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Show The Tale of Two Pyramids and a Plate family, I am using the new and improved, re-shaped "MyPlate" program which was released in June. The plate replaces the 2005 MyPyramid, which nutrition nu-trition experts had devalued as tential health risks and a quick charting of our energy levels. The children we will use comparing com-paring energy levels as BWI fluctuates widely with their growing patterns. by Davison Cheney Ah, the food pyramids of youth. Many an hour I spent at my desk not doing my assignments, assign-ments, drooling over the food pictured in graph-form on the board. Now those images are pushed aside because the USDA has come up with a new symbol in their latest effort to get Americans Amer-icans to eat healthier. Good for them. And just in the nick of time, because my family eats like locust. In fact, they actually ate locust with a little butter on a dare. They plumage and forage like they haven't seen a refrigerator in weeks. Several of them haven't. Their allowance money is spent at the "Fast 'n Go" to purchase sloshed ice and hot dogs. You would think getting them to eat right would be no problem being that they have demonstrated a willingness to eat anything. When they are hungry they consume everything every-thing in their way, and it's my job to put the right stuff in their way. And there's the rub. My first attempt to help my family eat right was several months ago to help my youngest son to learn correct grocery shopping shop-ping skills. He, for his "cooking and let dad do the cleaning" merit badge was responsible for the grocery shopping for a week. We ate nothing but mini-pizzas rolled into giant burritos for five days in a row topped off by cupcakes. We both learned. He learned that sugar and chocolate can be considered its own food group. I learned not to let him have the debit card. I need a better plan. In an endeavor to reconfigure reconfig-ure nutrition guidelines for my .vMjPIaQG confusing and somewhat vague using colored stripes to represent repre-sent the food groups instead a picture of actual food. "My Plate" is divided into four different sized quadrants, with fruits and vegetables taking tak-ing half of the space, and grains and protein making up the other oth-er half. Dairy is sitting close aside in a cup. So far so good. Frankly, I have never consulted con-sulted a food graph-chart-pyramid before I have made my choice for dinner. This new MyPlate cost the government $2 million, so I thought I would try to get my money's worth. I had thought to revamp my families eating habits this summer sum-mer anyway - the USDA beat me to it. I mostly go for color, and sometimes for finances -got money? Then meat is on the menu, boys." No money? Ramen and peas. Here is my plan. First we will have to have a standard to compare to. The older ones will use Body Mass Index, an estimate of body fat that is based on height and weight that doctors use, along with other health indicators, to assess an adult's health and po- Second, we will be a quick measurement of the plate as a tool - as in "can we quickly chart our meals?" And third, just for the heck of it, we may learn a little about different kinds of food during family time. Today, I explained the new chart. I took an old plate and colored in the new chart. Then I hot glued it to the refrigerator. Then I pealed it off the refrigerator refrig-erator when my wife got home and made another out of paper. So far so good. My daughter daugh-ter wants ice cream for her dairy. Every day. And no, butter but-ter is not dairy even though it comes from a cow. Rice is good, and cheese on the top of everything makes for a bigger plate - which my son actually recommended. In fact, he suggested we just add another plate for cheese and croutons, which I apparently approved without thinking because be-cause that's what's for dinner. I am on a roll, which, as per my new chart, is 30-40 percent per-cent of dinner. Next week Part Two - Implementation. |