USDA presents new guidelines for nutrition on colorful platter
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The new food icon: fruit, grains, protein, vegetable and dairy on the side.
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Social media sites buzzed Thursday as people tweeted, posted and blogged their reactions to the USDA's new MyPlate icon, a simple image of a plate divided into four colorful sections for protein, grain, fruit and vegetable, with a small circle off to the side for dairy.
The new icon was met with criticism from some and celebration from others. Some vegans thought it overemphasized animal protein and dairy, while fruit and vegetable producers rejoiced at their prime placement.
The American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown called it "a more consumer-friendly format," and the Weight Watchers blog pointed out the similarity between My Plate and the Weight Watchers new PointsPlus system.
Almost everyone seemed to agree that it was an improvement on the 2005 MyPyramid, which NYU nutrition professor Marion Nestle succinctly demolished in a recent column for TheAtlantic.com as "a travesty -- hopelessly complicated, impossible to teach, and requiring the use of a computer."
Rosemarie Perla, a Pittsburgh-based psychologist and executive coach, teaches children about healthy eating through hands-on cooking classes. She liked the immediate familiarity of the plate icon and its direct relationship to people's everyday choices.
"The thing about the old pyramid is that it required people to not only understand the science but transfer that understanding of the science to choices they make everyday," she said, "whereas the idea of a plate ... we can actually see, here's a healthy plate."
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and first lady Michelle Obama introduced the new icon along with Surgeon General Regina Benjamin in a well-choreographed news conference Thursday. Mr. Vilsack praised Mrs. Obama, who launched the Let's Move initiative in 2010, for "putting a bright spotlight precisely where it needs to be put in figuring out how we can become a healthier nation."
First Published June 3, 2011 12:00 am
