Food Pyramid Out, 'MyPlate' Graphic In

Home cooking and families eating together at the dinner table used to be a given. 

But times have changed. With many families having two working parents and numerous extracurricular activities, family dinner time moves to the back burner.

Drive-through restaurants and carry-out meals are now the norm, and many American physiques are paying the price, as both children and adults are carrying too much weight and not getting the nutrition they really need.

In an effort to make a positive difference in the lives and health of American children, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have taken on the task of coming up with an encouraging reminder to help consumers make better choices in their diets. In June, the pair unveiled the federal government's new food logo, MyPlate, as an inspiration for Americans to make healthier choices in what they put on plates.

“This is a quick, simple reminder for all of us to be more mindful of the foods that we’re eating and as a mom, I can already tell how much this is going to help parents across the country,” Michelle Obama said in a news release. “When 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.”

The new MyPlate icon emphasizes fruit, vegetables, grains, protein and dairy food groups.

“With so many food options available to consumers, it is often difficult to determine the best foods to put on our plates when building a healthy meal,” Vilsack said in the news release. “MyPlate is an uncomplicated symbol to help remind people to think about their food choices in order to lead healthier lifestyles. This effort is about more than just giving information, it is a matter of making people understand there are options and practical ways to apply them to their daily lives.”

ChooseMyPlate.gov makes it easy for individuals to understand how to build healthier diets, and serves as a valuable tool for health professionals and educators in getting the message across to consumers and children. In other words, it is user-friendly nutrition information for everyone.

Also coming up this year, the United States Department of Agriculture will release a new online tool that consumers can use to personalize and manage their dietary and physical activity choices.

First Lady Obama will be collaborating with the department of agriculture in promoting MyPlate as well as the LetsMove initiative. A set of guideline suggestions include:

• Enjoy your food, but eat less.
• Avoid over-sized portions.
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1 percent) milk.
• Make at least half your grains whole grains.
• Compare sodium (salt) in foods like soup, bread and frozen meals, and choose foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Registered Dietitian Tena Daniel holds a master’s degree in nutrition from the University of Georgia, is a certified diabetes educator and weight management counselor with 17 years of experience coaching people to healthier diet and lifestyles. She said the new tool is wonderful but there is much more to weight management and healthy eating than an icon alone can provide.

"It will be a great tool to help people to eat healthfully especially when accompanied with the expert individualized advice provided by a registered dietitian (RD),” Daniel said. "The visual representations on the plate can support nutrition messages provided by RDs and the American Dietetic Association. However, no one symbol can serve as a stand-alone consumer nutrition education tool. It needs to be combined with easy-to-understand messages, motivational and educational tools.”

Daniel hopes the new program will encourage those with nutritional problems, such as weight control, high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, renal issues, celiac disease and other conditions, to not only be advised on nutrition through the icon, but that it will also encourage those consumers to seek guidance from licenced dieticians.

"However, for those without health issues or for those not struggling to lose weight," Daniel said, "the MyPlate icon is an easy-to-understand visual aide."

Leslie Grant, founder and "Mother Hen" of Georgia-based Chickin Feed was thrilled that the old Food Pyramid received a makeover.

"I thought the food pyramid was pretty un-intuitive and therefore pretty ineffective,” Grant said. “I'm very glad that the first lady inspired the USDA to rework their tools. MyPlate is a good visual reference for folks to follow, but I think the one most important step we can all take is to eat food much closer to where it's grown and to try to relate to our families over a meal.

“Those two things combined with half a plate of fruit and vegetables will go a very long way towards improving all our health,” Grant said.