Toot-a-loo Food Pyramid

That's right, as of June 2, 2011 the Food Pyramid, that ubiquitous paradigm, the staple of elementary school lunchrooms everywhere was officially abandoned by the USDA as part of the Lets Move! initiative.


Let's Move! was started by First Lady Michelle Obama in February 2010 and is aimed at curbing the childhood obesity epidemic by "combining comprehensive strategies with common sense: Giving parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices; Providing healthier foods in our schools. Ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food; and, helping kids become more physically active."


The new model is called "MyPlate," (somewhat reminiscent of the now everywhere i___ marketing model) and focuses on how to divide your plate as opposed to how many servings per day a person is supposed to have.  Their press release says "MyPlate offers a visual reminder to make healthy food choices when you choose your next meal. MyPlate can help prioritize food choices by reminding us to make half of our plate fruits and vegetables and shows us the other important food groups for a well-balanced meal: whole grains, lean proteins, and low fat dairy."


MyPlate is a much better tool to mesure how calories are distributed amongst fats, carbohydrates, sugars, etc. because it gives a visual marker instead of a calorie counter-esque pyramid that says that carbohydrates should be the cornerstone of the American diet. The food pyramid, originally conceived in 1992, was due for an update because so very much has changed in the last ten years with regard to how aware we are about the way we eat, how it's made, and where it comes from.


Now the issue is implementation: I very much hope that the government pushes the introduction of this new method into schools.