MyPlate Replaces USDA’s Food Pyramid Model

 On Thursday, June 2, 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the overhaul of our nation’s most well-known, but ultimately complex and confusing nutritional guidelines, the Food Pyramid.  The MyPlate model was the outcome of a push by the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity to design a simple, kid-friendly and useful tool for children and adults alike. 

Food and Nutrition Guidelines began in 1916, but the idea of an icon for food choices didn’t begin until 1940 when the first Nutritional Wheel was unveiled.  Since then the Food Pyramid (which showed up in 1992) has undergone various changes and modifications. The aim of redesigning the old Food Pyramid was to simplify the manner in which the essential recommended nutritional information is conveyed to the public.

The new icon represents a simplified concept that fits today’s fast-paced lifestyles, and encourages parents and children alike to look at their plate of food and consider if they have made the healthiest choices available to them. According to Mrs. Obama, who is implementing these new guidelines in her own family, “As long as they’re eating proper portions, as long as half of their meal is fruits and vegetables alongside their lean proteins, whole grains and low-fat dairy, then we’re good.  It’s as simple as that.” 

Along with an emphasis on proper portions, avoiding empty calories, and getting at least one hour of exercise a day, the MyPlate guidelines include very basic steps to better nutrition:

• Balance calories
• Increase fruits & vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat (1%) dairy
• Reduce sodium (salt) intake
• Drink more water

The MyPlate website has also been redesigned to make nutritional information easier to locate and understand.  New sections include guidance for various targeted audiences, such as pregnant women, nursing moms, preschoolers and kids (still to come).  A section devoted to healthy weight loss is also included.  Beyond that, parents can find sample menus, recipes, and a guide to what empty calorie foods to avoid (as well as healthful alternate choices).  There is also section on food planning, dietary guidelines, a Food-a-pedia and even a calculator for the basic costs of raising a child.

Photo:  USDA 

Mrs. Obama stressed that this new nutritional tool, while a significant step forward, is only one of the goals set one year ago when her Let’s Move! campaign got it’s start.  The campaign has multiple goals that still need immediate attention, and Mrs. Obama outlined some of the most challenging of those goals during her press conference. 

• To assure our children grow up healthy
• To end our country’s epidemic of childhood obesity
• To make it easier to children and adults to make choices that will help them live healthier lives

Photo: Medline Plus

Wisely, she recognized the limitations that any national icon can have in resolving some of the more serious underlying issues of obesity in the USA today.  We still need to find ways to ensure that all communities in the USA have access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables.  How do we motivate the majority of our children [who seem to be growing up behind the computer screen instead of on the playground] to get at least one hour of physical activity a day? Perhaps one of the most difficult issues to address is how to successfully educate parents, caregivers, school nutritionalists and fast-food industries of their critical role in helping our youth make healthy food choices. 

As a parent and a grandparent, I am looking at my responsibility more seriously, and need to honestly change some of the unhealthy habits that I have incorporated into my busy schedule.  Modeling healthy choices to my grandchildren will take intentionality, but in the process we both will benefit.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about the new MyPlate concept.  Is this is a step in the right direction, or off course completely?  What is the hardest part of designing healthy balanced meals in your own household?