Week 2 Challenge Assignment

In the food plates we were asked to look at, three similarities I noticed with them were:

1. They all recommended roughly the same proportions of the different food categories on the plate.
2. Each plate also had a beverage of some type next to it to consume with the meal
3. The colors used for identifying the categories were all very similar

Three differences I noticed were:

1. The USDA plate's accompanying beverage is specifically a dairy beverage, while the other two plates suggest water first and the Harvard plate specifically tells you to limit your dairy intake.
2. The Harvard plate and the Food as Medicine Plate have an extra category in the oils and fats section that is missing from the USDA plate.
3. The Harvard plate and the Food as Medicine plate include descriptions and examples for the various categories that inform the viewer of the types of foods that fit into each category.

After looking at the three plates the plate that stands out the most to me is the USDA plate. It's a simple graphic that differs sharply from the other two in it's lack of informative value without any category descriptions, and seems to conflict with the other two plates on the dairy recommendation. That leads to the question of what is the difference between the people who made the USDA plate and the people who made the Harvard and Food as Medicine plates?

The "Go-To" Plate

Most of the meals I am able to make at home are breakfast meals. When I hear the phrase "go-to" I think of meals that are fast to make as well so for my "go-to" plate I'll show you a typical breakfast I make before heading out for the day that only takes a few minutes to put together. So we start with eggs!

After making a three egg scramble I pop some whole wheat bread in the toaster and choose a fruit to go with, usually a banana. Ever since I was a kid I had a small glass of milk with my breakfast's and that habit has mostly been brought forward into adulthood so I included that in the picture.

     When comparing this Meal to the USDA "MyPlate" I fit the guidelines pretty well! I have a fruit, protein, grain, and dairy serving! The only thing I am missing is a vegetable serving. If I was going to make any modifications to this meal I would probably start with adding a vegetable to it somehow. Probably the easiest way would be to dice up a veggie mix the night before to throw in with the egg scramble. An onion/green pepper/carrot mix would provide a good serving as well as a variety of veggies on the plate. I chose the USDA plate as my guideline because I feel like this guideline is the one that most Americans would follow and I wanted to compare my meal to the same standard that most other people would be comparing theirs too. After looking at the other Plates though I feel like I should start rethinking my choice to drink milk almost every day as it doesn't seem to be recommended by those sources.