HEALTHY EATING PYRAMID OUT, PLATE IN


The US government has ditched its two-decade old pyramid model for healthy eating and introduced a new plate symbol half filled with fruits and vegetables to urge better eating habits. The colorful design, called MyPlate, was unveiled by first lady Michelle Obama. The plate icon is sectioned into four parts, with fruit and vegetables making up one half and grains and proteins filling the other half. A dairy drink is included alongside. The graphic replaces the food pyramid, released in 1992, which showed that fats and oils were located at the upper tip and should be used sparingly, while whole grains made up the base of the diet with six to 11 servings daily. But critics maintained the pyramid design was too hard for the general public to understand. A total of 26.7 percent of the US population is obese, and no single state hs been able to meet the 15 percent obesity limit set by the US government, according to 2009 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A White House task force found lst year that close to one-third of children in America are overweight or obese, and obesity rates among youths have tripled since 1980. Mrs. Obama said the MyPlate icon would be useful inthe fight against childhood obesity, but would not be limited to that age group. "It's an image that can be reinforced and practiced at breakfast, lunch, and at dinner, no matter how old we are,"Mrs. Obama said.





source: http://www.smh.com/