What is MyPlate and Its Core Purpose?
MyPlate is a nutrition guide published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides a simple, visual representation of a healthy meal. Its primary objective is to serve as a reminder for Americans to make healthier food choices and build balanced meals that align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The plate is divided into four colored sections—fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein—with a separate circle representing dairy, emphasizing that these five food groups are the key building blocks for a nutritious diet. The visual is designed to be practical, allowing individuals to use a familiar mealtime setting to help with portion control and to ensure they are consuming a variety of foods throughout the day.
The MyPlate icon's simplicity is one of its greatest strengths. It provides guidance without requiring complex calculations of calories or serving sizes, which was a common criticism of its predecessor, the Food Pyramid. The message is straightforward: fill half of your plate with fruits and vegetables, and the other half with grains and lean proteins, with a serving of dairy on the side. This intuitive approach makes healthy eating more accessible for everyone, from children learning about nutrition to adults managing their daily diet.
The Five Food Groups and Key Principles
MyPlate is built around five fundamental food groups, each with its own set of recommendations for a balanced diet:
- Fruits (Red Section): The MyPlate guide encourages focusing on whole fruits over juices, as they contain more fiber. This group includes fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruits.
- Vegetables (Green Section): This is the largest section of the plate, emphasizing the importance of vegetables for vitamins and minerals. MyPlate advises varying your veggie intake to get a wide range of nutrients, including dark green, red, orange, and starchy vegetables.
- Grains (Orange Section): MyPlate recommends making at least half of your grains whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal. Whole grains contain more fiber and nutrients than refined grains.
- Protein Foods (Purple Section): This section includes lean meats, poultry, seafood, beans, eggs, nuts, and seeds. The recommendation is to vary your protein routine to consume a diverse mix of these foods.
- Dairy (Blue Circle): This side element represents dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cheese, or fortified soy alternatives. The guidance is to choose low-fat or fat-free options to get calcium and other nutrients with less saturated fat.
These principles extend beyond the plate to include other important dietary habits, such as choosing foods and beverages with less added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium. The benefits of following these guidelines, bite by bite, accumulate over time.
MyPlate vs. The Food Pyramid
MyPlate was specifically developed to address the shortcomings and complexities of the old Food Pyramid. The following table highlights the key differences between the two guides:
| Feature | MyPlate | Food Pyramid (MyPyramid) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Visual | A simple dinner plate | A complex, multi-tiered pyramid |
| Focus | Portions and balance on a meal-by-meal basis | Daily serving recommendations for food groups |
| Ease of Use | Intuitive and easy to understand at a glance | Often criticized for being too complex and hard to apply |
| Key Message | Half your plate should be fruits and vegetables | Emphasized grains as the largest bottom tier |
| Fat & Sugar | No specific category; recommends limiting them | A small top tier representing fats, oils, and sweets |
MyPlate's design makes it easier for people to visualize a healthy meal in real-time, right on their plate, without having to remember specific serving numbers. This shift from a vertical hierarchy to a proportional plate graphic made the guidance more practical and immediately actionable.
MyPlate Resources and Personalization
Beyond the icon itself, the MyPlate initiative offers a variety of free tools and resources to help people build healthy eating habits. These tools are designed to provide personalized guidance and make healthy living more manageable:
- MyPlate Plan: This tool creates a personalized eating plan based on an individual's age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level, showing what and how much to eat from each food group within a calorie allowance.
- Start Simple with MyPlate App: This mobile application helps users set daily food goals and track their progress in real-time, awarding badges as they go.
- MyPlate Kitchen: This resource provides a collection of healthy, budget-friendly recipes, complete with detailed nutrition analysis to help consumers choose meals that meet their goals.
- Shop Simple with MyPlate: This tool offers cost-saving tips for grocery shopping and provides new ways to prepare nutritious foods on a budget.
MyPlate’s modern, customizable approach acknowledges that not everyone has the same dietary needs or preferences. The tools support individuals in creating healthy choices that work for their specific lifestyle, budget, and cultural preferences. The program’s simplicity and widespread availability through various platforms, including a dedicated website and mobile apps, have made it a widely used and effective tool for nutrition education.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the best description of the purpose of MyPlate is to serve as a simple, visual reminder to help individuals build healthy, balanced meals by allocating portions to the five key food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy. Unlike its predecessor, the Food Pyramid, MyPlate offers an intuitive, plate-based model that prioritizes a balanced diet over complex calculations. By making half of the plate fruits and vegetables and providing a wealth of personalized resources online, MyPlate empowers Americans to make informed, practical choices for better health and nutrition every day.
Comparison of MyPlate and the Food Pyramid
| Feature | MyPlate | Food Pyramid |
|---|---|---|
| Core Idea | A visual plate guide for mealtime proportions. | A tiered pyramid showing a hierarchy of food groups. |
| Food Groups | Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein, Dairy. | Grains, Vegetables, Fruits, Milk/Dairy, Meat/Beans, Fats/Oils/Sweets. |
| Guidance | Focuses on a simple visual of what to put on your plate. | Required understanding of a specific number of servings from each group. |
| Primary Message | Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. | Emphasized grains at the large base of the pyramid. |
| Modernity | Introduced in 2011, reflecting current dietary science. | Introduced in 1992 and updated in 2005; criticized for being outdated. |
MyPlate Resources
- MyPlate Plan Calculator: A personalized tool to determine your daily food group targets based on your specific demographic information.
- Start Simple with MyPlate App: An application for setting and tracking daily food goals on your smartphone.
- MyPlate Kitchen: A database of healthy, budget-friendly recipes from the USDA.
- Shop Simple with MyPlate: Offers tips and resources for making healthier food choices while on a budget.
- MyPlate Quizzes and Tip Sheets: Educational materials for learning more about the food groups and healthy eating habits.
