Dr. Mike Israetel, PhD | RP Co-Founder & YouTube Host is smart, funny, and ripped. I consume and recommend his videos regularly for their entertainment and body building/muscle training value. My opinion is that he knows a lot about exercise science and weight lifting the right way. And he explains it very well.
Usually I agree with everything Dr. Mike says, or if I don’t, I look it up and realize he’s probably right and I’m probably wrong. But in a recent video reviewing HHS and RFK Jr.’s 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans I was surprised to hear Dr. Mike say, “…non-nutritive sweeteners like stevia and sucralose and a bunch of the other ones are absolutely great.”
“…non-nutritive sweeteners like stevia and sucralose and a bunch of the other ones are absolutely great… You want people drinking diet sodas. Diet sodas are amazing. They’re so good. They’re roughly as quote unquote bad or good for you as water, but people like them and they taste great.”
I do NOT think artificial sweeteners (i.e. non-nutritive sweeteners, sugar substitutes, or low-calorie sweeteners) are healthy for you. I do think artificial sweeteners ARE safe for consumption. In other words, they are highly unlikely to significantly or noticeably hurt you if you consume them in small amounts. But, my experience and reading suggests that artificial sweeteners, especially if consumed in large amounts over time, are NOT healthy for most (not all) people.
Of course, this could be incorrect. Brown, Banate, & Rother (2010) report, “Presently, there is no strong clinical evidence for causality regarding artificial sweetener use and metabolic health effects, but it is important to examine possible contributions of these common food additives to the global rise in pediatric obesity and diabetes.” That does NOT suggest that artificial sweeteners are as healthy or not harmful for you as water. But, I will leave it at that and refer you to the sources below:
- WHO: Health effects of the use of non-sugar sweeteners: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2022).
- NIH: Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Health Outcomes (2023).
- Neurology Journal: Low-Calorie Sweeteners and Cognitive Decline (2022).
- MDPI: Health effects of artificial sweeteners show advantages, disadvantages, and potential risks (2024).
- Brown, R. J., de Banate, M. A., & Rother, K. I. (2010). Artificial sweeteners: a systematic review of metabolic effects in youth. International journal of pediatric obesity : IJPO : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 5(4), 305–312. https://doi.org/10.3109/17477160903497027
I also think a plant-based, low or no processed (specifically processing that seeks to preserve healthy chemical compounds like vitamins, minerals, nutrients while avoiding the addition of excessive or unhealthy chemical compounds), and high-fiber diet like the “Mediterranean diet” is good for most (not all) people. I left some comments under Dr. Mike’s video and quickly encountered different opinions on these topics. You can check out Dr. Mike’s video and those comments below…
Exercise Scientist Breaks Down RFK’s Polarizing New Food Pyramid
Comment 1:
January 17th, 2026
Great advice at the end! Terrible advice to drink diet sodas. Don’t drink diet sodas folks. Coke does not care about your health. They care about making money aka profit margins aka their bottom line.
Comment 2:
January 17th, 2026
If you want to lose more weight, eat more high-fiber, unprocessed, low-sugar, high-protein plants and you will lose weight. Plant-based (e.g. Mediterranean) diet is the healthiest type of diet – gives you almost all the nutrients (exceptions may include B12, Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, Iodine, & Omega-3s) you need without the bad stuff. Many people won’t go plant-based because we have evolved to crave salt, sugar, and fat (now readily available but not as easy to find in the past). It can also be overwhelming to think about food preparation and cooking when we have been trained to drive through fast food joints and eat so many processed and pre-made products (i.e. immediate gratification).
January 17th, 2026
Wrong. Fiber is indigestible and causes gut diseases. Plants are by definition low in protein (they dont have leucine isoleucine and valine and dont complete a protein and are missing taurine carnitine and carnosine). Plants are high in sugar (they store it as energy) and digesting all plants turns to glucose. They are devoid of over 30 nutrients including fat soluble vitamins found only in saturated fat including vitamin d3 (cholecalciferol), a (retinol), k2, as well as water soluble b6(pyridoxal, pyridoxamine) and b12. You are correct they have no omega 3 either, only omega 6 which disrupts balance in the body. Fact. Besides iron and iodine theyre devoid of zinc, selenium, chromium and many more. Who told you the mediterranean diet consists of plants? I am mediterranean and I never saw anyone except for italians eating grains (pasta, tomato sauce, bread) but even they consumed tons of cheese including moldy cheeses and fermented ones and lots of meat and dry meat (prosciutto). Everyone in the mediterranean (which is a broad term, theres croatia italy greece turkey cyprus egypt spain portugal israel and many more and all of them eat different foods, what on earth is a “pan-mediterranean” diet?) You should look up “croatian soldiers standing next to italian soldiers” on reddit. The italians who consume lots of carbs are like 2 foot shorter than the croats who eat lots of meat (junetina) and fat (kajmak) for example. Its a hilarious photo and debunks your theory entirely because theyre clearly underdeveloped due to their diet, compared to a tribe which is literally just across the sea from them living in the same climate. Furthermore, its false that you claim fat isnt readily available in nature. Who told you that when since 2 million years ago humans have learned to break open bones and skulls and bone marrow brains and other organs including liver spleen from game and blubber from whales and fat from mammoth trunks and humps were consumed. Fast food drive throughs only exist in america where those communities are actually “food deserts” and people only eat them as there is no other option nearby. Nobody was ever “trained” to go to mcdonalds.. what? Educate yourself. Its preposterous youd even imply plants are “high protein low sugar” when digested they turn to carbs, always, and the protein is incomplete missing leucine isoleucine and valine.
January 18th, 2026
@x__mwr-r3q Great points. It sounds like you have a better understanding of common diets around the Mediterranean than I do. And there are a lot of use insights in your post that I could study further.
I feel like you added some information to my comment, but I will just reply to two examples…
(1) I did not write that fat was “not readily available in nature”. I wrote “not as easy to find in the past”. And of course, I did not live in the past. I have never been a hunter-gatherer. So, I am sharing what I have heard/read from authors, anthropologists, and other people who have study diet/nutrition. The general idea is that edible plants were easier to find and consume while hunting (especially big game) often required tools and skills as well as more energy and cooperation. Meat needs to be consumed fairly quickly before it goes bad. Plants, especially nuts and roots, can be stored and carried for a little bit longer. So, my point was that a “plant-based” diet of mostly plants (not all plants) is what we evolved to consume. And, as you are probably aware of, the USA diet has lots of added saturated fat which is why I harp on that. If you are consuming healthier mono/poly unsaturated fats, that would not apply.
(2) When I wrote, “…we have been trained to drive through fast food joints…” I was not suggesting that kids, again in the USA, are being coached to practice driving through MacDonalds 10x per day. I was suggesting that many kids in the USA grow up in families that consume a lot of fast food and processed foods which often creates unhealthy diet habits. And many kids are not taught how to cook. So, I was speaking of training in the sense of subconscious operant conditioning not conscious/deliberate practice.
Are you a nutritionist? Your knowledge of the Mediterranean diet and chemical compounds is too deep for me to weigh in on. Thanks for sharing.
I’ll just drop these citations here if you’re interested in more context on my assertion that a “plant-based” or “Mediterranean diet” is the healthiest diet that I know of. Of course, my knowledge is always incomplete. And I do not believe all people can consume exactly the same thing as people have evolved in different environments and have different inherited traits. So, to each their own. I’m not pushing PETA or vegan or vegetarian or even pescatarian. Do what works for you. Eat what you like
Sonnenburg, Justin, and Erica Sonnenburg. The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health. Penguin Press, 2015.
Pollan, M. (2009). In defense of food: An eater’s manifesto. Penguin Books.
Systematic reviews consistently point to diets rich in plant-based foods (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds) and healthy fats (like in the Mediterranean Diet), while limiting processed foods, red/processed meats, added sugars, and unhealthy fats, as healthiest for reducing mortality and improving health outcomes, with specific studies highlighting the Mediterranean, Healthy Eating Index (HEI), and plant-based patterns. Key citations include English LK et al. (2021) in JAMA Network Open for dietary patterns and mortality, and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for comprehensive recommendations.
Here are some highly cited and influential systematic reviews on healthy diets:
English LK, et al. (2021). Evaluation of Dietary Patterns and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review. JAMA Network Open.
– Key Finding: Higher adherence to plant-based diets, Mediterranean, DASH, and Healthy Eating Index patterns was linked to lower all-cause mortality.
Abarca-Gómez, L., et al. (2021). Dietary Patterns and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. (Note: This is a different paper than the first snippet but similar findings).
– Key Finding: Plant-based diets, the Mediterranean diet, and DASH diet were associated with reduced risk of CVD mortality.
Afshar, S., et al. (2020). Diet Quality as Assessed by the Healthy Eating Index, Alternate Healthy Eating Index, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Score, and Health Outcomes: A Second Update of a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
– Key Finding: Strong evidence links higher diet quality scores (like HEI) to better health outcomes and lower mortality.
Willett, W., et al. (2019). Healthy Eating Patterns and Disease Prevention: A Narrative Review of the Evidence. Circulation. (Note: Another highly cited review).
– Key Finding: Emphasizes patterns like Mediterranean and DASH diets for preventing chronic diseases.
For a General Citation (US Guidelines):
U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. 9th Edition. December 2020.
Comment 3:
January 17th 2026
12:30 You know what one other processed food is? Diet soda and diet coke… make that money!
January 18th 2026
13:09 You didn’t watch the whole video did you?
January 18th 2026
@OdysseasRoditis Great point about greek yogurt. I did watch most of the video including the part (13:30) where Dr. Mike says, “For most people the advice of more minimally processed food and less processed food is just really really good advice.” I don’t want to suggest that all processed food is bad. Dietary advice is filled with caveats. I just am not buying the assertion (11:09) that artificial sweeteners, diet soda, and diet coke are good for us. That sounds like it could be sponsored content or an unannounced paid advertisement. I could be guilty of correlation not causation here, but saying artificial sweeteners are good for us seems (to a lesser degree) like saying vaping and smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol are good for us. These all may be okay socially or in moderation. But I am very very skeptical that chronic consumption of these products, including artificial sweeteners, is good for human health. But, to each their own.
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