A new icon has arrived to help us visualize the dietary changes recommended for good health. Three categories of topics guides the conversation: balancing calories, foods to increase and foods to decrease.

We are encouraged to enjoy our food but eat less of it.  One way to do that is to avoid over-sized portions.  We are encouraged to increase our intake of fruits and vegetables by filling half of our plate with those.  Also, half of our grains should be whole grains and we are to switch to or begin using fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk and milk products.  More information is available on the USDA website for this new program at http://www.choosemyplate.gov/.