This week the U.S. government abandoned the classic food pyramid that visualized its healthy eating recommendations.

Now, the dietary guildelines are being rebranded, using a plate icon designed to symbolize and simplify the recommended daily amounts of food. Will the new system succeed where the food pyramid didn't?

Tell us what you think in this week's debate forum.

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There are a few oddities, but — as we previewed yesterday — the US Department of Agriculture's simplified new icon that replaces its food pyramid logo should help Americans understand nutritional recommendations much better than the last form of MyPyramid did.

First Lady Michelle Obama helped unveil the rebranded icon (dubbed MyPlate, it replaces MyPyramid) today, along with a website, ChooseMyPlate.gov, a move that was greeted with endorsements from just about every quarter of the food and beverage industry, the regulatory apparatus, and academia.Continue reading...

The next effort by the federal government to get Americans to eat better: junk the iconic food pyramid in favor of a new healthy-eating logo and visual systems that looks more like a dinner plate.

That makes sense. With the original pyramid conceived decades ago, consumers were supposed to favor foods depicted in the icon’s wide base, such as whole grains and vegetables – as the “basis” of a healthy diet.

The allegedly worse-for-you stuff, such as fats and meats, were relegated to smaller portions near the top of the pyramid. But not surprisingly, this confused many Americans. Isn’t the best stuff supposed to be at the pinnacle of anything? Besides, geometry is a tough subject.Continue reading...

Michelle Obama is trying to woo kids to put down the cheeseburger and get moving in her Let's Move healthy kids campaign — even co-opting Beyonce in her anti-obesity campaign's latest effort: a May 3rd "dance-in" in America's public schools.

But the White House wants to put teeth in those efforts by regulating food advertising, yesterday announcing proposed federal guidelines for marketing food to kids. The biggest issue to come out of the "tough new rules," as the Wall Street Journal described them — when does a minor become impressionable by advertising?Continue reading...

Today is the first anniversary of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative, the government's program to combat childhood obesity.

To mark the occasion, the First Lady unveiled a new series of public service announcements that will run on-air and online.

Created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Ad Council, the PSAs aim to provide parents and caregivers throughout the country with information to help them make healthy food choices and increase physical activity.

Check them out after the jump and let us know in the comments if you think they're effective.Continue reading...

"If we wanted to listen to the food police and sell nuts and berries and tofu burgers, we wouldn't make any money and we'd be out of business."

— Beth Mansfield, spokeswoman for CKE Restaurants Inc., which owns the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains

Mansfield was quoted in the Los Angeles Times, in an article ("'Eat less,' U.S. says as fast-food chains super-size their offerings") about the new USDA dietary guidelines vs. fast food restaurants' trend to supersized offerings.

As the USDA releases new dietary guidelines today urging Americans to consume less salt and more dairy and fresh fruit, and takes public comments on its proposal to make school meals healthier, the Gerber baby food company finds itself the target of a pediatrician-led campaign as the leading producer of white rice cereal. 

While the cereal is favored by moms as a gluten-free, allergy-free meal for spoon-feeding babies, Stanford University's Dr. Alan Greene is backing a "White Out" campaign. He believes it's a high-calorie, processed white flour "sugar-like" high Glycemic Index food that sets up infants to become obese children and adults.Continue reading...