Community Corner
You Said It: Hey Kids, What Do You Think of the USDA Food Plate?
Some kids in the area seem a bit confused by the Food Pyramid's replacement
The Department of Agriculture and First Lady Michelle Obama have unveiled a replacement to the long-used Food Pyramid, but some local children indicate it may take awhile for the new My Platemodel for nutrition to catch on.
“The pyramid’s better,” Amanda G. Liceaga, 9, said. “It’s complicated, though, but I think it’s better.”
Many health experts have lauded the plate as a major improvement over the pyramid – last redesigned in 2005 and criticized by many as confusing.
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But at least one mother and nutrition buff in Maryland is less than thrilled with the redesign.
“I think it’s a total disservice to the public to have this new diagram replace the food pyramid," said Jannette O'Neill-Gonzalez, 44, a mother of two in Columbia, MD, who said she has a master’s degree from the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. "This looks like a graphic, like a chart.
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“The proportion of the grains, vegetables and the protein, for an adult, from my perspective, it looks like the same proportions, which is a totally misleading conception of the way daily nutrition should be,” she added.
“I really hope the government does further studies and analysis of this.”
When questioned, some children under the age of 10 recognized what the plate represented. Others saw the divided plate as a geometry problem not easily solved.
Meanwhile, some who understood the plate’s meaning still preferred the pyramid.
What do you think? What do your kids think? Does this new diagram still need some work? Let us know in the comments.
