It was announced this morning that the much-derided USDA "food pyramid" has gone the way of the Pharaohs and will be replaced by a simpler "nutrition plate" that for the first time emphasizes vegetables over all other food groups.

The new system is designed to help Americans choose the ratio of food groups in their meals in order to have a healthy diet, get the right nutrition, and not be so obese.

The plate is divided into four sections: vegetables, fruit, grains, and protein. A smaller "side cup" is for dairy.

First released in 1992, the original food pyramid drew criticism for appearing to suggest that carbs be the biggest part of your diet. The grains portion occupied the bottom level of the pyramid and was much wider than all the others.

An update in 2005 tried to address concerns by splitting the pyramid into a serious of vertical rays rather than horizontal blocks. Most of the shafts were the same width, except meat and beans was slightly smaller and "oils" was very skinny.

The new graphic is part of a new wellness campaign located at ChooseMyPlate.gov that makes several other recommendations for healthy eating habits, like enjoying your food but eating less, avoiding oversized portions, and drinking water instead of soda.

Considering the suggested diet is very different from how many Americans eat, it will be interesting to see how they react.

What do you guys think about this?

USDA's MyPlate - Home page



Source:
"Nutrition Plate" Replaces "Food Pyramid" - The Consumerist

Mike

Next I'd like to see nutrition labels that make any kind of sense. With my recent diet, I've been reading labels more closely and standing at the damn grocery store holding six packages of rice trying to figure out which one is truly the healthiest can take 10 minutes.

First, the per serving size is always different from product to product, so you need to bring you calculator to convert the calories/grams.

Second, stuff marketed as healthier (ie "whole grain") often times will have higher calories, they just change the label to a smaller portion (less grams) to make it appear lower calories at first glance.

Third, does anyone ever, ever! eat "one serving" ??? In an age where a can of soda is divided into more than one serving, this should be illegal. Where do they get these serving sizes?

Last, where is the nutrition label that actually helps me make informed decisions about all the crap inside the product I am eating. Without reading 500 ingredients per label, there really should be some regulation when a product is marketed as a healthy alternative or low fat, low calorie, etc etc.

Mike