After decades of the food pyramid, Americans can look to a new model for healthy eating, ‘MyPlate’, the new symbol of proper nutrition from the USDA which was announced Thursday. As Brian Vastag reported:
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After devoting decades to designing a pyramid, then honing and refining that design, the nation’s nutrition experts have settled on what they believe is the perfect geometry to represent what we should eat — a plate.
Arriving in the midst of an obesity epidemic, this new at-a-glance guide to healthful eating is meant to remind consumers to limit heavy foods and beef up on the greens.
“MyPlate” promotes fruits and vegetables, which cover half the circle. Grains occupy an additional quarter, as do proteins such as meat, fish and poultry. A glass of milk rests to the side. Desserts have been banished to the desert.
At a media-heavy roll-out Thursday morning at USDA headquarters, the famously foodie first lady presided. With the White House vegetable garden in full leaf, Michelle Obama armed her crusade against the country’s obesity problem with what nutritionists and food lobbyists are already calling a powerful image.
“It’s brilliant in its simplicity,” said Robb MacKie, head of the American Bakers Association, which represents bread makers. “It’s something the average American can look at and get a visual feel for how they can fill up a plate at a meal.”
To avoid upstaging the first lady, the USDA made a select group of academics and food industry representatives sign non-disclosure forms at a private unveiling of the image three weeks ago, several sources said. Still, word leaked, leading to early rave reviews from hard-to-please corners of the foodieverse – and sighs of relief that the food plate’s predecessor, USDA’s confusing MyPyramid, had finally been dismantled.
USDA officials have said the old ‘MyPyramid’ was too complex and did not give people an easy way to compare their meals to the ideal balance recommended. As AP explained:
USDA officials say the pyramid was tired out, overly complex and tried to communicate too many different nutrition facts at once. The new symbol, unveiled Thursday at the department with first lady Michelle Obama in attendance, is simple and gives diners an idea of what should be on their plates when they sit down at the dinner table.
“It’s grabbing the consumers’ attention that we are after this time, not making it so complicated that perhaps it is a turnoff,” said Robert Post of USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. “There is something really inviting about this familiar setting for meal time.”
The department is planning to use social media as one way of grabbing attention, posting advice every day on Twitter, for example. The accompanying website, choosemyplate.gov, will be written on the chart. It will eventually feature interactive tools that help people manage their weight and track exercise.
Post, who has spent two years developing the plate and the website, said the new chart is designed to be “more artistic and attractive” and to serve as a visual cue for diners.
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