Tag Archives: MyPlate

5 Balanced Dinner Menus to Fill Your MyPlate Icon

With the recent announcement that the food pyramid will be replaced by the new MyPlate icon, Americans are more aware than ever that it’s time to start eating their vegetables.

While the plate icon offers a visual, user-friendly guide to help people make better food choices, some of the 2024 Dietary Guidelines, like eating more fish, beans and whole grains, are not addressed.

Before you start cooking dinners based on MyPlate, keep the size of your plate in mind and check your portion sizes. According to the Mayo Clinic, reasonable portion sizes include:

  • One serving of protein should be three to six ounces (three for women, six for men) and about the size of a deck of playing cards.
  • One serving of whole grains should be the equivalent of one slice of bread, 1/3 cup brown rice or 1/2 cup whole-wheat pasta.
  • One serving of dairy is equivalent to an 8 ounce glass of milk or 1 ounce cheese (about the size of four dice).
  • One serving of fruit and vegetables should be approximately 1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw.

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Posted on June 14, 2023 by Maris

New USDA MyPlate Icon Fills Plate With Less, Says Cheryl Forberg, RD

Cheryl Forberg, RD is a James Beard Award-winning chef, New York Times best-selling author, and nutritionist for NBC’s “The Biggest Loser.” Her latest book is “Flavor First,” which can find out more about at Flavorfirst.com. You can follow her on Twitter @cherylforbergrd.

Why were nutritionists so happy when the USDA announced the food pyramid was dead?

When the USDA in 1992 released the food pyramid we’ve all become familiar with, many nutritionists voiced concerns with the diagram. The large base of bread, cereal and grains just gave the impression that you were supposed to eat so much more from that group. Encouraging people to eat so many grains and carbs, nutritionists argued, paved the road to an obesity epidemic.

The original pyramid had long been unpopular and in 2005 it was replaced with a new logo called MyPyramid, a nearly impenetrable glyph depicting a stick figure running up steps on the side of a vertical striped pyramid. Sensitive to fears that the hierarchy of the original could lead to an improper balance, the USDA abstracted the image and turned the breakdowns on their side. The running figure was meant to to remind people that exercise was an important component of proper diet and nutrition. Too bad nobody paid much attention to the essentially meaningless graphic.

Thursday, First Lady Michelle Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin unveiled the USDA’s new food icon, replacing the confusing pyramid with MyPlate. (more…)

Posted on June 3, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Michelle Obama Launches MyPlate to Help America Get Healthy

Michelle Obama at MyPlate Unveiling This morning Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled the new MyPlate icon, which is replacing the food pyramid. Surgeon General Benjamin opened the remarks, explaining how the U.S. needs to help citizens lead healthy lifestyles, by giving them concrete steps towards improving their health. Besides telling Americans to cut down on sugar, sodium and saturated fats, she says she hopes the new icon will be a tool to help people understand what they can do to improve their diets.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack introduced a short video that highlighted some of the ways the new icon can help families make better choices and introduced MyPlate.gov, a website dedicated to helping Americans eat healthier meals. He described the old food pyramid as “too complex to serve as a quick and easy guide” and explains that MyPlate is a simple, visual, research-based icon built on the 2024 dietary guidelines.

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Posted on June 2, 2023 by Margaret