How to MyPlate with meal examples

Written By Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

MyPlate's birthday is June 3rd. In 2011, it replaced MyPyramid as the USDA's primary food group symbol. The USDA celebrates MyPlate's birthday on June 3rd and encourages people to "Start Simple with MyPlate." So we decided to create a quick video to show you how to assemble favorite meals quickly using the food groups. 

This quick and simple guide to MyPlate’s food groups will help you build balanced, healthy dinners. Learn how each part fits together—and how to make it work for your tastes and lifestyle!

Here are the meals below: We made a burrito bowl, burger, burrito, tacos, jerk chicken, stir fry and spaghetti. Sometimes the configuration looks exactly like MyPlate while other times the proportions of the ingredients are maintained but the items are layered or rolled up in a tortilla. While we use fruit most of the time (and maybe all the time if you consider that tomatoes are fruits), we are always filling up half the plate with veggies and fruits or just veggies.

MyPlate is meant to be a flexible guide that is easy to do and best of all it is easy for you to make it your own so that you and your family enjoy all of your meals.

Visit MyPlate.gov to learn more!

Here are the 5 food groups: Vegetables, Protein, Grains, Fruit, and Dairy.

The dairy group is served on the side with our meals and sometimes we incorporate cheese and yogurt into our recipes, too!

Enjoy!

Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII discovered her love of cooking at her grandmother's side, stirring raisin oatmeal on a Saturday morning. By 15 she had her first food service job. At 18 she was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America, where she graduated second in her class, then went on to the Fachschule Richemont in Switzerland to study pastry arts and baking. A decade with Hyatt Hotels followed before she founded Food and Health Communications with a single conviction: food that is good for you should taste extraordinary.

Judy holds a Master of Professional Studies in Food Business from the Culinary Institute of America, a Bachelor of Science in Culinary Arts from Johnson and Wales University (Summa Cum Laude), two art certificates from UC Berkeley Extension, and the CIA's Pro Chef II certification. She has earned the American Culinary Federation Bronze Medal, Gold Medal, and ACF Chef of the Year award.

Today she develops every recipe on this site, shoots and styles food through her food photography and motion studio, and publishes nutrition education materials for dietitians, schools, extension offices, and health professionals through nutritioneducationstore.com. She uses the latest nutritional science and Dietary Guidelines to drive her creativity — whether that means a new twist on fajitas or Italian brownies made with toasted nuts and cooked honey. Her mission has never changed: help everyone make food that tastes as good as it is for them.

https://nutritioneducationstore.com
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