What’s on My Plate?

The USDA announced that today, March 8th, is “What’s on My Plate” Day!  This fits in great with the theme of this year’s National Nutrition Month message – “Get your plate in shape.”

Have you seen the new MyPlate visual?  It was released last year.  As a broad community based message, I like it.  It emphasizes that most of our plate should come from fruits and vegetables.  These should be the focus of our meal, not the afterthought.  A quarter of the plate should come from whole grains, and the other quarter from lean proteins, as well as a group on the side that emphasizes a serving of dairy.  

Of course, with any public health message that’s meant to be delivered across broad populations, there’s going to be a few shortcomings and confusion.  For example, I wish the plate emphasized the importance of drinking more water (particularly today, which happens to also fall on World Kidney Day).  It’d be nice if it said “whole grains” rather than just “grains.”  And I think people get tripped up over where items like wine or chocolate belong.

Regardless, I think most of us could take some advice from MyPlate.  Maybe you need more fruits and veggies on your plate, or maybe you’ve been skimping on some calcium-rich dairy.  The MyPlate website also has some great tips and tools that I’ve found useful, and I bet you will too.

So share with me today – what’s on your plate?  Comment on our blog post, post pictures to our facebook page, or share with Inspired Wellness on Twitter!