USDA Reveals New Food Plans for Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women

Say goodbye to our beloved food pyramid and welcome the newest incarnation: MyPlate. The United States Department of Agriculture just unveiled its newest diet recommendations for the general public using the image of portions of food on a plate. Most of the information is pretty basic, but there was a notable upgrade in the section for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Instead of offering a one-size-fits-all nutritional chart for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, there is now a personalized diet plan that the website generates. The “Daily Food Plan” calculator first asks your age and whether you are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you’re pregnant, you are then asked to enter your due date, height, pre-pregnancy weight and activity level. If you’re breastfeeding, you’ll be asked the baby’s birth date, height, weight, whether you are supplementing, and your physical activity (the breastfeeding section only provides nutritional information if the child is under one-year-old). The results are calculated and you’re provided with the total ounces of each food group you should be consuming daily.

The nutritional information on MyPlate is much easier to understand than the food pyramid. Using ounces instead of servings clears up confusion over how much is in a serving. Plus, there are added tips such as the recommendation that at least half of your grain intake be made up of whole grains. The chart also distinguishes between types of vegetables – a list of the colors and how much of each color you should eat encourages a rainbow of vegetables consumed weekly. The new recommendations also include a wide-range of tips for each food group, including how to get the most nutrition from foods based on cooking methods, fresh vs. preserved foods and much more.

Try the food plan generator and let us know what you think of the results.

Daily Food Plan for Moms [ChooseMyPlate]