Sizing Up Your Plate with MyPlate

by Theresa Ferrari, Extension Specialist, 4-H Youth Development

Happy birthday, MyPlate! MyPlate is 10 years old this year. It’s a good reminder to think about how we can use MyPlate concepts. How does your plate stack up to MyPlate?

Plate divided in sectionsWhat is MyPlate? MyPlate is a nutritional food guide that was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help people become more aware of what they eat and to assist them in making better food choices. The MyPlate icon shows the five food groups: Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein Foods, and Dairy. It features a simple picture of a plate, which offers a visual cue that is easy to relate to, with sections of a plate representing how much of each food group people should consume relative to the other groups.

The 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasizes the importance of an overall healthy eating pattern with all five groups as key building blocks. Each food group includes a variety of foods that are similar in nutritional makeup, and each group plays an important role in an overall healthy eating pattern.

Current intakes show that from an early age, dietary patterns are not aligned with the Dietary Guidelines.

  • Average intakes for 5- to 8-year-olds are generally within the range of recommended intakes for protein, fruits, and grains (although this is achieved with refined grains, not whole grains), but below in vegetables and dairy.
  • Diet quality declines for the 9- to 13-year-old and 14- to 18-year-old age groups. Grains are within the recommended range, again with whole grains below recommended amounts. Protein foods are at the lower limit of the recommended intake (with older teen girls dropping below). Fruit intake drops, and vegetables and dairy remain low.
  • The difference between recommended food group amounts and current intakes is greater for adolescents ages 14 through 18 than for any other age group across the lifespan. As a result, adolescents are at greater risk of dietary inadequacy than are other age groups.
  • Vegetable intake is especially low and increasing vegetable consumption tends to be particularly difficult. In addition, most diets exceed the recommended limits for added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium.

A recent study found that diets of children in the U.S. have improved modestly but remain poor for most. This improvement in diet quality is promising. However, another report found that more than a third of U.S. children and adolescents consumed fast food. Other researchers have examined sugar-sweetened beverages and junk foods. The results of these studies are cause for concern because fast food,  sugar-sweetened beverages, and junk foods have been associated with higher caloric intake and poorer diet quality. These dietary patterns contribute to overweight and obesity, as well as increasing the risk for chronic diseases later in life.

MyPlate Talking Pointsseveral fresh vegetables

  • Fruits – Make half your plate fruits and vegetables: Focus on whole fruits.
  • Vegetables – Make half your plate fruits and vegetables: Vary your veggies.
  • Grains – Make half your grains whole grains.
  • Protein – Vary your protein routine. Choose protein foods like beans, fish, lean meats, and nuts.
  • Dairy – Move to low-fat or fat-free milk or yogurt. Drink fat free or low-fat milk or water instead of sugary drinks.

MyPlate is not perfect–for one thing, the size of the plate matters. The specific amounts of food needed in each group vary by age, gender, and activity level; the Dietary Guidelines provides more detailed information on this topic. Some foods contain ingredients from multiple groups, making them difficult to classify.

The MyPlate icon focuses on incorporating healthful foods; however, all foods in a group are not the same. Foods vary in their nutrient density, that is, the amount of key nutrients they provide relative to the energy (calories) they provide. The key is choosing a variety of foods and beverages from each food group. Nutrients to encourage include protein, fiber, and a range of vitamins and minerals, while those to limit are saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium. That includes cakes, cookies, ice cream, candies, sweetened drinks, and fatty meats like sausages, bacon, and hot dogs. Use these foods as occasional treats but not everyday foods (think of them as “sometimes foods”). Although they do not identify the nutrient density as such, the nutrition facts label can help in identifying specific nutrient content.

Today’s Takeaway: Developing healthy eating habits can go a long way to ensure a better lifestyle now and in the future. MyPlate provides a guide for making healthful choices.

References

Drewnowski, A. (2009). Defining nutrient density: Development and validation of the Nutrient rick Foods Index. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 28(4) 421S–426S. https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2009.10718106

Fryar, C. D., Carroll, M. D., Ahluwalia, N., & Ogden, C. L. (2020). Fast food intake among children and adolescents in the United States, 2015–2018 (NCHS Data Brief No. 375). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db375.htm

Gold, A., Larson, M., Tucker, J., & Strang, M. (2017). Classroom nutrition education combined with fruit and vegetable taste testing improves children’s dietary intake. Journal of School Health, 87(2), 106–113.  https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12478

Leung, C. W., DiMatteo, S. G., Gosliner, W. A., & Ritchie, L. D. (2018). Sugar-sweetened beverage and water intake in relation to diet quality in U.S. children. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 54(3), 394–402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2017.11.005

Liu, J., Rehm, C. D., Onopa, J., & Mozaffarian, D. (2020). Trends in diet quality among youth in the United States, 1999-2016. Journal of the American Medical Association, 323(12), 1161–1174. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.0878

Liu, J., Lee, Y., Micha, R., Li, Y., & Mozaffarian, D. (2021). Trends in junk food consumption among US children and adults, 2001-2018. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, nqab129. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqab129

Snelling, A. M., Newman, C., Ellsworth, D., Kalicki, M. Guthrie, J., Mancino. L., Malloy, E., Van Dyke, H., George, S., & Nash, K. (2017). Using a taste test intervention to promote vegetable consumption. Health Behavior and Policy Review, 4(1), 67–75. https://doi.org/10.14485/HBPR.4.1.8

U.S. Department of Agriculture. MyPlate. https://www.myplate.gov/

U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. (2020). Dietary guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025 (9th ed.). https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/

Make Mindfulness Part of Your Day

Mindfulness is the ongoing process of paying attention to your thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and without judging. Earlier this month I wrote about getting started in mindfulness – what it is and why it’s important. Today’s post offers some ideas for make mindfulness part of your day.

Mindfulness can help us do two things throughout our day:

  • Be focused – you are able to concentrate on what you’re doing
  • Be aware – you recognize distractions as they arise and return to focus

Let’s break down two types of mindfulness practices:

Formal mindfulness can be practiced through things like breathing exercises, guided relaxation, and meditation.

  • Set aside time for mindfulness practices. Although the beginning and/or the end of the day make sense, there is no “right” time. Just figure out what makes the most sense to you. You can start out slowly and gradually increase the amount to time you devote to these practices. Setting aside a regular time may make it easier to establish mindfulness as a habit. However, short mindfulness breaks throughout the day can help us to make a transition from one activity to the next and can aid in focusing on the task at hand.
  • Find an app that can aid your practice of mindfulness, with body scan, guided relaxation, or calming sounds. Read these reviews of five mindfulness apps to decide if one of them might work for you.
  • Record yourself or a friend or family member reading a guided relaxation script. If apps aren’t your thing, you could make your own recording. Make sure to speak slowly and pause as you read.

Informal mindfulness means going about your daily activities in a more mindful frame of mind.

  • Pay attention while you go about your everyday activities such as eating, doing chores, or taking a walk. We are often rushing through our day on autopilot. Instead, shift your focus to the sights, physical feelings, sounds, smells, and tastes of these activities instead.
  • Spend some time without the distractions of technology and social media. To stay connected, we need to disconnect! Put your phone aside when interacting with others. Listening is an important skill to learn, and it will help you cultivate social connections. But it’s hard to pay attention when someone is speaking is notifications from your phone keep distracting you.
  • Get outside. Research continues to show that there are many mental and physical benefits of practicing mindfulness in nature.

Resources for Mindfulness

1. Here are some resources for audio recordings of guided relaxations:

2. A brief mindfulness activity that you can do involves your five senses.

Focus on your five senses, one at a time. Try to mindfully experience each sense as you focus on it.

    • Look: 5 things you can see
    • Feel: 4 things you can touch
    • Listen: 3 things you can hear
    • Smell: 2 things you can smell
    • Taste: 1 thing you can taste

Today’s Take-Away: The point of practicing mindfulness is to make it a habit or routine as part of a healthy lifestyle. Use the ideas and resources shared here to make mindfulness part of your day. Take it a step further and get others to join you – build in mindfulness practices as a regular part of your 4-H club meetings or other gatherings.

Yours in Health,

Signature

Theresa Ferrari, Extension Specialist, 4-H Youth Development

Resource: Banks, B., & Bercaw, S. (2018). Get Experience in Mindfulness: An Awareness and Acceptance Stress Management Program for Ages 10 & Up. University of Delaware.

Learning Is Fun and Healthy

By Justin Bower, Logan County 4-H Educator

I’ve always had an interest in music. I was in choir and band and loved to dance too. As a 4-H camp counselor you usually found me in the rec hall at 4-H Camp Ohio teaching line dances as early as 6:45am. Now let me be clear, I was decent at music, but by no means am I great at any one of these things.

My singing voice tends to be too nasally, I cannot play complicated pieces on instruments, and my dancing range is stuck in line dancing. However, in high school I still wanted to learn something new. I had learned piano, and several brass instruments but I wanted to be able to play while camping and dragging our upright piano around did not seem like the most practical thing.

I settled on trying to learn guitar. My mother had a travel acoustic guitar that no one had touched for a few years. So I decided to start looking up lessons on YouTube, printing off chord charts, and taking the time to practice and learn. Now I am in no way a skilled guitar player now but I can get myself through leading worship or camp songs by using chords (and just so you know, Alice the Camel is a great song to play on guitar).

With us having to stay at home more than we are used to, you might find yourself bored or in a rut. Take the time to learn something new!

Here is a list I created of some useful skills you can learn on YouTube:

  • Using hotkeys/keyboard shortcuts
  • Changing a tire
  • Mastering folding
  • Speed-reading
  • Craftsman skills
  • Learn Spanish

Here is a list of some not as useful but fun skills on YouTube:

  • Rubix Cube
  • Ukulele
  • Drawing
  • Juggling
  • Unicycling

Taking time to learn skills you want is great for your mental health and well-being. Doing things you enjoy and challenging your brain makes you feel good and encourages you to be more positive.

When you decide what you want to learn feel free to use YouTube, Google, and books to teach yourself the skill. Know that it takes time and practice. The key to learning a skill is identifying what you are weakest at and continually practicing that. For example, I struggled playing a F chord, but after intentional practice and playing songs with the chord in it I was able to do it.

Here’s my challenge for you:

Take time this weekend to practice a skill that you are trying to learn.

guitar and guitar case with 4-H sticker

This is my guitar and guitar case. I decided for 2021 that I was going to start putting some of my favorite stickers on my guitar case. Notice which sticker I put on first.

 

Justins Sig

Justin Bower

Logan County 4-H Educator

New Year, New Habit!

Create habits

New Year, New Habits!

It can be difficult to discuss January without using the word new – new year, new start, New Year’s resolution, and sometimes even a new waist size after indulging in one-too-many holiday treats! No matter the ‘new’ you envision, ideas of starting a new habit – practicing mindfulness, calling family more often, or embracing gratitude  – run through our minds at year’s open. But what is a habit, really? It can be tempting for us to make habit building complicated. However, researchers remind us that habits can be simple, automatic responses to simple environmental cues. So, let’s give our lofty New Year’s resolutions a break for a moment, and explore what we really need to know about setting sustainable habit goals this year.

I am sure many of us can think of one or two bits of advice about habit formation we’ve heard over the years. Maybe, like me, you have been told that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. In fact, a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology concluded that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days – 66 days on average – to build a solid habit. Now, before you become completely overwhelmed by the idea of potentially waiting more than 8 months to make that morning walk a routine, the same study suggests that many factors play a role in determining how fast habits are formed and how strong those habits will be.

The good news – success is simplicity and it starts with what you can control. Studies show that having a realistic plan and repeating simple behaviors within the same or similar settings, every day, has a major effect on reducing the time it takes to form and sustain a new habit! Additionally, the Learning Center at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill recommends that gathering social support from friends or family, as well as building in a reward for following a new routine, further contributes to success.

Well, what does all this mean? In short, consider starting with a simple, achievable act you can repeat every day in the same space, at roughly the time. If your New Year’s resolution is to form a new habit of starting every day with yoga, try the following:

  • Begin your first 1 to 3 weeks by waking up at the same time each day, sitting where you plan to do yoga, and taking a few mindful breaths.
  • Ask a family member or a friend to support you by holding you accountable. (Holding you accountable is different from judging you; we talk about judgment in our “Getting Started in Mindfulness” post earlier this week. Taking part in the Healthy Body Healthy Mind SPIN Club is another way to hold yourself accountable).
  • When this simpler habit has been built, then add some yoga poses to your morning process.
  • Promise yourself the reward of a special treat after each week that you follow your routine.

Follow these steps and you might just build that new habit in as little as 18 days!  But don’t be discouraged if it takes longer. If you miss a day, just pick up where you left off.

Your take-away for today: Turn that New Year’s resolution into a simple habit and make a realistic plan for change. Lucky for you, we have just the tool to get you started! Download this Hunt 4-Health card to start your journey toward healthy habits (the embedded links will take you to an activity; they’re also listed on the back of the card). Grab friends or family and commit to completing the entire card together. Be sure to set up a reward to enjoy when you complete several challenges. The fun of completing the challenges may itself become the reward. Who knows, you might form a new healthy habit!

To take it a step further, follow this link to check out even more healthy offerings on the Ohio 4-H Mental Health Month website. Habit formation is different for everyone, so get creative and make it fun! Your ‘Hunt 4-Health’ starts right now!

Tyler Kessler, 4-H Educator, Adventure Central