Everyone has seen the new USDA My Plate icon, but have you looked honestly at your diet to see how it compares? I did. At www.mypyramidtracker.gov you can enter everything you ate in the past 24 hours and it’ll tell you how you measured up against the plate, as well as against all the nutrients the USDA tracks per food, which is many.
I got good news and bad news. Compared to the MyPlate recommendations, I got smiley faces on grains and meat and beans, a straight face on vegetables, but a frownie face on fruits and milk. Guess they didn’t count the blueberry pie as a fruit serving.
As far as the complete nutrient intake, I was OK for calories, but over for fat, over for carbohydrate, low for fiber. I was OK on sodium and OK on cholesterol and over for protein.
Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, it’s an inexact science. You have to estimate in some cases how much you ate of something (celery and Miracle Whip in my chicken salad, for example) and remember everything you ate (which is my problem).
But it was a fun exercise. Well, not like exercise exercise. (Incidentally, the program will also help you track your exercise.)
You can also use the website to track how you do over time, and break it down by your height and weight and gender and age, and whether you want to achieve a healthy weight, if you’re not already there; or just find out how to maintain your current weight.
I know I won’t use it every day, but we all have the option, and it’s free, sort of — unless you count tax dollars. But that money was spent a long time ago, so we might as well get our money’s worth.