Trigger happy

USDA’s MyPlate puts its money where your mouth is

One of my brilliant clients at Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield once wrote in a healthy-eating column:

“Instead of our steak being the size of a deck of cards (a standard, four ounce serving), it’s often the size of small laptop computer.”

I’m not a steak woman, but I do like my brie-on-brioche sandwiches to be at least as big as my iPad.

Visualizations help us ‘see’ size.

Whatever your personal dietary demons, we can agree on this: Visualizations help people make better decisions. Telling people that a serving of salmon should be the size of the palm of their hand makes it easier to control portions than to say it should be about four ounces.

That’s one reason I love the USDA’s new MyPlate graphic. It helps you see what you should eat.

The plate’s the trigger.

But there’s another reason I love MyPlate: It uses environmental triggers to help audience members implement the new dietary guidelines.

I, for one, have never eaten off a pyramid. But tell me to fill half of my plate with fruits and vegetables — and show me what that looks like — and every time I look at my plate, I remember what I’m supposed to do.