San Diego, CA
Opinion: As a cardiologist, I know the dietary guidelines are failing our hearts
Heart disease — affecting almost half of American adults — is the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming 700,000 lives each year.

As a practicing cardiologist for more than 20 years, I’ve watched patients do everything “by the book.” They eat according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans — the federal government’s blueprint for nutrition policy — and still see their weight climb, blood pressure rise, and heart health deteriorate.
The problem isn’t their effort. It’s the guidance itself, which promotes high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets that can actually worsen metabolic health, which can in turn worsen heart disease. Many assume that by following the government’s recommendations they can improve their health — but, too often, the opposite is true.
With the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines scheduled for release this month, we have a critical opportunity to move beyond outdated orthodoxy and align federal nutrition policy with modern science and clinical experience. Done right, this update can turn back the tide of chronic illness and save lives.
Since 1980, the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services have issued the Dietary Guidelines every five years. These recommendations shape not only personal choices but also the food in school cafeterias, military mess halls, hospitals and nursing homes. They inform SNAP and WIC benefits, nutrition education, and even the labels on grocery store shelves.
From the start, however, the guidelines steered Americans in the wrong direction. They marked a sharp departure from prior eating patterns by encouraging Americans to cut back on natural dietary fats and rely more heavily on refined high-carbohydrate foods. Saturated fat — and cholesterol by extension — were unjustly stigmatized, while bread, pasta and cereal became staples of the American diet.
The recommendations were not made with a metabolically vulnerable population in mind. For people already struggling with insulin resistance, obesity or diabetes, a high-carbohydrate diet frequently only compounds the problem by driving up insulin, promoting visceral fat storage around vital organs, and fueling a cycle of weight gain and chronic disease.
Four decades later, the guidelines remain out of step with science and with the health needs of the majority of Americans. They impose arbitrary caps on saturated fat, despite evidence showing no consistent link to higher rates of heart disease or mortality. They recommend dietary protein well below optimal levels for most populations. And they direct Americans to get 45-65% of their calories from carbohydrates — sidelining low-carb or ketogenic diet options proven to support weight loss, stabilize blood sugar, and reduce the risk factors that drive heart disease.
Americans are being pushed toward metabolically damaging eating patterns.
Today, 93% of Americans live with metabolic dysfunction — meaning their bodies struggle to convert food into energy efficiently. This breakdown in basic metabolic processes fuels the country’s epidemic of chronic disease. More than 75% of Americans are now overweight or obese. Heart disease mortality rates have increased from the 2010s to the 2020s, even as cholesterol levels have steadily fallen.
Put plainly: Federal nutrition policy has fallen far short of making Americans healthier. I know this to be true not only from statistics but from my own patients’ journeys. Many of them ate exactly as federal guidance prescribed and still found themselves gaining weight and developing hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. For years, I resisted the idea that fault could lie with the guidelines.
Like most physicians, I was trained to be wary of fat and to consider carbohydrates as the foundation of a healthy diet. I dismissed suggestions that a low-carb or ketogenic diet could improve cardiovascular outcomes.
But then I tried it myself — and my own weight, cardiovascular markers, and energy improved. When I cautiously introduced the approach to my patients, I saw transformations I couldn’t ignore: their insulin sensitivity, blood sugar levels and blood pressure began to improve. These changes struck at the true drivers of coronary heart disease — metabolic dysfunction, obesity and type 2 diabetes — all stronger predictors than cholesterol levels.
Their lives changed without a scalpel or a prescription. And their experiences mirrored what the science was increasingly showing: that the old low-fat, high-starch model had it backwards.
A review of randomized trials found that low-carbohydrate diets significantly improved weight, blood sugar and blood pressure — the very risk factors that drive heart disease.
Another analysis comparing different levels of carbohydrate restriction showed consistent benefits across degrees of reduction. And, in patients with type 2 diabetes, ketogenic approaches have dramatically lowered average blood sugar as measured by HbA1c — a long-term measure of glucose control — while delivering substantial weight loss, all changes known to reduce cardiovascular complications.
Yet our national guidelines remain stuck in an outdated paradigm.
The upcoming 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines offers a chance to finally get it right — to align federal recommendations with the latest, most rigorous evidence. That means prioritizing whole foods, removing limits on saturated fats, optimizing protein intake, and including low-carbohydrate and ketogenic options for the metabolically vulnerable.
The nation’s leading killer isn’t inevitable. If the Dietary Guidelines are updated to reflect modern science, millions of Americans could soon be on the path to reclaiming their heart health.
Bret Scher, MD, is a board-certified cardiologist and lipidologist, and the founding medical director of the Coalition for Metabolic Health.
San Diego, CA
Judge sentences rapper to time served in 2023 San Diego arrest
Rapper Boosie Badazz was sentenced Friday to credit for time served in the case stemming from his 2023 arrest in San Diego for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The 43-year-old, whose real name is Torence Ivy Hatch Jr., was arrested in Chollas View after police found two guns inside a vehicle in which he was riding.
Hatch was in town to shoot a music video and perform at a Gaslamp Quarter nightclub.
In a social media video clip recorded during the video shoot, Hatch was spotted with a gun in his waistband. Police then used a helicopter to track down his vehicle, after which officers conducted a traffic stop and discovered the firearms.
He pleaded guilty to a federal gun possession count last year. As part of his sentence, Hatch will also serve 300 hours of community service.
Defense attorney Meghan Blanco said in a statement released after Friday’s hearing, “The resolution brings a sense of relief, allowing him to finally put this chapter behind him. He can now focus on continuing his music career, dedicating time to his family, and being a positive and inspiring presence for his children and the wider community.”
Federal prosecutors sought a two-year prison sentence, arguing in court papers that custody was warranted due to Hatch’s “insistence on carrying a weapon despite his status as a convicted felon” and allegations that he threatened his security detail shortly after his arrest.
Blanco, in her sentencing memorandum, denied any such threats occurred, noting that the statements are not included in any police reports stemming from the arrest and that no recorded evidence of the threats exist.
The defense attorney wrote that Hatch’s gun was never fired, brandished or used to threaten anyone. She also said there have been no allegations that the weapons were intended for any other offense and that Hatch’s last criminal case had occurred around 10 years prior.
“The case represents an isolated lapse in judgment, not a pattern of ongoing criminal conduct,” Blanco wrote.
Hatch was initially charged by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. His defense attorneys have stated that Hatch intended to plead guilty at the time and was expected to be sentenced to probation, but the state’s case was dismissed before that plea deal could be reached and federal prosecutors took up the case.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Bencivengo, who sentenced Hatch on Friday, previously dismissed the case against him following a 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that said it was unconstitutional to prohibit convicted felons who served sentences for nonviolent drug offenses from possessing firearms.
But a larger panel of the 9th Circuit overturned its earlier ruling and San Diego federal prosecutors re-filed the charges against Hatch.
Hatch was previously convicted in Louisiana of marijuana possession. He also was indicted in an alleged murder-for-hire plot, but was acquitted by a Baton Rouge jury in 2012.
San Diego, CA
Mayor Gloria defends Balboa Park paid parking, blames council for rocky rollout
San Diego will put off issuing citations for paid parking in Balboa Park for about one month while improvements are made, but Mayor Todd Gloria says the new system is functioning well and being “actively adopted.”
In a long and harshly worded memo released Thursday, Gloria said recent calls by City Council members to suspend the program were politically motivated and examples of bad governance and erratic decision-making.
Gloria also deflected blame for the chaotic way enforcement began Monday, when city officials raced to put stickers about resident discounts on parking kiosks and lobbied a vendor to deliver crucial missing signs.
The mayor said the council had “shaped, amended and approved” paid parking in Balboa Park and contended an accelerated timeline chosen by the council made it hard for his administration to implement it flawlessly.
The mayor’s memo came in response to a Tuesday memo from Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera in which they called implementation of paid parking “haphazard” and “not ready for prime time.”
Lee and Elo-Rivera said the process for city residents to get approved for discounts was so complex, cumbersome and confusing that Gloria should waive fees for residents until they have had time to adapt and learn.
While Gloria rejected that suggestion in part of his memo, he later said “enforcement remains focused on education, not punishment, during this early phase, to ensure park users are aware of the new parking fees.”
Dave Rolland, a spokesperson for Gloria, said Thursday that no specific date had been set for when the city would shift from education to enforcement. But he added that “about a month” would be an accurate timeline.
City officials have already corrected one key mistake: Signs that were missing Monday — alerting drivers that the 951-space lower Inspiration Point lot is free for three hours — have since been installed.
Lee and Elo-Rivera in their memo decried “an inadequate effort to educate the public on how to use this new system.”
They said San Diegans had not been clearly informed about when a portal for city resident discounts would go live or how to use it.
And they complained that residents weren’t told they couldn’t buy discounted parking passes in person, or when enforcement with citations would actually begin.
City residents must apply for discounts online, pay $5 to have their residency verified, then wait two days for that verification and choose the day they will visit in advance.
Lee and Elo-Rivera called the city’s efforts “a haphazard rollout that will surely lead to San Diegans missing out on their resident discount and paying higher parking rates than they have to.”
Gloria said the city collected $23,000 in parking fees on Monday and Tuesday and another $106,000 in daily, monthly and quarterly passes — mostly from residents who get discounts on such passes.
“Early data shows that the program is functioning and being used,” he said. “These are not the metrics of a system that is failing to function. They are the metrics of a system that is new, actively being adopted, and continuing to improve as public familiarity increases.”
While Gloria conceded that some improvements are still necessary, he rejected calls from Lee and Elo-Rivera for a suspension, citing his concerns it would jeopardize city finances and confuse the public.
“Your proposal to suspend paid parking for residents two days into the new program would have immediate and serious fiscal consequences,” Gloria said. “This reversal could introduce confusion among park users and would disregard investments already made to establish the system, potentially compromising the program’s effectiveness.”
Paid parking in Balboa Park is expected to generate about $3.7 million during the fiscal year that ends June 30, but revenue is expected to rise substantially when the fees are in place for a full fiscal year.
Gloria said the money is a small part of the city’s overall solution to recurring deficits it faces of more than $100 million per year.
“What we will not do is reverse course days into implementation in a way that undermines fiscal stability, creates uncertainty, and sends the message that addressing a decades-old structural budget deficit that has plagued our city is optional because it is politically uncomfortable,” he said. “That kind of erratic decision-making is not good governance, and San Diegans deserve better.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo said Thursday that paid parking there has continued to go smoothly since it began on Monday.
The zoo, which is using Ace Parking for enforcement, opted for immediate citations instead of an educational grace period.
San Diego, CA
Barricaded individual in custody following police response in Mission Valley
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego Police responded to a barricaded individual in the Mission Valley area Thursday afternoon, prompting a heavy law enforcement presence.
- The Nexstar Media video above details resources for crime victims
The department confirmed around 1 p.m. that officers were on scene in the 1400 block of Hotel Circle North, and are working to safely resolve the situation. Authorities asked the public to avoid the area and allow officers the space needed to conduct their operations.
Police described the incident as a domestic violence restraining order violation. At this time, it’s unknown if the person is armed.
No injuries have been reported.
The suspect was taken into custody within an hour.
Further details about the barricaded person were not immediately released. Police say updates will be shared as more information becomes available.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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