Jessica Knurick

“If they’re actually following the policies, it’s pretty impossible to say that anything’s actually gone in a positive way.”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick says it is hard to identify any positive outcomes from the Maha movement's policies so far.

“Instead of actually talking about the genuine problems and the genuine causes of the problems, we have to be distracted by red dyes and seed oils and this idea that all of our public health institutions are corrupt – because the goal of this administration was to defund our public health institutions and other federal agencies. So if you have a movement that can erode trust even further in those public health institutions, which we see Kennedy doing, that really helps the administration to then be able to defund the public health institutions.”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick argues that the Maha movement distracts from real problems and erodes trust in public health institutions to help the administration defund them.

“It does make it difficult to preach healthy eating when those foods are just inaccessible to a big portion of this country.”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick says healthy eating is hard to preach when healthy foods are inaccessible to many Americans.

“It’s been almost two years, so it’s hard to say, ‘well, we haven’t had enough time to do anything yet,’”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick notes that after nearly two years, the Maha movement cannot claim it lacked time to act.

“The policies that we’re enacting are the exact opposite policies one might look to to help people eat healthier,”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick criticizes current food policies as counterproductive to healthy eating.

“because they can’t navigate an increasingly complicated system”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick explains that new Snap requirements have caused about 5 million people to lose benefits.

“It’s just laughable, to be honest, and it’s frustrating,”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick calls the Maha movement's focus on flipping the food pyramid laughable given that most Americans never followed dietary guidelines.

“Those things don’t align, and I can go down the list where most of what the Maha movement says they want is not aligned with the actual policies we’re seeing come out of this administration.”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick argues that Maha's stated goals conflict with the actual policies of the Trump administration.

“When you come in and say ‘we’re going to make America healthy again by swapping out red dye 40 and putting a natural red dye in Skittles,’ it just defies any real understanding of nutrition science,”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick criticizes the Maha approach of swapping synthetic dyes for natural ones as showing no real understanding of nutrition science.

“But the people at the top of that movement very much used it as a political movement,”

Jessica Knurick · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Knurick says Maha leaders co-opted the movement for political purposes.