MyPlate

  

Well, hold on to your horses. I'm about to blow your mind. The food pyramid has been dismantled! It's being replaced with the above diagram, MyPlate, and it's supposedly going to make all the difference in how Americans eat. Because, you know, nobody understands that fruits and vegetables are good for you, and Big Macs and french fries are not...

If you're like me, you grew up with the good old pyramid as a reference, and you couldn't remember what went where for any reason under the sun. I checked it out, just to reminisce, and thought I might as well share it with you, too.

All I have to say is, kudos to the people who get to sit around and brainstorm new and exciting diagrams to help Americans who are making a point to ignore their health. I'm as guilty as most of eating fast food and snacking on sweets, but I would like to point out that I also choose to eat these things in moderation and balance them with plenty of exercise as well. Don't let me stand on my soap box too long, but America, let's get our lifestyle under control!!! Let's teach our kids to eat healthful foods and take them outside to play instead of parking them in front of the tv. Did you know that CNN reports that one third of children and two thirds of adults in America are overweight or obese?

I grew up eating wheat germ and lentils and carob instead of chocolate. Our peanut butter was the all-natural kind that you had to stir because the oil would separate out to the top. I don't remember drinking soda, and we had ice cream on a rare occasion. And I may have given my mom a hard time about it then, but wow, am I impressed with her now. We were healthy kids, chowing on our organic food and growing up strong! I'm sure it wasn't easy for Mom to stick with it, but boy am I glad she did now. Those eating habits are the ones I've gone back to (for the most part) as I've gotten older, and the ones I intend to raise Milo with as well. I guess it's true - train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Prov. 22:6). Amazing how practical the Bible can be sometimes, right?

Anyway, this is just my plug for living a full life - don't make food or television the center of your world. Use food as fuel to get out and do something, and don't just be a government statistic. Oh, and by all means, throw that nasty old food pyramid out and get with MyPlate. Or maybe just use some common sense?