Meet the controversial figure who could upend the food-away-from-home business

 

 

CHICAGO, November 28, 2025 —President Trump has politely characterized Laura Loomer as a “free spirit.” Members of his Make America Great Again movement have been far less kind, dismissing the prominent political commentator as a fringe personality with a loose connection to reality. 

So when Loomer dismisses a nominee for a Cabinet-level post as “a total crack pot,” ears perk up. And she's far from the only member of the observing MAGA elite to question the sensibilities and convictions of Casey Means, Trump’s head-scratcher of a choice for Surgeon General.

Yet, if confirmed, Means is expected to have a profound impact on the food-away-from-home industry. 

Hers has been the loudest voice in calling for the replacement of seed oils with tallow, olive oil, or avocado extract. Never mind that many experts conclude there’s no scientific basis for demonizing oils made from soybeans, corn, sunflower, or the other frying media currently in near-universal use. 

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have been a major target of her dire warnings about how Americans currently eat. Means contends that consumption of UPFs is at the core of America’s epidemic of bad health. Yet there’s no definition of what a UPF is.

The popular health influencer has condemned sugar in particular, asserting it’s the cause of ailments ranging from Alzheimer’s to erectile dysfunction. 

In general, Means has been sharply critical of the medical profession. She professes that she learned nothing during her medical schooling at Stanford and dismisses much of structured healthcare as a connivance of powerful corporations that care more about profits than public wellness.  

Means, age 38, is expected to push her unorthodox positions in collaboration with the like-minded Secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 

She also has a backchannel to Trump via her older brother, Calley Means, who’s just been reinstated as a White House-level advisor to the President on health matters.

Who is this brash contrarian who’s about to be named as the nation’s chief physician?  

One of the sharpest criticisms aimed at Casey Means is that she’s no longer a practicing doctor. Although she graduated with a medical degree and honors from Stanford University, she exited her five-year residency before becoming a full-fledged ears, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeon. She reportedly was turned off in Year Four by conventional medicine’s mindset of treating symptoms rather than the causes of ill health.

Means shifted her attention away from traditional healthcare to focus on what's called functional medicine, a holistic approach that views diet as a key determinant of an individual’s wellbeing. The foundation of her contrarian theories is that a person’s health pivots on the way subcellular components called mitochondria metabolize what the individual eats. 

Under the theory she and her brother put forth in a popular book called Good Energy: “The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health,” UPFs defy the normal metabolic process, leading to obesity and a host of other ailments. 

Means was so taken with the functional health theory that she launched a practice devoted to the approach. Simultaneously, she taught at Stanford and gained prominence among like-minded medical professionals with her online commentaries and public appearances.

The practice folded, and Means shifted her efforts to spreading the word about functional medicine. She also co-founded a company with her brother called Levels that marketed devices and processes for continuous glucose monitoring. 

In addition, she’s involved with a firm the elder Calley launched, called Truemed, that encourages the public to pursue better health through supplements, medical devices, and practices like ice-bath plunges.

Her nontraditional take on health is so aligned with Kennedy’s  that it’s difficult to determine who influenced whom. But the upshot is that she’s a zealous supporter of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, though with an exception or two. 

Means, for instance, has been a zealous advocate of ridding the food supply of pesticide residues. Yet there was nothing in the MAHA strategy document released in September about eliminating the chemicals from the nation’s food supply. 

Means and her brother had served in Kennedy’s ill-fated run for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of one-time Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy eventually dropped out of the race and swung his support to the Republican candidate, Trump. 

The new Administration’s first pick for Surgeon General was Janette Nesheiwat, a physician with a second career as a Fox News commentator on health. Her nomination was withdrawn by the White House after several major mistruths on Nesheiwat’s resume came to light. For instance, she had earned her medical degree from the American University of the Caribbean, not the University of Arkansas, as she’d said. Nor had she been commissioned as a military officer.

Among her most outspoken critics was Loomer, who maintained that Nesheiwat’s political orientation did not align with Trump’s.

With Kennedy’s strong urging, Means was nominated soon after Nesheiwat dropped out.

Nomination hearings for Means were scheduled to several weeks ago. In a first for a cabinet-level nominee, she was granted permission to address the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee via a telecast rather than in person. But she went into labor with her first child on the day the hearings were scheduled to begin.
A new date for her vetting by the Senate committee has yet to be set.

In the meantime, the federal government is moving ahead with three health-related endeavors that would be under Means’ purview: Hammering out a definition of UPFs; updating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans; and facilitating the addition of more healthy options to restaurant menus.

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