It’s official: the USDA’s abstract striped pyramid has been replaced by a new food icon called MyPlate. While the importance of whole grains isn’t readily apparent on the MyPlate icon itself, the ChooseMyPlate.gov website has done a really good job of making clear that whole grains are the new norm. Today’s blog will take you on a tour of some of these features.

If you’d like to see Oldways’ overall comments on MyPlate, click here.

Food Groups: Grains

If you choose Food Groups under Basics, then click on the Grain Group, you’ll find a good deal of accurate and well-organized information. There’s a clear explanation of the difference between whole grains and refined grains, followed by good lists of foods that fall into one group or the other.

Then, if you click on View Grains Food Gallery, you can see scaled photos of various foods and how certain amounts correspond to the recommendations in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines. Here at Oldways and the WGC we’re big believers in using real foods to communicate clearly, and we love the food galleries that USDA has created. One question though: why do they picture half a cup of brown rice and a full cup of white rice? Just wondering.

10 Tips to Help You Eat Whole Grains

The website has a series of downloadable handouts that feature 10 tips for various topics, including “Got Your Dairy Today?” and “Kid-Friendly Fruits and Vegetables.” At launch, there are 14 of these “10 Tips” pieces, and one of them is titled “Make Half Your Grains Whole.”

Sure we’d like it even better if the Whole Grain Stamp had been mentioned under “be a smart shopper,” but overall this is a useful and informative tip sheet.

Even More Whole Grain Tips

If ten tips aren’t enough for you, you can check out the online tips, that go beyond what fits on a single page. Twenty-two tips, in fact, are listed here. How about “Try an unsweetened, whole grain ready-to-eat cereal as croutons in salad or in place of crackers with soup.” That’s thinking outside of the box (or maybe IN the cereal box?)

What’s Next?

I attended a small invitation-only briefing at USDA on May 20, and learned that the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) plans to focus on one of its “key messages” at a time, to break through the clutter and make an impact on Americans’ eating habits. The first message they’ll concentrate on is “Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables.” Somewhere down the line it will be whole grains’ turn, and all attention will be on “Make [at least] half your grains whole.” The WGC will be ready to pitch in on that one.

CNPP also plans to come out with additional interactive web-based tools this fall. Can’t wait to see what comes next! (Cindy)