What Do You Put on Your Plate?

Earlier this month First Lady, Michelle Obama, introduced a new concept for healthy eating. Gone is the old pyramid that we all grew up with where bread, cereal and grains created the base of the pyramid, followed by fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy and topped off with fats and sweets. The government has now issued a new image of what we should look for in a healthy diet. Instead of trying to guess how much fat and sweets would make up the cone of the pyramid, we can use our own dinner plate as a guide!

According to choosemyplate.gov half of our plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables and the other half includes grains and proteins. Check it out for more details. Not sure how your diet measures up? mypyramidtracker.gov will analyze your diet for you.

So why should we care what we eat? Many studies have shown the connection between diets and the ability to learn and concentrate. According to Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, professor of neurosurgery at UCLA, “Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function.” And we all know that top mental function is important when taking classes!

So next time you sit down to dinner, take a look at your own plate. How well does it match the new guidelines?