
As we begin to look forward to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines, this week is the second birthday of the MyPlate symbol, which is based on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. MyPlate replaced MyPyramid and the Food Guide Pyramid, which were the illustrated representations of earlier Dietary Guidelines.
MyPlate was celebrated as a departure from the Pyramids in that it was more intuitive and easier for regular Americans to understand. Someone sitting down at dinner could look at his or her plate, mentally compare it to MyPlate and then adjust the servings, depending on whether they needed more or less of a particular type of food. Even preschoolers could understand it—I made a large MyPlate puzzle and took it to my sons’ day care center, letting the kids put together the pieces and talk about their favorite foods in each group.
Fruits and vegetables comprise half of the main plate, with grains and protein on the other half. A smaller circle off to the side of the main plate indicates dairy.
So what will happen to MyPlate after the 2015 Dietary Guidelines? Will it stay mostly the same, or be replaced by a new graphic?