What Happened to MyPlate.gov? (And Where to Get MyPlate Materials Now)
On January 7, 2026, USDA retired MyPlate.gov. The site now redirects to RealFood.gov, and the federal nutrition icon is no longer a plate — it's an inverted pyramid.
If you went looking for the MyPlate Plan calculator, the food group pages, or the printable handouts you've used in your classes for a decade, that's why they aren't where you left them.
Here's what actually changed, what didn't, and where to get the materials.
What changed
The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines, released the same day, replaced the MyPlate graphic with an inverted pyramid: protein, dairy and healthy fats share the wide top with vegetables and fruits, and whole grains sit alone at the narrow point.
Along with the site, several things went away:
The MyPlate Plan calculator — the personalized food-pattern tool. It was removed and not rebuilt on RealFood.gov.
The food-group pages and portion guides
The MyPlate recipe library
Most of the printable educational resources
What didn't change
MyPlate is not gone from federal nutrition programs. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service still uses MyPlate-branded materials for Team Nutrition and the school meal programs. If you work in school nutrition, MyPlate is still your operating framework.
And more importantly: the plate still works.
Nothing about the science changed on January 7th. Half your plate being vegetables and fruit is still good advice. A quarter protein, a quarter whole grains, dairy alongside — that's still what a balanced meal looks like. The graphic was retired. The MyPlate method is still here.
Why educators are keeping MyPlate — and pairing it with the pyramid
Here's what we're hearing from the dietitians, extension agents, and school nutrition directors who use our materials, visit our site and write about these resources on their own sites.
The pyramid tells you what to eat. The plate tells you how much, and what it looks like.
The 2026 pyramid is genuinely good at one thing: it makes the case for whole, real food and against ultra-processed food. Eat things close to their natural state. Prioritize protein and produce. Avoid the long ingredient lists. That's a message worth teaching, and the pyramid teaches it well. Although it feels new and confusing it still recommends the same servings from the food groups.
But a pyramid is an abstraction. Nobody eats off a pyramid. A client can't look at a triangle and know whether tonight's dinner was right.
A plate, they can. That's why MyPlate worked for fifteen years and why it's still the thing people understand in three seconds.
So the pairing that's emerging in real classrooms looks like this:
| Use the pyramid to teach… | Use the plate to teach… |
|---|---|
| What kind of food — whole, real, minimally processed | How much of it — half the plate produce, a quarter protein, a quarter grains |
| Why to avoid ultra-processed foods | What a balanced meal actually looks like |
| Prioritize protein, and vary the source | Portion size, without measuring anything |
| Fiber, gut health, and the added sugar limits | How to check your own dinner in two seconds |
Together they answer the two questions every client has: what should I buy, and what should dinner look like.
Shop whole food. Build a balanced plate.
Where to get MyPlate materials now
We're still making them. We never stopped.
Free printables — foodandhealth.com
MyPlate Printable Pack → The diagram, a blank build-your-plate template, the daily amounts, the hand-portion guide, and worksheets.
The New 2026 Food Pyramid → Consumer handout plus a leader's guide. English and Spanish.
The Vegetable List → All five vegetable subgroups, what counts as what, how much you need each week.
Every one is a free PDF. No sign-up, no email. Print them, copy them for your class.
Posters, tearpads and teaching kits — nutritioneducationstore.com
For a permanent classroom display, a wellness fair, or a program you're running all year:
MyPlate portion plates →— the real ones, for teaching portions in a class
MyPlate handout tearpads → — for clinics and counseling
The bottom line
A website was retired. A good idea wasn't.
Half your plate vegetables and fruit. A quarter protein — and vary it. A quarter of whole grains. Dairy alongside. Real food, not ultra-processed. Enough fiber. Not too much added sugar or saturated fat.
That's what the pyramid says. It's what the plate says. It's what the evidence has said for a long time.
The graphic changed. Dinner didn't have to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MyPlate.gov gone? Yes. USDA retired the MyPlate.gov website on January 7, 2026. It now redirects to RealFood.gov.
What replaced MyPlate? The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines introduced an inverted food pyramid as the federal nutrition icon — protein, dairy and healthy fats alongside vegetables and fruits at the wide top, whole grains at the narrow point.
Is MyPlate still used at all? Yes. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service continues to use MyPlate-branded materials for Team Nutrition and the school meal programs.
Where is the MyPlate Plan calculator? It was removed and was not rebuilt on RealFood.gov.
Can I still teach MyPlate? Yes — and many educators are, alongside the new pyramid. The pyramid teaches what kind of food to eat; the plate teaches how much and what a balanced meal looks like.
Where can I get free MyPlate printables? Right here.
MyPlate Printable Pack → The diagram, a blank build-your-plate template, the daily amounts, the hand-portion guide, and worksheets.
The New 2026 Food Pyramid → Consumer handout plus a leader's guide. English and Spanish.
The Vegetable List → All five vegetable subgroups, what counts as what, how much you need each week.
SOURCES
USDA / HHS, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 — realfood.gov (released January 7, 2026)
USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Team Nutrition MyPlate materials — fns.usda.gov/tn/myplate
