Nutrition Education

what is My Plate?

What is MyPlate?

MyPlate is a fun and easy nutrition guide to help incorporate the five food groups into your daily lifestyle. The five food groups represented on MyPlate are Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein and Dairy. MyPlate is used to assist in building a healthier eating style by including foods from all five food groups. It offers ideas and tips to help you create a healthier eating plan that meets your individual needs and improves your health by offering simple messages that are easy to understand such as:

• Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables
• Make at least half of your grains whole grains
• Switch to skim, 1% milk, or fat free milk
• Choose lower sodium foods

Incorporating MyPlate into Your Daily Food Plan

Everything you eat and drink matters. The right mix can help you become healthier now and in the future. This means:

Focus on variety, amount, and nutrition.
Choose foods and beverages with less saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars.
Start with small changes that build healthier eating styles.
Support healthy eating for everyone.

Tips that can be incorporated into your daily life start with small changes and choices

(Make sure to limit the choices in sodium, saturated fat and added sugars)

Make half your plate fruits and vegetables: Focus on whole fruits
• Choose a variety of colors.
• Choose fresh, frozen, dried, or canned in 100% juice.
• Enjoy fruit with meals, as snack or dessert.

Make half your plate fruits and vegetables: Vary your veggies
• Try adding fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables to salads, sides, and main dishes.
• Choose a variety of colorful veggies prepared in healthful ways such as steamed, sautéed, roasted, or raw.

Make at least half your grains whole grain
• Replace refined grains with whole grains.
• Read labels and look for whole grains listed first or second on the • ingredient list.
• Limit your grain deserts like cakes and cookies and replace with whole grains like plain popcorn and whole grain pretzels.

Vary your protein
• Choose different types of protein to include lean meats, beans, eggs, unsalted nuts and seeds and soy products.
• Make main dishes using beans and seafood.

Move to low-fat or fat-free milk or yogurt
• Switch to skim, 1% milk, or fat free milk.
• Choose low fat or reduced fat dairy products when available.
• Check labels for the amount of sodium and fat in dairy products.
• Replace sour cream, cream, and regular cheese with low fat yogurt, milk and cheese.

Limit
• Eat and drink less sodium, saturated fat and added sugars.
• Choose vegetable oil instead of butter, and oil-based sauces and dips instead of ones with butter, cream, cheese.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.