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Read on for a detailed description of MyPlate, how to use it, and even how to overcome its weaknesses.
MyPlate is a visual representation of a healthy way to fill your plate at each meal. As part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, MyPlate focuses on increasing fruit and vegetables at mealtime by encouraging you to fill half your plate with these antioxidant sources. The model calls for filling the remaining two quarters with lean protein and grains (preferably whole grains). It’s all about creating nutritional balance.
Obviously, this makeup is dramatically different from how many restaurants create their meals. And if you cook at home, your plate may not look this way either. But there’s good reason to change that. A study published in April 2019 found that adherence to MyPlate is just as effective for weight loss, reduced waist circumference, and providing a feeling of fullness as calorie counting. This means that MyPlate could prove to be a much easier, but just as useful, tool for weight loss.
There’s lots of other scientific support for the MyPlate model, as well. A study published March 2021 in Circulation, for instance, followed more than 108,000 people for about 30 years. The study found that eating the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables decreased mortality risk during that time. Similarly, a study published in July 2020 in BMJ found that the more whole grains participants ate (as recommended by MyPlate) the lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Those who ate the most whole grains had a 29 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who ate the least.
The Food Pyramid, which was used in the United States from 1992 through 2011 as both the Food Guide Pyramid and My Pyramid, divided foods into groups and gave us an idea of how many servings from each food group we should have each day. While this was helpful information, many people found the Food Pyramid difficult to apply in everyday life. “The previous Food Pyramid was too confusing for most Americans to follow, and lacked information on portion sizes for each of the food groups," says Kristen Smith, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the founder of 360 Family Nutrition in Atlanta.
As a result, the USDA revisited its approach and devised MyPlate, which aims to provide better guidance. “While MyPlate provides much of the same information as the Food Pyramid, providing a visual that people can apply to their everyday lives allows for the information to be more practical and useful as people go about their day,” says Jackie Haven, RD, the deputy director of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Alexandria, Virginia.
When it comes to fruit, canned varieties and 100 percent fruit juice count toward your intake, but MyPlate and registered dietitians alike recommend choosing fruits in their whole, unprocessed form as much as possible. Juicing strips the beneficial fiber from fruit, reducing it to a sugary drink that can cause blood sugar spikes and weight gain. Not to mention that many commercial juices contain added sugar.
Here are some examples of fruit to focus on:
Vegetables are a great addition to any meal because they’re packed with the vitamins and minerals your body needs to flourish, including bone- and muscle-supporting potassium; but did you know that the best way to enjoy them is by having lots of different kinds during the day and week? That’s because all vegetables have a different balance of vitamins and minerals, so the more varieties you eat, the more you’ll be covering your nutritional bases.
As with vegetables, a diet with a variety of lean protein sources gives your body a broader range of the valuable nutrients it needs, notes the USDA. Lean protein sources are lower in fat and calories and include plant-based proteins, such as beans and tofu, as well as meat, poultry, and fish, such as 93 percent lean ground beef or turkey and skinless chicken breast.
Sticky to a healthy diet can be a lot of work, and getting groceries delivered can make it easier. We picked the 5 best Grocery Delivery services for healthy foods.
All grains count, but whole grains (those in their most natural and unprocessed state) provide the most fiber, vitamins, and minerals. As a result, MyPlate recommends getting at least half of your grains from whole grains, but more than half is even better!
Dairy provides loads of protein, calcium, and other minerals, such as iodine, and it can be a nutritious addition to a healthy diet. Choose fat-free and low-fat (1 percent) varieties as often as possible. That’ll help cut down on saturated fat intake. According to the American Heart Association, replacing foods high in saturated fat with foods high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can help boost your heart health. According to MyPlate, about 90 percent of Americans don’t get enough servings of dairy to meet their nutritional needs each day.
If you’re a lover of plant-based milks (besides soy), you may be wondering why they aren’t featured on MyPlate. Unfortunately, many plant-based milks do not provide the same nutritional benefits (specifically in terms of protein, calcium, and vitamin D) as dairy and soy milks. For this reason, they are not recommended on MyPlate. But it’s important to note that new plant-based milks come to market all the time, and MyPlate guidelines are reviewed only periodically. So there is the chance that additional plant-based milk products will be added in the future if they meet the nutritional standards set forth by MyPlate.
All fats and oils are not created equal! You’ll want to include healthy fats, like those listed here, as often as you can in your meals. This amount includes any oil you might add to your food! (Note that coconut oil is not considered as healthy as the oils below, because it is 90 percent saturated fat, according to Harvard Health Publishing.)
It’s not just what you put on your plate that matters — what you leave off can be just as important. That’s why MyPlate recommends cutting back on the added sugars in your diet as much as possible. It's no small feat, given how regularly sugar is added to the food supply. From coffee beverages to tomato sauce, keeping an eye on your added sugar intake means reading ingredients lists and nutrition facts labels (at least in the short term). MyPlate also recommends drinking more water in place of beverages that are packed with added sugar such as soda, sports drinks, and lemonade. Enjoying a piece of fruit in place of sugary desserts like cake or cookies (or splitting a traditional dessert with a friend or loved one if you need that decadent treat) can also help reduce the amount of added sugar you get from your diet.
Food that is grilled or baked has minimal added unhealthy fats. Fried food, on the other hand, is cooked in large amounts of fat (often in the form of unhealthy saturated fat) and is much higher in calories and unhealthy fats as a result.
Liquid at room temperature, that is. This simple trick will help you identify fats that are lowest in saturated fat, which can be unhealthy in excess. Great choices include olive, avocado, and safflower oils. It’s still important to limit portions, because calories from all types of fat add up quickly.
Try apple slices with peanut butter, carrot sticks with hummus, a hard-boiled egg and veggie sticks, and low-fat plain yogurt with fresh fruit. The healthiest and most satisfying snacks contain fiber and protein, a nutritious combo that can help keep you feeling full until your next meal.
The size of the average dinner plate has grown tremendously in the past few decades. Using a salad plate instead of a dinner plate is an easy way to limit portions — you’ll realize you’re full before you’ve gone overboard.
While it’s important to fill your plate with a variety of vegetables each week, nonstarchy vegetables (think broccoli, kale, berries, and bell peppers), are naturally the densest sources of vitamins and minerals, and they'll give you the biggest nutritional bang for your buck.
Nutrition experts at the USDA are always working to improve how they translate nutritional science into clear recommendations for the general public. MyPlate is an improvement on the Food Pyramid, but experts say the approach still falls short. Some even speculate that MyPlate is intentionally vague in some areas because of pressure from large agricultural conglomerates. Here are seven ways in which MyPlate misses the mark.
There are good fats and there are bad fats, but the MyPlate visual doesn’t distinguish between them. In fact, the MyPlate image doesn’t account for fat at all. And that’s a problem. Butter, cheese, and certain oils (like coconut) pack in saturated fat — which isn’t the healthiest for your ticker — but avocado, fish, and other oils (like olive) offer monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat — which are heart healthy.
Then there’s trans fat. It can throw off healthy cholesterol levels in a serious way, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Trans fat is so bad that it’s no longer legal in the United States: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has implemented a nationwide ban that prevents food manufacturers from adding it to their foods after June 2018.
In any case, if you don’t know the difference between the various fats or how much you’re supposed to have, you may nosh on the wrong kinds and harm your health.
It’s important to work with your healthcare team to identify which fats are best for your health goals, and also figure out how much total fat you need in your diet.
Forget about fat; MyPlate doesn’t tell you which foods are best to reach for in any category. That can be a problem if you want the biggest nutritional bang for your buck. While variety is crucial for avoiding nutrient deficiencies (take that as permission to change up your weekly desk salad!), certain foods pack in more nutrients than others yet still fit in the defined categories of MyPlate. Think of it this way: Because MyPlate doesn’t tell you grilled salmon contains more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and less saturated fat, than fried chicken, you might think you have the green light to fill one-quarter of your plate with said fried chicken. But that move may increase your risk of heart disease, according to preliminary research released in August 2021. That said, filling half your plate with whole fruits and veggies is always a good bet, especially considering most Americans aren’t getting enough of these foods — fewer than 1 in 10 of us, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More on how to pick the healthiest foods by category later.
Maybe you aren’t a snacker. But if you are, MyPlate won’t help you make healthy food choices between meals. “The MyPlate visual focuses on how to create a balanced plate at mealtime, and less on what to include at snacktime,” Smith says.
The result? You might choose unhealthy, too-big snacks. Or, you may forgo snacks altogether because you think MyPlate doesn’t recommend them. The reality is, when chosen wisely, snacks are 100 percent part a healthy diet. And when well timed and selected, they may even help you get the nutrients your body needs to function at its best, suggests a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Later in this story, we’ll help fill that void by giving you some ideas on healthy snacks to curb your hunger between meals.
Plate size has ballooned in the past few decades, and waist sizes have followed suit. A past study found that people fill their plates no matter the size, and that means significantly more food (and calories) on a large dinner plate than on a salad plate. As a result, if your platter’s too big, you may overdo it, and that can lead to weight gain even when you’re making healthy choices. “People may follow the MyPlate method, but use larger plates, or stack food higher on a plate,” says Smith. Most registered dietitians recommend exchanging a dinner plate for a salad plate. Salad plates tend to be about 8 to 9 inches in diameter, the size of an average dinner plate in the 1960s!
Yes, potatoes are a veggie, but your body processes them differently from leafy greens such as spinach and kale. Indeed, your body treats starchy veggies, including potatoes, like grains. Starchy veggies are mostly made up of carbohydrates, meaning that when your body digests them, they break down into glucose, which raises your blood sugar level. That’s not a big problem if you enjoy them in moderation, but if you fill half your plate with them — well, you see where we’re going.
Keep in mind that stable blood sugar is especially important for people with diabetes, so be extra careful about portions if you're in this group. Most registered dietitians recommend counting starchy veggies as a starch or carb if you’re managing this disease (and even if you’re not).
MyPlate doesn’t explain any of this, which may lead you to think you can fill your plate with starches such as corn and peas. In this guide, we’ll show you how to attain some balance with your veggie picks.
If you’re not an aspiring Top Chef, MyPlate may seem daunting. This is where planning meals ahead of time can come in handy. If you know what you’re going to eat not just today, but for the next few days, you’ll be more likely to use up that variety of ingredients at a handful of meals, rather than having to come up with unique combinations at each meal that satisfy all the criteria. Plus, by taking advantage of meal planning, you’ll know what’s for dinner and be less likely to grab last-minute takeout on the way home.
While we all recognize that fast food isn’t ideal for nutrition or weight loss, for those with hectic schedules (aka most of us), a trip to a fast-food or takeout joint is sometimes a necessary evil. Alas, MyPlate gives no guidance for how to best approach these eating situations.
And do you enjoy dessert now and again or fancy a piece of birthday cake? There’s also no guideline for how to fit in the occasional treat.
Regardless of how well you understand MyPlate, it is still up to you to fill your plate with healthy foods. Knowing what you’re “supposed” to do doesn’t always translate to actually doing it. Fortunately, we’ll give you an idea of how to make it work.
