MyPlate to replace MyPyramid

This morning in a high-energy press conference, First Lady Michelle Obama, USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin announced that MyPyramid will be replaced with MyPlate. The release of the new icon is designed to make it easier for families to know how to eat healthfully. The release of this icon begins a massive effort among every food-related federal agency to promote the recommendations in the USDA/DHHS 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

MyPlate is a dinner plate with color-coded, wedge-shaped sections Fruits, Grains, Proteins, and Vegetables. Half of the plate is Fruits and Vegetables. Overlapping the plate is a blue circle for Dairy. To see the new icon, go to www.ChooseMyPlate.gov

Key points about the Dairy group, based on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, are:

• Dairy is an essential part of a nutritious diet.

• The Dairy group includes milk, yogurt, cheese, lactose-free milk, and fortified soy beverage.

• To meet the recommended three cups of Dairy foods, most Americans should add one or more serving each day. Americans currently consume just under two servings.

• Moving to low-fat or fat-free milk is one of the six key behaviors that USDA/DHHS state are most important to change.

• Dairy foods provide three of the four “nutrients of public health concern.” Americans do not get enough calcium, vitamin D, and potassium (all in Dairy foods); they also do not get enough fiber.

• Adequate Dairy group intake is associated with improved bone health, and decreased risk for cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and hypertension.

The Washington State Dairy Council produces more than 80 nutrition education materials, and today we will begin the process to revise them to reflect MyPlate.

Health Professionals and nutrition educators can read about getting started with MyPlate and can find the archived MyPyramid at www.choosemyplate.gov/professionals

*Information provided from Washington State Dairy Council*