MAHA Movement: Influencer's Tip to Revolutionize Your Diet Starts with Ditching One Key Ingredient

A prominent voice in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement is sharing insights into its rapid growth and dispelling common misconceptions, offering simple ways to integrate its core principles into daily life. Alex Clark, founder of the health and wellness podcast "Culture Apothecary," says she's been on the MAHA train since way back in 2021, even before Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointment as President Trump's Health and Human Services secretary on February 13, 2025. "What's funny is, I guess I was doing MAHA — before it was MAHA — in 2021," she told Fox News Digital. Clark, also a contributor to Turning Point USA, says her journey began during the pandemic. "I was completely radicalized on pharma and food during the pandemic," she stated. This led her to question pharmaceutical companies and then "big food" and organic options. She's now engaging her audience, primarily young conservative women aged 25 to 35, in MAHA discussions. Clark emphasizes the historical roots of MAHA, noting, "The original MAHA people were actually crunchy, liberal feminist hippies in the '60s and '70s. It was never conservatives." She challenges the notion that it's solely a right-wing movement, pointing out that many in her audience are embracing these principles. She also highlights the growing involvement of mothers in the MAHA movement: "There's nobody that's going to fight harder than a mom who's dealing with a sick child," said Clark. "They will do anything. They are desperate. They want help. They want change." Clark suggests that adopting a MAHA mentality doesn't have to be overwhelming. A simple first step? Focus on eliminating one ingredient at a time. "Pick one ingredient that you want to learn about," she advises. "Let's say in the news you've heard people talking about artificial food dyes or seed oils — and you don't know anything about any of this stuff." She recommends becoming familiar with that ingredient, learning how to identify it on labels, and then removing all products containing it from your home. This process may take weeks or even months, but the goal is to confidently recognize and avoid that ingredient. Once mastered, you can move on to others, like natural flavors or additional food dyes. "You can always make sure, 100% of the time, that you're avoiding things like seed oils and artificial dyes," she said. "Eat real food, whole food, all lowercase letters – whole foods." She advocates for prioritizing whole foods like apples, grass-fed beef, chicken breast, eggs, asparagus, green beans, and oranges. While organic is ideal, she notes that even conventionally farmed whole foods are better than ultra-processed options. "If the American mom can first pick an ingredient to focus on, to learn about — or just focus on eating real foods — that's the best place to start in cooking meals at home," she said. Clark believes this shift will prompt major food corporations to eliminate harmful ingredients, especially in school lunches. She cites California's ban on artificial dyes in schools and Texas's similar efforts, predicting that these changes will force food companies to reformulate their products nationwide. "You cannot be making [your product] for all [the rest] of the 48 states," Clark said. It's about time, right?!