So after hearing about this on biggest loser I decided to give it a try. I signed up that same day and checked out as much as I possibly could. The website was pretty overwhelming with so much information that I did not know what to look at first. I checked out the "my plate" section with the image of what you should follow and my first thought was that this was great. i could still eat anything i wanted and i just had to divide up my plate properly. in that respect this diet is great for all kinds of people because there is not a lot of rules. That however is my problem, I like rules. On a diet if I'm told specifically what to do i wind up losing more weight. With this diet you can still end up eating the wrong thing and if you aren't active enough you may still wind up gaining. I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with this diet, it is just not structured enough for someone like me to be as successful as I have been with others.

CaitlinO14

USA

The My Plate Nutrition Guidelines (formerly Food Guide Pyramid) is the most straight- forward, easy to follow eating guide I have found. I was taught the food guide pyramid in elementary school, this showing me that this eating plan is simple enough that a child can understand and follow the plan. The My Plate Nutrition Guide shows a color coated, portioned out plate, giving you a very clear guide of each food group and the plate percentage you should be consuming. This also helps us be able to see the importance of "eating a rainbow," encouraging us to get many different foods in our meals. This is such a great "diet" because it requires no special foods or equipment. This is an eating plan for life, suitable from toddlers to adults. The plan encourages you to make vegetables the largest part of your plate, it also advises you to vary your veggies. Grains, fruits and proteins are added to your plate, as well as dairy, either eaten or drank. This plan allows for customization, variety and an easy to follow, life long eating plan.

bigmamajo

USA

When I was younger, I was taught the food pyramid in school which emphasized grains a lot more than any other category. Then the flood of protein-heavy diets came which promised and delivered great results, but also came with its own set of problems. The MyPlate Nutrition Guidelines are much more moderate and create a balanced diet. The visual is simple and easy to understand and you get a good picture of how to proportion your meal. Vegetables and grains occupy 30% of the plate each and then fruits and protein at 20% each and a cup of dairy. They suggest diversifying your vegetables, having real fruits instead of juices, lean protein, whole grains, and low-fat or skim dairy products. When I make my own meals, I try to follow these guidelines and it's helped me to eat healthier and more balanced meals. I won't be overly stuffed but I'll be well satisfied. The guidelines also motivate you to try new foods to bring some diversity to your meal. All in all, I'd recommend everyone to try and follow these guidelines. It's not a diet but more so a lifestyle change.

normietrice

Downers Grove, IL

I have to say that after forty years I finally decided to try the MyPlate Nutrition Guidelines (formerly Food Guide Pyramid) and it worked pretty good for me. This is a very simple diet to follow as you just use the guidelines recommended in the my plate nutrition chart and you should lose weight. Well I tried this diet and I did lose weight. It was very easy for me to follow I just had to get used to weighing and measuring out my food and once I found the balance I began to lose weight. Not only did I lose weight but I was also eating healthier now that I was getting the recommended daily value and servings of fruits and vegetables. With this MyPlate Nutrition Guidelines diet I not only lost weight but it helped with my blood pressure and my cholesterol some as well. It gave me more energy and I had an overall better feeling knowing i was eating right. I was very happy with the results although I still need to lose a little more weight. The price is pretty reasonable as you can eat what you want but in portions. I would certainly recommend this diet to all of my friends and family.

ssears1973

Undisclosed

I've tried the food pyramid multiple times and as long as I stay focused, it always leaves me satisfied and thinner. The food pyramid sets out a great floor plan for staying fit. It tells you how many servings you need of each food each day. What the guide doesn't offer is a calorie count or an idea of when and what to eat with each meal. When I go by the food guide pyramid, I use it in conjunction with a calorie tracking app. The pyramid focuses a lot on fruits and veggies but it doesn't tell you that if you're not careful, 3-5 servings of fruits and veggies a day can lead to a lot of calories. It also doesn't tell you that grains and dairy can tack on a lot of calories. The pyramid is well mapped out but you have to be smart about it. When I did this, I tried to eat five small meals a day that were approximately 200 calories each. This helped me lose around 9 or 10 pounds a month with exercise. While on this diet, I added in a multivitamin and it took away my desire to snack between meals because I was getting a balanced level of vitamins and minerals. Effectiveness This weight loss plan helped me lost around 10 pounds in a month with just being more conscious about what I was eating. Side Effects Sometimes I felt like snacking and foraging because something was missing from my diet. I added in a multivitamin and within a week or two, I didn't feel like snacking anymore. Ease of Use It's a little difficult to get your head and body into the mindset to do this program but it's worth it.

clinen11

USA

I first learned of MyPlate while taking a parenting course a couple years back. I've been using it ever since for not only my children but for my entire family and my elderly father who has Parkinson's Disease and it's such a simple yet effective dieting/nutritional tool. Having the actual plate makes it even more fun and effective. It really teaches the importance of portion control and getting your pyramid foods into a balanced daily diet. I have recommended MyPlate to so many people but mostly fellow parents of young children. Effectiveness I have personally found MyPlate highly successful and so have many of my friends and family members who I recommended it to. It's important to know that using it alone will give you results but in order to achieve best dieting results you should definitely incorporate exercise into your daily regimen. Side Effects This is the best part; there are NO side effects. This is the easiest and most basic dieting technique with no dangerous possible side effects. This is why it's so great for people of all age groups! Ease of Use You really couldn't make a diet/daily nutritional intake regimen any easier than MyPlate. Again, another reason it's so great for all ages. Even small children can follow this diet especially if they have the actual plate to use too. It makes being healthy fun and that's such an awesome thing.

JessicaRider

USA

My personal experience following the MyPlate nutrition guidelines has been that they are a good guide of what to eat, and how much. I find that using the guidelines as a general rule for all of my meals has helped me maintain a healthy weight without starving myself. The guidelines also help with meal planning, as I use them to figure out how to fill in the gaps when planning a meal. Once I've decided on one or two components of a meal, I can use the guidelines to figure out what is missing, and plan to include something in that category. The MyPlate nutrition guidelines aren't really a diet, but rather they are guidelines for a healthy balance in your meals. These guidelines aren't geared towards weight loss, but if you eat a healthy balance of food, in reasonable portions, chances are you will attain a healthy weight and maintain it. I think the guidelines are fairly well designed, though I do disagree with the idea that you need dairy in your diet at all. Cows milk is not healthy for humans, and despite what the dairy lobby insists, it is not a good source of absorbable calcium. I know that dairy circle is there because of the dairy lobbyists though, so it is what it is. Overall, I think these guidelines are an improvement over how the majority of America eats. They aren't perfect but I think that if everyone followed them we would be a healthier nation than we are now.

Poofs

Voorhees, NJ

Overall, the MyPlate Nutrition Guidelines is amazing! The picture itself tells you how much of each family food group you should be consuming each day. Not only that, the 4 cut plan gives you an idea of what you should be grabbing or eating each time you sit down for a meal. The idea of eating healthy comes easy with these Guidelines, and is a quick reference to what you need to do to start living a healthier lifestyle. With the Guidelines, I have been more aware of what should go on my plate (like having more color besides yellow, and having equal portions of each family food group rather than one big chunk of meat and few bits of vegetables) and have been trying to keep a consistent meal plan of eating small meals every few hours rather than eating 2 huge meals a day. With the Guidelines, you'll be able to eat what you love wisely! Effectiveness The MyPlate Nutrition Guideline gives you a perfect guide to see how much of each family food group you should consume each day, and gives you many varied options on how you can accomplish eating the nutrients and proteins you need. Each person is different, but the Guideline helps everyone! Side Effects No side effects- it's all based on how committed you are to living a better lifestyle. Ease of Use Very easy to learn and use! Great tool!

MerpDerMerp

Undisclosed

Following the MyPlate Nutritional Guidelines has probably been one of the best ways for me to lose weight. Plus, it's really easy to get involved with your family. It's safe to share with your spouse and your kids no matter what their ages are. Essentially, the goal of these guidelines is to help you get the right amount of nutrients that your body needs everyday. This is done by eating certain amount of portions of different categories of foods. One thing I really liked about it is that it helped me expand the types of fruits and vegetables that I ate. The guidelines require that half of the food that you eat be veggies and fruits. It was a little difficult limiting the amount of meat and grains that I took in, but once you get used to it, it's not really that bad. If you want a plan that will help you and your friends and family eat better, I definitely recommend using the MyPlate Nutritional Guidelines. It definitely helped change the way that I ate.

tpbball31

USA

When I think of the My Plate Nutrition Guidelines I do not think of it necessarily as a diet. A diet is more of a plan that you do for a temporary time frame to achieves a specific health goal. I do think this plan is a very healthy one and good one to follow for overall health. When eating based on the guidelines of this setup you we feel better and notice differences in every part of your life if you do not currently eat healthy. This plan focuses on providing you with the correct portions of the various food groups which are the healthiest for your body. This program places emphasis on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. It also includes appropriate portions of lean meats, poultry, nuts, fish, beans and eggs. It is scarce when considering saturated fats, cholesterol, trans fats, sugars, and salt. When I joined the women's and infants program they gave me all the information I needed to follow these guidelines to eating better. The huge advantage over doing this compared to a diet is that you are able to choose so many different options that may not be included in other diets for various reasons. After following these guidelines for a couple months and getting used to the correct portion sizes I noticed I had more energy, I was able to sleep better, and I even lost some weight. I used to eat much larger portions and limited foods before trying this program. This did not allow my body to get all the vitamins and nutrients it needs to be healthy. Ease of Use Takes some time to adjust and get used to eating this way.

kahubbar

Undisclosed