Introducing MyPlate to Your Family
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been educating consumers with the new food guide icon – MyPlate. MyPlate encapsulates the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans in a retainable and easy-to-understand symbol showing the proper proportions of the various food groups depicted on a plate.
As a National Strategic Partner of the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy & Promotion, the CFA has been partnering with the USDA and others to help educate Americans on how to use MyPlate to create balanced meals and how canned foods, including fruits, vegetables, lean meats and seafood, soup, and beans, provide nutritious, affordable, and convenient ways to fill their plates.
MyPlate highlights the fruit, vegetable, grain, protein, and dairy food groups, depicting proper proportions of each. Shopping for canned fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, beans, and grain-based soups can help Americans fill their plates with nutrition that is convenient, affordable, and accessible year-round.
To help show consumers just how many canned foods are available today that meet the nutrition requirements set forth by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the CFA created three documents:
Did you know?
- Canned foods are comparable to cooked, fresh, and frozen varieties in their nutrient contribution to the American diet.
- All forms – canned, fresh, frozen, dried and 100% juice – of fruits and vegetables provide needed nutrients that make up a healthy diet.
- Canned meats, seafood, legumes, and beans deliver critical protein. Low-sodium versions are increasingly available, and many canned meats and seafood are low in fat and cholesterol.
- Canned beans are an excellent source of fiber, thiamin, iron, folate, and potassium.
- Canned poultry and fish are comparable to fresh-cooked in nutritional value. Some varieties of canned fish have higher calcium levels than their fresh-cooked counterparts, and canned salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids