The Healthy Eating Plate, created by experts at Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, was designed to correct flaws in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) MyPlate. Though MyPlate is an improvement over the agency’s iconic but scientifically shaky Food Guide Pyramid and its cryptic MyPyramid, it still falls short on giving people the nutrition advice they need to choose the best diets to maintain their health. Unlike the USDA’s official dietary advice, the Healthy Eating Plate is based exclusively on the best available science and was not influenced by political and commercial pressures from food industry lobbyists.
Why a Healthy Eating Plate? The central messages of the Healthy Eating Plate are: GET PLENTY OF PRODUCE—NOT POTATOES. CHOOSE WHOLE GRAINS—THE LESS PROCESSED, THE BETTER. CHOOSE HEALTHY SOURCES OF PROTEIN LIKE BEANS, CHICKEN, AND FISH. USE HEALTHY OILS. DRINK WATER OR OTHER BEVERAGES THAT DON’T CONTAIN SUGAR.
Inside this foldout is a poster of a Healthy Eating Plate that you can tear out and use every day. Think of it as a guide to planning a balanced meal and serving it on a dinner plate— or packing it in a lunch box. Put a copy on the refrigerator at home or at work, for a visual guide to portioning out a nutritious and delicious plate of food.
Harvard Medical For more information on the Healthy EatingSchool Plate, go to: Harvard Health Publications www.health.harvard.edu
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate