Youve probably heard about it-whether youve heard of it

referred to as my pyramid, my plate, or other names, you might be

wondering what it is all about. The actual name of it is Choose My
Plate. My plate is basically an easy way for helping Americans to
understand the Dietary Guidelines. It helps you understand what a
meal should look like and what/how much it should include of all of the
food groups. The link to the website is http://www.choosemyplate.gov.
This website contains more information about nutrition and diet as well
as many tools to help you figure out what your nutritional needs are.
One cool resource shows you what the food groups are; Fruits,
Vegetables, Grains, Protein, Dairy, and Oils. You can open up a chart
that shows you the recommended servings per day for each food group
for different ages and genders. For example, for a 14-year-old girl, the
following chart shows the recommended servings per day for each food
group:
i. Fruit: 1 cups
ii. Vegetables: 2 cups
iii. Grains: 6 ounce equivalents
iv. Protein: 5 ounce equivalents
v. Dairy: 3 cups
vi. Oils: allowance is 5 teaspoons
My plate also tells you what a standard serving size is for each
food group, as well as gives you a chart that gives examples. The
following standard serving size chart is also for a 14-year-old girl:
i. Fruit: 1 cup 1 large orange, 1 medium pear.
ii.
Vegetables: 1 cup 2 medium carrots, 1 large
green pepper.
iii.
Grains: 1 ounce 1 mini bagel, 1 small flour
tortillas.
iv.
Protein: 1 ounce 1 egg, 1 tablespoon peanut
butter.

^This visual gives you an idea of

what your plate should look like at a

typical meal.
^This is an example of the
serving size chart
A sample menu is attached for an idea of a days worth of meals and
snacks that meet the requirements for a 14-year-old girl.
For the recipe for Veggie Omelet, it makes one serving and
therefore one omelet should be consumed. The Strawberry Spinach
Salad recipe makes 4 servings, and only one serving of that should be
eaten, therefore of the salad. The recipe for the Greek Chicken Pasta
makes 2 servings, so half of the product should be consumed for the
meal. The chart on the following page shows into which food group the
menu items fit.

1% Milk

Veggies
Grains
1
0
serving
-1/2
onion,
chopped
=1/2
serving
-1/2
green bell
pepper
chopped
=1/2
serving
0
0

Strawbe
rry
Spinach
Salad

1 serving
-1 cup
strawberrie
s=1
serving
0

serving
-4 oz (1/2
cup)
spinach
0

Toasted
WholeWheat

Greek
Chicken
Pasta

1% Milk

Orange
s

serving
-1 small

Veggie
Omelet

Low Fat
Fruit
Yogurt

Fruits
0

Protein
2
servin
gs
-2
eggs=
1
serving
each

Dairy
-minor
serving
from
cheese
& milk

1
servin
g
-1
cup=1
serving
0

2
servin
gs
-2 oz
~1
4
serving
servin
-tomato,
gs
artichoke, -1/4
red onion pound
pasta=
4 oz=4
serving
s

1
servin
g
-8
oz=1
cup
yogurt
=1
serving
0

4
0
servin
gs
-1/4
pound
chicke
n=4
oz=4
serving
s
0
1
servin
g
-1 cup
=1
serving
0
0

Works Cited
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/yummy-veggie-omelet/
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/strawberry-spinach-salad-i/
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Greek-Chicken-Pasta/