Page 70 - Winter2014

A CLOSER LOOK AT “MY PLATE”
By Kimberly Hartke

Those of us who watched the 2010 Dietary Guide-
lines Review Committee process were bemused to see
the way they chose to deal with their predecessors'
obvious policy failures. The graphic design which
decorated their final report was a calculated cover-up.
In 1992, the United States Department of Agri-
culture dietary guidelines recommended the largest
portion of the daily diet be comprised of grains (six
to eleven servings), followed by fruit and vegetables
(five to nine servings). This heavily carb-centric diet
was depicted by a pyramid graphic, with the wide
base at the bottom of the pyramid filled with breads,
pasta and cereal, while the next layer of the pyramid
depicted a variety of fruits and vegetables. Traditional
staples of the human diet—milk, meat, eggs, cheese,
butter—were dismissed and replaced by fats, oils and
sweets to progressively smaller triangles toward the
top of the pyramid. We were not only advised to eat
fewer servings of protein-rich foods (four to six daily)
but the use of an ascending pyramid of food groups
signaled we should partake of smaller serving sizes as
we moved up the pyramid.
By 2005, the pyramid was decorated with vertical rather than horizontal stripes, and a stick figure actually climb-
ing stairs leaning diagonally up the pyramid was added to the graphic to symbolize the need for exercise. The dietary
guidelines that accompanied the graphic, however, continued to promote a bottom-heavy diet of grains, fruits and
vegetables as opposed to dairy, eggs and meat.
With the unveiling of the 2010 guidelines, gone was the pyramid, and in its place was a circle. The clearly wrong-
headed advice to load up on carbohydrates had proven a major government mistake. Critics believe these carbo-loading
guidelines have caused our nation’s obesity crisis. So, the academic policy wonks found an interesting way to save face
graphically.
The government guidelines switched from depicting dietary guidelines with a triangular pyramid to a round dinner
plate. A close look at the new My Plate graphic reveals the sad fact that the actual dietary recommendations haven’t
changed at all, and the dinner plate graphic is a deceptive design.
In the new My Plate graphic, more than three quarters of the colorful dinner plate is comprised of grains, fruits
and vegetables, but the plate appears to be half fruits and vegetables and slightly more than one-quarter grains. The
approved protein ration appears to be a little less than a quarter of the plate, and a dairy serving is off to the side in
another small circle.
We analyzed the serving sizes spelled out in the sections entitled “How Much is Needed?” on the ChooseMyPlate.
gov website. We found that the My Plate graphic doesn’t accurately reflect the government’s actual ounces-per-meal
advice for the various food groups. If you drill down into the text on the ChooseMyPlate.gov website and convert the
daily dietary advice into ounces per meal for each food group, you’ll make a stunning discovery.
For example, take the average ounces per meal recommended for women aged nineteen to fifty. The government
recommends a meager average serving size of 1.6 ounces of lean protein (equal to one-half of a small, lean beef paty
or to one and one-half eggs) and 1.6 ounces of grains (equal to one and one-half slices of bread) per meal. In contrast,
adult women are advised to eat an oversize portion of 6.6 ounces of vegetables (nearly a cup), and 4 ounces (half a
cup) of fruit per meal.
The government recommended ratio of proteins and grains to fruits and vegetables is 3.2 to 10.6. So, this begs the
question. Is the My Plate design an accurate depiction of the government dietary advice?
When a pie chart of the average USDA-recommended ounces per meal of each food group is graphed, a totally
different picture emerges.
Take a close look and compare the My Plate to the pie chart. You’ll notice the My Plate graphic gives the impres-

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