What percent of MyPlate is vegetables?

The Healthy Eating Plate, created by experts at Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, points consumers to the healthiest choices in the major food groups. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate, though it has been revised to reflect some key findings, still doesn’t offer the most complete picture when it comes to basic nutrition advice.

The Healthy Eating Plate is based exclusively on the best available science and was not subjected to political or commercial pressures from food industry lobbyists. Here’s a table showing how the Healthy Eating Plate compares to the USDA’s MyPlate, section by section.


Whole Grains	Grains
The Healthy Eating Plate encourages consumers to choose whole grains and limit refined grains, since whole grains are much better for health. In the body, refined grains like white bread and white rice act just like sugar. Over time, eating too much of these refined-grain foods can make it harder to control weight and can raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Read more about the health benefits of whole grains.	Although initially MyPlate did not tell consumers that whole grains are better for health, it has since been revised to suggest that consumers make at least half of their grains whole grains – an important update!
Healthy Protein	Protein
The Healthy Eating Plate encourages consumers to choose fish, poultry, beans or nuts, protein sources that contain other healthful nutrients. It encourages them to limit red meat and avoid processed meat, since eating even small quantities of these foods on a regular basis raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and weight gain. Read more about the benefits of choosing healthy protein.	MyPlate’s protein section could be filled by a variety of sources, including a hamburger or hot dog. Though the plate has been revised to suggest that adult consumers eat at least 8 ounces of cooked seafood per week, it still offers no indication that red and processed meat are especially harmful to health.
Vegetables	Vegetables
The Healthy Eating Plate encourages an abundant variety of vegetables, since Americans are particularly deficient in their vegetable consumption—except for potatoes and French fries. Potatoes are chock full of rapidly digested starch, and they have the same effect on blood sugar as refined grains and sweets, so limited consumption is recommended. Read more about the benefits of vegetables.	MyPlate does not distinguish between potatoes and other vegetables.
Fruits	Fruits
The Healthy Eating Plate recommends eating a colorful variety of fruits. Read more about the benefits of fruits.	MyPlate also recommends eating fruits.
Healthy Oils	(Not included in MyPlate)
The Healthy Eating Plate depicts a bottle of healthy oil, and it encourages consumers to use olive, canola, and other plant oils in cooking, on salads, and at the table. These healthy fats reduce harmful cholesterol and are good for the heart, and Americans don’t consume enough of them each day. It also recommends limiting butter and avoiding trans fat. Read more about the benefits of healthy fats and oils.	MyPlate is silent on fat, which could steer consumers toward the type of low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet that makes it harder to control weight and worsens blood cholesterol profiles.
Water	Dairy
The Healthy Eating Plate encourages consumers to drink water, since it’s naturally calorie free, or to try coffee and tea (with little or no sugar), which are also great calorie-free alternatives. It advises consumers to avoid sugary drinks, since these are major contributors to the obesity and diabetes epidemics. It recommends limiting milk and dairy to one to two servings per day, since high intakes are associated with increased risk of prostate cancer and possibly ovarian cancer; it recommends limiting juice, even 100% fruit juice, to just a small glass a day, because juice contains as much sugar and as many calories as sugary soda. Read more about water and other healthy drinks, and learn about calcium, milk and health.	MyPlate recommends dairy at every meal, even though there is little if any evidence that high dairy intakes protect against osteoporosis, and there is considerable evidence that too-high intakes can be harmful. As for sugary drinks, MyPlate says 100% fruit juice counts as part of the Fruit Group.
Stay Active	(Not included in MyPlate)
The figure scampering across the bottom of the Healthy Eating Plate’s placemat is a reminder that staying active is half of the secret to weight control. The other half is eating a healthy diet with modest portions that meet your calorie needs. Read more about the benefits of staying active.	There is no activity message on MyPlate.

Read more about the Healthy Eating Plate and the Healthy Eating Pyramid.
Read the press release about the Healthy Eating Plate from September 14, 2011.

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Posted by Sarah Chang, MPH, RD, Nutritionist, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and Kristin Koegel, MBA, RD, Nutritionist, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion in Food and Nutrition

MyPlate food guidance symbol is used to teach nutrition in schools.

Do you remember learning about the food groups in school? You may have been taught using the Food Wheel, Food Guide Pyramid or MyPyramid depending on your age. Kids today learn about the food groups from MyPlate. Now that the back-to-school season is settling down, the nutritionists at MyPlate are offering a back-to-basics refresher lesson on the food groups.

The Five Food Groups
As the MyPlate icon shows, the five food groups are Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein Foods, and Dairy. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasizes the importance of an overall healthy eating pattern with all five groups as key building blocks, plus oils. (While oils are not a food group, they are emphasized as part of a healthy eating pattern because they are a major source of essential fatty acids and vitamin E). Each food group includes a variety of foods that are similar in nutritional makeup, and each group plays an important role in an overall healthy eating pattern. Some of the food groups are broken down further into subgroups to emphasize foods that are particularly good sources of certain vitamins and minerals. For example, the subgroups within the Grains Group encourage whole grains, which provide more fiber, magnesium, and zinc than refined grains.

MyPlate food groups, subgroups, and sample foods table. Click to enlarge the image

Purpose of Food Groups
As nutrition science has progressed over time, scientists have discovered vitamins, minerals, and other components that make up our foods, and surely, there are more yet to be discovered. Food groups simplify dietary recommendations by focusing on foods instead of nutrients. For example, it’s much easier to try to eat two cups of fruit a day than 75 milligrams of vitamin C and 25 grams of fiber. The USDA Food Patterns provide the recommended amounts of each food group and subgroup at 12 different calorie levels, ranging from 1,000 to 3,200. These patterns are developed using food pattern modeling. By eating recommended amounts, individuals can meet their nutritional needs without having to track dozens of individual nutrients.

Food Group Amounts
The USDA Food Patterns specify targets for each food group in cup equivalents (for Fruits, Vegetables, and Dairy) and ounce equivalents (for Grains and Protein Foods). Each pattern also includes a limited number of calories (8-19%) that can be used in other ways, such as small amounts of added sugars and saturated fats. Americans are encouraged to choose foods in their most nutrient dense forms as often as possible, to keep added sugars and saturated fat intakes each below 10 percent of total calorie intake.

Teaching the Food Groups
ChooseMyPlate.gov offers numerous food group-based nutrition education resources, including tip sheets, videos, food group quizzes, infographics, and more. Plus, MyPlate offers audience-specific resources as well. For example, there are activity sheets, games, videos, and songs for children; activities for families; healthy eating on a budget resources; and MiPlato tipsheets and resources for Spanish speakers.

To learn more about MyPlate and to find out when new resources are available, follow @MyPlate on Facebook or Twitter and sign up for MyPlate email updates at ChooseMyPlate.gov/govdelivery.

Sample MyPlate Plan available at ChooseMyPlate.gov/Checklist and click to enlarge the image