Understanding MyPlate and How to Use It
Blog post written by Nathan Haltman, a nutrition student at Miami University.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed MyPlate as a resource for Americans to be able to better visualize the foods that we should be emphasizing in our diets. They focus on five main food groups, vegetables, fruits, grains, proteins, and dairy. Through the five of these they aim to help people see the most beneficial foods to consume from these categories in order that we as Americans can live a healthier lifestyle through our nutrition. MyPlate was founded through the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy & Promotion, a branch that is dedicated to ensuring the advancement of nutrition and nutrition education for all Americans. Despite this branch of the USDA being around since 1994, MyPlate was not revealed until June 2011 when Michelle Obama made it the federal government's primary food group symbol.
Since 2011, MyPlate has been working in-step with the DGA or Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The DGA is a set of nutrition guidelines released by the USDA and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) every five years with new and updated recommendations for how we as Americans should eat to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The reason that MyPlate and the DGA are important to us is that it is able to help us gain a better understanding of the nutrition field. These guidelines and resources are developed so that anyone can understand and may be able to implement these into their daily lives. When we follow these recommendations from MyPlate and the DGA we are able to reduce our risk of obesity and reduce our risk of obesity related chronic illness. These guidelines are not meant to reduce our freedoms but ultimately to serve as an instrument to help us live the healthiest lifestyle possible. Below are some links to these resources.
