Use the Healthy Eating Plate as a guide for creating healthy, balanced meals鈥攚hether served at the table or packed in a lunch box. Click on each section of the interactive image below to learn more.
Looking for a printable copy? Download one here, and hang it on your refrigerator to serve as a daily reminder when planning and preparing your meals! Translations of the Healthy Eating Plate are also available in over 25 languages.
Building a Healthy and Balanced Diet
Make most of your meal vegetables and fruits 鈥 陆 of your plate. Aim for color and variety, and remember that potatoes don鈥檛 count as vegetables on the Healthy Eating Plate because of their negative impact on blood sugar.
Go for whole grains 鈥 录 of your plate. Whole and intact grains鈥攚hole wheat, barley, wheat berries, quinoa, oats, brown rice, and foods made with them, such as whole wheat pasta鈥攈ave a milder effect on blood sugar and insulin than white bread, white rice, and other refined grains.
Protein power 鈥 录 of your plate. Fish, poultry, beans, and nuts are all healthy, versatile protein sources鈥攖hey can be mixed into salads, and pair well with vegetables on a plate. Limit red meat, and avoid processed meats such as bacon and sausage.
Healthy plant oils 鈥 in moderation. Choose healthy vegetable oils like olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut, and others, and avoid partially hydrogenated oils, which contain unhealthy trans fats. Remember that low-fat does not mean 鈥渉ealthy.鈥
Stay active. The red figure running across the Healthy Eating Plate鈥檚 placemat is a reminder that staying active is also important in weight control.
The main message of the Healthy Eating Plate is to focus on diet quality:
The type of carbohydrate in the diet is more important than the amount of carbohydrate in the diet, because some sources of carbohydrate鈥攍ike vegetables (other than potatoes), fruits, whole grains, and beans鈥攁re healthier than others.
The Healthy Eating Plate also advises consumers to avoid sugary beverages, a major source of calories鈥攗sually with little nutritional value鈥攊n the American diet.
The Healthy Eating Plate encourages consumers to use healthy oils, and it does not set a maximum on the percentage of calories people should get each day from healthy sources of fat. In this way, the Healthy Eating Plate recommends the opposite of the low-fat message promoted for decades by the USDA.
Your Plate and the Planet
Just as different foods can have differing impacts on human health, they also have differing impacts on the environment. Food production is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and it places an enormous demand upon our earth’s natural resources.
Are the relative sizes of the Healthy Eating Plate sections based on calories or volume?
The Healthy Eating Plate does not define a certain number of calories or servings per day from each food group. The relative section sizes suggest approximate relative proportions of each of the food groups to include on a healthy plate. They are not based on specific calorie amounts, and they are not meant to prescribe a certain number of calories or servings per day, since individuals鈥 calorie and nutrient needs vary based on age, gender, body size, and level of activity.
How can I apply this guide if I don鈥檛 eat my meals from a single plate?
As the name suggests, the Healthy Eating Plate is visualized as a single plate, however it can be used as a guide for creating healthy, balanced meals鈥攏o matter which type of dishware is used!
For example, while you wouldn鈥檛 consume soup on a plate鈥攜ou can consider the relative sizes of each section when choosing what to add to the pot before serving in a bowl: make about half of your ingredients a variety of colorful vegetables (carrots, celery, spinach, tomatoes, saut茅ed in olive oil), and the other half a mix of whole grains (such as farro) and a healthy protein (such as beans).
Or maybe you鈥檙e eating your meal in courses, or as multiple dishes in smaller sizes: a plate of grilled fish over brown rice; a green side salad filled with veggies; and some fruit for a sweet end to the meal.
There are many cultures around the world in which people may not eat their meals from a plate. Although our translations of this guide maintain the single-plate graphic, we encourage its use for creating healthy, balanced meals in context of cultural and individual customs and preferences.
What about alcohol? Isn鈥檛 alcohol supposed to be good for you in small amounts?
For some people, moderate alcohol consumption can offer health benefits, whereas for others alcohol may pose risks. Learn more about the聽risks and benefits of alcohol.
Who created the Healthy Eating Plate?
The Healthy Eating Plate, created by nutrition experts at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and editors at Harvard Health Publications, was designed to address deficiencies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)鈥檚 MyPlate. The Healthy Eating Plate provides detailed guidance, in a simple format, to help people make the best eating choices.
The Healthy Eating Plate is based exclusively on the best available science and was not subjected to political or commercial pressures from food industry lobbyists. Learn more about how the Healthy Eating Plate compares to the USDA鈥檚 MyPlate.
What about the Healthy Eating Pyramid? Will it be going away?
Will following the Healthy Eating Pyramid and Healthy Eating Plate guidelines really make me healthier?
According to research done at Harvard Chan School of Public Health and elsewhere [1-3], following the guidelines presented through the Healthy Eating Pyramid and Healthy Eating Plate can lead to a lower risk of heart disease and premature death:
In the 1990s, the USDA鈥檚 Center for 九色视频 Policy and Promotion created the Healthy Eating Index 鈥渢o measure how well American diets conform to recommended healthy eating patterns.鈥 [4] A score of 100 meant following the federal recommendations to the letter while a score of 0 meant totally ignoring them.
To see how well the principles embodied in the Healthy Eating Pyramid stacked up against the government鈥檚 advice, researchers at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health created an Alternate Healthy Eating Index with a scoring system similar to the USDA鈥檚 index. They then compared the two indexes, using information about daily diets collected from more than 100,000 female nurses and male health professionals taking part in two long-term studies.
The eleven components assessed by the Alternate Healthy Eating Index were dairy products; vegetables; fruit; nuts & seeds; bread/grains; meat, poultry & fish; cholesterol; fat; sodium; alcohol; and multivitamins.
Men who scored highest on the USDA鈥檚 original Healthy Eating Index (meaning their diets most closely followed federal recommendations) reduced their overall risk of developing heart disease, cancer, or other chronic disease by 11% over 8 to 12 years of follow-up compared to those who scored lowest. Women who most closely followed the government鈥檚 recommendations were only 3% less likely to have developed a chronic disease. [5]
In comparison, scores on the Alternate Healthy Eating Index did appear to correlate more closely with better health in both sexes. Men with high scores (those whose diets most closely followed the Healthy Eating Pyramid guidelines) were 20% less likely to have developed a major chronic disease than those with low scores. Women with high scores lowered their overall risk by 11%. Men whose diets most closely followed the Healthy Eating Pyramid lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease by almost 40%; women with high scores lowered their risk by almost 30%.
In a 2014 study looking at trends in diet quality among adults in the U.S., researchers using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index found that there was steady improvement from 1999 to 2010, but that overall dietary quality remains poor. [6]
Two studies offer further evidence of the disease prevention benefits that accrue from following a diet similar to one based on the Healthy Eating Pyramid:
A study that tracked 7,319 British civil servants for 18 years found that men and women with the highest scores on the Alternate Healthy Eating Index had a 25% lower risk of dying from any cause, and a 42% lower risk of dying from heart disease, than people with the lowest scores. [3]
Another observational study in 93,676 post-menopausal women found that following a Healthy Eating Pyramid-style diet (as measured by adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index) was superior to following a low-fat diet at lowering cardiovascular disease and heart failure risk. [1]
Permissions for Use
The Healthy Eating Plate image is owned by Harvard University. The downloadable version may be used, without permission, for educational and other non-commercial uses with proper attribution, including the following copyright notification and credit line:
Copyright 漏 2011, Harvard University. For more information about The Healthy Eating Plate, please see The 九色视频 Source, Department of 九色视频, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, , and Harvard Health Publications, .
Akbaraly TN, Ferrie JE, Berr C, Brunner EJ, Head J, Marmot MG, Singh-Manoux A, Ritchie K, Shipley MJ, Kivimaki M. Alternative Healthy Eating Index and mortality over 18 y of follow-up: results from the Whitehall II cohort. . 2011 May 25;94(1):247-53.
Belin RJ, Greenland P, Allison M, Martin L, Shikany JM, Larson J, Tinker L, Howard BV, Lloyd-Jones D, Van Horn L. Diet quality and the risk of cardiovascular disease: the Women鈥檚 Health Initiative (WHI). . 2011 May 25;94(1):49-57.
McCullough ML, Feskanich D, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci EL, Rimm EB, Hu FB, Spiegelman D, Hunter DJ, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Diet quality and major chronic disease risk in men and women: moving toward improved dietary guidance. . 2002 Dec 1;76(6):1261-71.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for 九色视频 Policy and Promotion. .
Continuous Update Project Report Summary. , 2011.
Wang DD, Leung CW, Li Y, Ding EL, Chiuve SE, Hu FB, Willett WC. Trends in dietary quality among adults in the United States, 1999 through 2010. . 2014 Oct 1;174(10):1587-95.
