A Pyramid No More: You Are A Plate of Quadrants and A Dairy Circle
Photo from ChooseMyPlate.gov
Step aside, food pyramid, there’s a new dietary guide in town: MyPlate. During a press conference on Thursday, First Lady Michelle Obama and Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released MyPlate –whose color-coded quadrants of fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein — plus dairy circle — are intended to serve as “a quick, simple reminder for all of us to be more mindful of the foods that we’re eating.” MyPlate replaces the 2005 MyPyramid and the 1992 “old school” USDA Food Pyramid, both of which have been criticized as misleading or difficult to understand (I dare say that the MyPyramid color scheme was a little reminiscent of a similarly confusing color-coded federal government alert system). MyPlate complements the federal government’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released earlier this year, which reminds consumers about:
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.
MyPlate is meant to be an “easy-to-understand visual cue.” Among the noticeable changes to the food guide are the absence of the “fats, oils, & sweets” section which once sat atop the 1992 food pyramid and the relabeling of the 2005 MyPyramid sections of “milk” to “dairy” and “meat and beans” to “protein.” The AP reports that
[t]he guidelines and the icon were subject of lobbying by food industries who want to see their products promoted and not discouraged. Fruit and vegetable growers were celebrating their victory over half of the plate Thursday, while dairy producers said they were also pleased with the cup beside it. The president of the beef industry group National Cattleman’s Beef Associaton, Bill Donald, said he is not concerned about the elimination of the word “meat” because beef is so associated with the word “protein.”
According to the New York Times, MyPlate is the brainchild of the Department of Agriculture, the First Lady’s Child Obesity Task Force, and other federal health officials. During the press conference, First Lady Obama noted that
[w]hen mom or dad comes home from a long day of work, we’re already asked to be a chef, a referee, a cleaning crew. So it’s tough to be a nutritionist, too. But we do have time to take a look at our kids’ plates. As long as they’re half full of fruits and vegetables, and paired with lean proteins, whole grains and low-fat dairy, we’re golden. That’s how easy it is.
Nutritionists cautiously welcomed MyPlate. For instance, Marion Nestle, a New York University professor, told the New York Times that
“[i]t’s better than the pyramid, but that’s not saying a lot”….
Dr. Nestle praised the plate for being generally easy to understand, but she said that labeling a large section of the plate “protein” was confusing and unnecessary, because grains and dairy products also are important sources of protein and most Americans get far more protein than they need.
But she said the emphasis on fruits and vegetables was a significant step.
Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietician in Chicago, told The Wall Street Journal Health Blog that “we went from something that was complex and hard for people to remember to something that is very visual, clear and based in science. People don’t eat off a pyramid, they eat off a plate.” Except maybe for the people who designed the original food pyramid.
It’s early days yet, folks, but I agree with Ms. Blatner. At least the food guide finally looks more like my dinner plate and less like a jumble of colors and pyramidal fragments. Be sure to click here for an article from the Los Angeles Times to learn how other countries have visualized their food guides.
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