The government did away with the old food pyramid and modernized it with what they call ‘MyPlate.’ But, Harvard has since come along and improved on MyPlate. Here’s how.
The government’s MyPlate
The government plate takes a swipe at good nutrition and portion control. It says to make half your plate fruits and vegetables, at least half of your grains whole grains and to switch to fat-free or low-fat milk. Also, to reduce sodium in foods like soup, bread and frozen meals and to choose the foods with the lower numbers. Last, but not least, drink water instead of sugary drinks.
Harvard has decided to paint with a far finer brush. Its explanation for their “Healthy Eating Plate” is two words – Diet Quality.
“The Healthy Eating Plate points consumers to the healthiest choices in the major food groups. MyPlate, in contrast, fails to give people some of the basic nutrition advice they need to choose a healthy diet.
The Harvard Healthy Eating Plate
“A hamburger or hot dog on a white bread bun with French fries and a milk shake could be part of a MyPlate meal—even though high red and processed meat intakes increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and colon cancer, and high intakes of refined grains and potatoes make it hard to control weight. The Healthy Eating Plate helps consumers make the healthiest choices—whole grains, a colorful variety of vegetables, and a healthy selection of proteins from fish, poultry, nuts, or beans.
“The Healthy Eating Plate was created by experts at Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. It is based exclusively on the best available science and was not subjected to political and commercial pressures from food industry lobbyists,” according to the Harvard Medical School website.
The message of the Healthy Eating Plate is to:
• get plenty of produce
• choose whole grains
• choose healthy sources of protein
• use healthy oils
• drink water or other beverages that don’t contain sugar.
It also suggests limiting consumption of refined grains, potatoes, sweets, sugary beverages, red meat, processed meats, and going easy on milk and juice.
What about those carbohydrates? They amount to the majority of the Healthy Eating Plate. Harvard answers, “With all the hype around low-carb diets, “net carbs,” and the like, there’s an abundance of confusion about carbohydrates. Let’s cut through some of that confusion:
• The main message of the Healthy Eating Plate is diet quality.
• The amount of carbohydrate in the diet, high or low, is not what matters most for health. What really matters is the type of carbohydrate in the diet, since some sources of carbohydrate are healthier than others. The Healthy Eating Plate illustrates the importance of healthy carbohydrates from vegetables (other than potatoes), fruits, whole grains, and (in the healthy protein section) beans. Carbohydrates from these foods, in general, have a gentler effect on blood sugar than carbohydrates from refined grains, potatoes, and sugary drinks. They are also naturally rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (chemicals that are only found in plants). That’s why we include them in abundance on the Healthy Eating Plate.
• Vegetables make up the biggest portion of the Healthy Eating Plate, and the carbohydrate content of many vegetables is fairly low; this is especially true on the Healthy Eating Plate, since potatoes or French fries (which are very high in carbohydrate) do not count as vegetables.
• The Healthy Eating Plate also advises consumers to avoid sugary beverages, a major source of carbohydrate in the American diet.
• The Healthy Eating Plate has a glass bottle of oil next to it, designed to encourage consumers to use healthy oils in cooking, on salads, and at the table, since these healthy fats reduce harmful cholesterol and are good for the heart. It does not set a maximum on the percentage of calories people should get each day from healthy sources of fat. So really, the Healthy Eating Plate conveys just the opposite of the high-carb, low-fat/limited-fat message that the USDA gave consumers for decades.
In sum, the Healthy Eating Plate steers people toward consuming less carbohydrates than one might find in a typical American diet, and it helps them make the healthiest carbohydrate choices.
Tony
Wellness Secrets of a SuperAger 