On June 1st, 2011, to the surprise of almost nobody, the government replaced the old food pyramid symbol with a plate, MyPlate. It makes sense. We eat off plates, not off pyramids, although we could see with earlier versions of the food pyramid how we were supposed to "build" our daily diet. The last iteration of the food pyramid--an undoubtedly colorful and striped creation--shed little light on what and how much we were supposed to eat, unless you were one of the few who bothered to go online to figure it out. The new plate symbol is clearer, and shows us what proportion of the plate should be filled with what kinds of food (OK, protein is a nutrient not a food). The icon is accompanied by the following key messages, aimed at helping us interpret the symbol and explaining how we can eat more healthfully. It meshes very well with eating low fat.
Balancing Calories
- Enjoy your food, but eat less.
- Avoid oversized portions.
Foods to Increase
- Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
- Make at least half your grains whole grains.
- Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
Foods to Reduce
- Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.
- Drink water instead of sugary drinks.
The first of the three messages makes the point that food is to be enjoyed but that we shouldn’t overindulge (make MyPlate a small one!). The second focuses on what our plates should like, with perhaps less emphasis on whole grains than some nutritionists would like. The final category offers two key things to reduce: sodium and sugary drinks. An explicit message to reduce salty snacks would have been a useful point to make, too.
Still, if we start by focusing on what our plates ought to like, and make half the plate fruits and vegetables, we will be well on our way to eating more healthfully, assuming we're not big snackers. Here, there's really not a lot of dietary advice offered for what we eat between meals, unless you happen to go online to to personalize your plate, where you will find a small mention of how many "empty calories" you may eat for your age, sex, weight and level of physical activity.
Indeed, to make full use of MyPlate, you really do need to go online to find out how many ounces of grains and protein, and cups of vegetables or fruits you would need for your sex, height and weight. My personal data yields a suggested 2,200 calorie intake, with 7 ounces of grains, half of which should be whole grain, three cups of vegetables, two cups of fruit, three cups of diary, and six ounces of protein. I can have up to six teaspoons of oils and consume up to 270 calories in so-called empty calories (sweets etc).
Even if we don't have the time, inclination, or means to customize MyPlate, and most people probably won't, there's enough visual guidance in the new symbol to help us eat better. In this, MyPlate is a vast improvement over its immediate predecessor, the striped MyPyramid. Nutritionists and diet experts will continue to spar over the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans on which MyPlate is based, but overall, the new plate looks to be a healthy one.
