What are the recommendations made by the MyPlate food guidance system?

October 15, 2025 •

4 min read

The average American diet often contains excess saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars, and is lacking in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The MyPlate food guidance system, developed by the USDA, helps consumers visualize and apply the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This visual guide simplifies healthy eating, focusing on the five major food groups and providing actionable tips for healthier choices.

Quick Summary

The MyPlate food guidance system, created by the USDA, provides visual recommendations for balancing meals based on five key food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. Fill half the plate with fruits and vegetables, and the other half with grains and protein, accompanied by dairy. The guidelines emphasize making healthy food choices within each category, such as choosing whole grains and lean proteins.

Key Points

Visual Tool: The MyPlate graphic simplifies dietary guidelines into a visual format of a place setting with four food groups and a dairy cup.
Make Half Your Plate Fruits and Vegetables: Prioritize fruits and vegetables to fill half of your plate, emphasizing varied colors and whole fruits over juice.
Make Half Your Grains Whole Grains: For the grains portion, opt for whole-grain versions of foods like bread, rice, and pasta at least half the time.
Vary Your Protein: Fill the protein section with a variety of choices, including lean meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, beans, nuts, and seeds.
Go Low-Fat or Fat-Free with Dairy: Choose low-fat or fat-free options for milk, yogurt, and cheese, or use fortified plant-based alternatives.
Limit Sugary Drinks and Unhealthy Foods: Minimize consumption of foods and drinks high in added sugars, sodium, and saturated fats.
Use Personalized Tools: The official MyPlate website provides tools to create a personalized eating plan based on individual needs and activity levels.
Practice Portion Control: Pay attention to portion sizes to manage calorie intake effectively.

The MyPlate food guidance system is a visual tool created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help individuals implement the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Unveiled in 2011, MyPlate replaced the previous Food Pyramid and offers a simpler, more intuitive approach to portioning meals. The graphic features a dinner plate divided into sections for fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein, with a separate cup for dairy. It serves as a reminder to eat healthfully by focusing on variety, balance, and moderation. The system translates complex dietary science into an easy-to-understand image, empowering individuals to make healthier food choices.

The core MyPlate food groups and their recommendations

MyPlate's recommendations center around five key food groups, each providing essential nutrients for overall health. The advice is not about restricting foods but about optimizing the nutritional quality of what you eat every day.

Vegetables

This is the largest section of the MyPlate graphic, highlighting the importance of vegetables in the diet.

Vary your veggies: MyPlate encourages eating a wide variety of vegetables from different subgroups, including dark-green, red and orange, starchy, beans and peas, and others. This ensures a broad range of vitamins and minerals.
Choose fresh, frozen, or canned: All forms of vegetables count towards your daily intake. If opting for canned, choose low-sodium or no-salt-added varieties.

Fruits

This section is slightly smaller than vegetables but, together, they should fill half of your plate.

Focus on whole fruits: Whole fruits (fresh, frozen, canned, or dried) are recommended over 100% fruit juice, as they provide more fiber.
Go for variety: Just like with vegetables, a colorful mix of fruits offers different vitamins and minerals.

Grains

Making up about a quarter of the plate, the grains section emphasizes nutrient density.

Make at least half of your grains whole: Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel, including the bran, germ, and endosperm, providing more fiber, iron, and B vitamins. Refined grains have been milled to remove these nutrient-rich components.
Read the label: To identify whole-grain products, check the ingredient list for the word "whole" (e.g., whole-wheat flour, whole-grain corn).

Protein foods

This category fills the remaining quarter of the plate and is designed to help the body build and repair tissue.

Vary your protein routine: MyPlate suggests a diverse intake of protein sources, including lean meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, and soy products.
Choose lean or low-fat options: When selecting meat and poultry, opt for leaner cuts. Include seafood and plant-based proteins, which contain healthier fats.

Dairy

The dairy group is represented by a cup next to the plate.

Move to low-fat and fat-free dairy: Low-fat and fat-free dairy products provide the same calcium, potassium, and vitamin D as full-fat options but with less saturated fat.
Consider alternatives: For those who are lactose intolerant or prefer plant-based options, MyPlate includes fortified soy milk and other fortified soy products.

Guidelines for healthier eating and personalizing your plan

Beyond the plate, MyPlate provides several additional recommendations for a healthy lifestyle.

Limit unhealthy fats, sugars, and sodium: It's important to consume fewer foods and beverages high in saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium.
Drink water instead of sugary drinks: Choosing water over sweetened beverages is a simple way to reduce calories and added sugars.
Control portion sizes: MyPlate encourages being mindful of portion sizes to manage calorie intake. For example, a 3-ounce serving of protein is about the size of a deck of cards.
Physical activity: Although not visually part of the plate, the USDA guidelines that MyPlate is based on also emphasize the importance of regular physical activity.

The MyPlate website, MyPlate.gov, offers personalized plans based on your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level. This allows for a customized approach to meet individual nutritional needs.

MyPlate versus the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate: A Comparison


Feature	MyPlate (USDA)	Healthy Eating Plate (Harvard)
Carbohydrate Type	Emphasizes making half of grains whole grains.	Differentiates between healthy whole grains and unhealthy refined grains.
Fat Type	Doesn't explicitly differentiate between types of fats.	Highlights healthy plant oils and healthy fats found in seafood and nuts, while cautioning against saturated fats and avoiding trans fats.
Dairy	Promotes low-fat and fat-free dairy products for calcium and vitamin D.	Limits dairy to one to two servings per day, noting it is not essential for bone health and can be obtained from other sources.
Protein Choices	Recommends varying protein sources, including lean meats.	Advises choosing fish, poultry, beans, and nuts, while limiting red meat and avoiding processed meats.
Beverage	Encourages water and low-fat/fat-free dairy milk over sugary drinks.	Recommends water, tea, or coffee, and limiting milk and juice. Strongly discourages sugary drinks.
Vegetables	Recommends varying vegetables, including starchy options.	Excludes potatoes and french fries from the vegetable category due to their blood sugar impact.

Conclusion

The MyPlate food guidance system serves as a simple and accessible tool for building healthier, balanced meals. By focusing on the five core food groups—fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy—and emphasizing variety, whole foods, and healthier choices, it empowers individuals to improve their dietary patterns. While the plate offers a general visual, resources like the MyPlate website allow for personalized plans to meet specific needs. Ultimately, MyPlate provides a solid, foundational framework for cultivating sustainable, healthy eating habits for a wide range of individuals.

Frequently Asked Questions

The five food groups are fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy.

According to MyPlate, fruits and vegetables should take up half of your plate.

MyPlate recommends making at least half of your grain servings whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread and brown rice.

While the MyPlate visual does not explicitly show a section for fats and oils, the guidelines emphasize incorporating healthy unsaturated fats from sources like nuts, seeds, and fish, while limiting saturated fats.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adapt MyPlate by choosing plant-based options from the protein foods group (e.g., beans, lentils, nuts) and using calcium-fortified soy alternatives for dairy.

Yes, MyPlate has guidance tailored for different life stages, including children and older adults, with specific recommendations based on their age and needs.

MyPlate provides a framework for managing portion sizes and prioritizing nutrient-dense foods, which can support weight management efforts when combined with physical activity.

You can find a personalized eating plan based on your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level by using the MyPlate Plan tool on the official MyPlate.gov website.