I am pleased to report that this past week, Michelle Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin unveiled “MyPlate” to replace the ancient food pyramid.  With rates of obesity and diabetes climbing, the pyramid clearly wasn’t working.  Everyone, me included, is hoping that the plate will fare better. 

What do I like about MyPlate?  For one thing, half the plate is fruits and vegetables.  One half of the plate is composed of produce!  So half of our meal is supposed to be made up of fruits and vegetables!  That’s a huge improvement in the recommendations.  Fruits and vegetables are jam-packed with all kinds of vitamins and minerals, phytonutrients, color, flavor, and fiber, which happens to be filling.  

MyPlate is the first step in a three-part program designed to get us to 1) eat more fruits and vegetables, 2) bring our portion sizes into a more realistic size, and 3) drink water instead of sugared beverages.  

What else do I like?  I like that no one is asking you to weigh all your food anymore.  That’s not really realistic for most of us.  What else?  A pyramid that touts grain as the foundation for health was not a solution to the diabetes and obesity epidemics.  Thank goodness we’re done with it.

Now I’ve heard my share of cynics calling it the Gluten, Trans Fat, Beef, Cheese, and Corn Syrup Plate.  To them I say:  So eat gluten-free.  Avoid all processed foods.  Eat grass-fed beef and dairy when you can, and avoid them otherwise if you are so inclined.  I, for one, am inclined.  That reminds me, I stopped at Jeni’s, the new premium ice cream shoppe in Chagrin Falls, last night.  The line was OUT THE DOOR!  I tasted the Meyer lemon, salted caramel, milk chocolate, and Ugandan vanilla flavors, and am looking forward to making my way through the rest of their menu, one flavor at a time.  All their cream comes from pastured Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Friesian and Jersey cows at the Snowville Creamery in nearby Pomeroy, Ohio.  If I want, I can go there to see the cows.  

With regard to trans fats and corn syrup, I continue to believe that a significant portion of our twin diabetes and obesity epidemic will go away with the disappearance of manufactured calories from our diets.  

If I could make one correction to MyPlate, I’d call the upper right-hand quadrant “Whole Grains.”  I would definitely not call it chips, which are a windfall for the food industry but a disaster for healthful eating.  Nevertheless, I would say that MyPlate makes it easier to understand how to eat better, and it’s a long way in the right direction from a pyramid that offered up grains, and refined ones at that, as a basis for a healthy diet.
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