MyPlate

On Thursday, the USDA, in partnership with First Lady Michelle Obama, officially said goodbye to the food pyramid, and ushered in the new MyPlate icon.

I, for one, could not be more excited. It's pretty much the coolest thing to happen to food guidelines since... well, ever. I hated the food pyramid. No one past the 5th grade actually used that thing. It was hard to read and even harder to remember. I don't believe I've ever met a single person who told me, "I try and follow the food pyramid guidelines." If you don't remember it, here's a refresher.

Go ahead and say your goodbyes. I'll give you a moment...

Now, say hello to his replacement, MyPlate! *round of applause*

How much better is that?! About 100x, right? A plain and simple visualization of the dietary guidelines. More focus on fruits and veggies than the pyramid, which is a good thing, since they're almost always full of vitamins and minerals and low in fat and calories. I especially love the little circle for dairy. They should combine two initiatives in one and write "Got Milk?" in there.

I think it will make it easier, not only for adults, but especially for kids to eat better. You can make it a game, like a puzzle. Laminate a picture of the MyPlate for your kid to use as a placemat and see if they can make their meal match the picture.

I had to laugh when I first heard about this, because literally less than a week ago, I had a conversation with my roommate about serving sizes. He said that he has a hard time figuring out how much a serving size is of certain foods. I told him that he should focus on making every plate 1/2 fruits and veggies, 1/4 meat and 1/4 grain or starch. I love it when I'm right. I'm going to pretend like I willed this into existence. I'm kidding. This "plate concept" has been around forever, but I'd like to personally thank the lovely Michelle Obama for recognizing it on such a grand scale.

Kudos First Lady!