What’s with the food plate?

by rangerwellnesschallenge

There’s a new plate in town and it’s kicked our well-known food pyramid out of it’s place at the top. Curious about the positives and negatives of this swap out? Leslie J. Bonci is a Sports Dietician who weighs in on the new plate for Runners World Magazine.

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Bye-Bye, Pyramid; Hello, Plate!

Late last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled MyPlate — a new graphic that represents the Dietary Guidelines, meant to replace the familiar (and somewhat confusing) Food Pyramid.

The first Food Guide Pyramid debuted in 1992 and looked like this:

In 2005, this was replaced with MyPyramid — a more abstract triangle with colored stripes of varying width and a stick figure climbing stairs, to represent the importance of physical activity:

Today, we’ve gone from pyramid to plate:

You can read much more on the USDA’s MyPlate web site, here. Meantime, let me weigh in on this change, if I may.

The positives:

First, the plate. Who knew? We eat off plates, not pyramids or triangles!

Second, the fork. Implying that utensils are a good thing to eat your food with, as opposed to scarfing straight from a box or bag.

Third, the division of the plate. Ideally, each meal includes, fruits, vegetables, protein of some kind, grain, and dairy. Even if you are vegan, lactose intolerant, etc. you can still follow this: Swap out animal protein for a plant-based source; replace the dairy with soy, hemp, coconut, rice or almond sources; and so on.

And a few criticisms:

Where’s the fat? Depending upon what one chooses, it is possible to construct a plate that is fat free — e.g., fruits, vegetables, egg whites, brown rice, and skim milk. But runners need to have some fat in the diet. So don’t forget to add some. (Choose more unsaturated sources such as sunflower, canola, corn, soybean, and safflower oils; and mononunsaturated fats such as olives, olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, and guacamole. A little goes a long way, but aim for at least one or two servings per day.)

Think about the size of your plate. Yes, in this case, size matters. So don’t load up a platter, trough, or mixing bowl. Reach for a standard dinner plate. Or, if you’re watching your weight, a salad plate.

Finally, I kind of miss that weird stick figure climbing the old pyramid. Because, as runners know well, it’s not just what, when, and how much you eat, but also how much and how often you move.

So keep active, aim for a healthy variety of foods at each meal, and don’t forget to use utensils!

Leslie

Have a question for Leslie? E-mail her. (Please write “Ask the Sports Dietitian” in the subject line.) NOTE: Due to the volume of mail, we regret that Leslie cannot answer every e-mail.

And for more guidance on fueling and diet, check out Leslie’s Sports Nutrition for Coaches.

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