American Healthy Again, or MAHA, and they’re here to tell us that plastic cutting boards, Diet Coke, and pasteurized milk—all things that once seemed perfectly normal in American life—are actually killing us.
A decade ago, if you read that list of personas you would think MAHA is some woo-woo, hippie progressive movement. But here we are in 2025, and this is the same group that helped usher Donald Trump to power.
What does MAHA stand for? What does it look like when it marries itself to power? And what will MAHA actually be able to accomplish over the next four years, under their fearless leader—and risky Health and Human Services nominee—Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?
Live in D.C. during inauguration weekend, Calley Means, Jillian Michaels and Vani Hari explain. Calley is the founder of Truemed and co-author of Good Energy. Jillian is America’s original fitness expert and the author of nine books. Vani is the founder of Truvani, and you probably know her from her blog Food Babe. She also got Subway to remove “the yoga mat chemical” from its breads. And, the fact that there was a yoga mat chemical in its bread is the whole purpose of this conversation.
Today, the three MAHA whisperers explain why this movement just might be the most powerful political force in American life.
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This is why Sam Harris won’t have people like this on his pod. Throwing “data” out there like it’s study supported facts from people with a profit motive is irresponsible journalism. Now have Dr Peter hotez or Dr Daniel Griffin on to explain how vaccines are safe and effective - after years of use and thousands of studies. Just because influencers have good points to make about big pharma dosent mean we should consider them medical specialists. Responsible journalism brings debate to this issue instead of just scaring parents without evidence.
Thanks
I listened to this as I made bulgur and heated up homemade stew for my kids’ lunches. I packed them into metal thermoses and sat down to eat some bulgur myself, topped with sauerkraut I made with cabbage from the Amish farm around the corner from my house. I grew up on raw milk, home ground flour, and grass fed meat before it was easy to get, and I stick to a lot of those food ways. This movement should be right up my alley. But a lot of the arguments are so superficial, so lacking in nuance or any examination of confirmation bias. Our food system is deeply broken, but the level of pure quackery in this movement ends up discrediting a lot of the helpful things they have to say.
All I could think was that I am more and more convinced across the board, that ideology is so much more powerful than money. And in a climate that is so polarized, both sides of this conversation doubling down on their priors is just making everything dumber. I’m glad The FP did this podcast because I think when you give people like this a platform, they just show how incurious they actually are. They see one thing as bad and so it and all iterations of it must also be bad. We end up with plain old regurgitated naturalistic fallacy with new packaging. When they’re left to their vibes, they can be so compelling. I love crunchy vibes. But I find this movement to dangerously ignore really great science when it doesn’t fit their narrative, and that ends up leaving people without accurate information to make actual informed decisions for their health and goals.