What Is MyPlate? The 5 Food Groups & Plan — 2026 Guide

The plate, the five food groups, and how the personalized plan works — still free here after the government retired it. Independent, current for 2026, no signup.

MyPlate in plain terms

MyPlate answers a practical question: what should a meal look like? The icon divides a plate into fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein foods, with dairy shown beside it. The takeaway is simple: make half the plate fruits and vegetables.

USDA introduced MyPlate on June 2, 2011, replacing the food pyramid after nearly two decades. A plate maps directly onto how people serve food, which is why the icon spread to classrooms, clinics, and kitchen walls.

The MyPlate Plan sat behind the icon. Enter age, sex, height, weight, and activity, and it returned a daily calorie target plus food-group amounts — cups of fruits and vegetables, ounce-equivalents of grains and protein, and cups of dairy. That calculator is usually what people want when they search MyPlate today; use the preserved calculator here.

What happened to MyPlate in 2026?

MyPlate was the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food guide for fifteen years, from June 2, 2011 until early 2026. On January 7, 2026, USDA and HHS released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, launched a new consumer site at RealFood.gov, and retired the MyPlate.gov website. The plate icon was replaced by a new federal graphic — an inverted pyramid — and the personalized MyPlate Plan calculator was taken offline rather than rebuilt.

None of this erased the science behind MyPlate: the 2020–2025 food-pattern tables that powered the calculator are still published, and USDA's Team Nutrition still uses MyPlate materials in schools. What disappeared was the free, public-facing tool. MyPlate.food fills that gap, preserving the MyPlate Plan calculator, the food-group guidance, and all 1,072 MyPlate Kitchen recipes independently of USDA.

What replaced MyPlate?

MyPlate was replaced by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 and a new federal consumer website, RealFood.gov, both launched on January 7, 2026. The 2025–2030 edition introduced a different visual — an inverted pyramid that places protein, produce, and healthy fats across the wide top — in place of the divided dinner plate.

RealFood.gov now hosts the government's current consumer nutrition guidance, but it did not carry over the interactive MyPlate Plan calculator or the MyPlate Kitchen recipe library. In other words, the guidance framework changed and the old tools were removed, not migrated. To understand the successor system, read our explainer on RealFood.gov and the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines. If you specifically want the MyPlate-format plate and its calculator, that is what this site preserves.

Is MyPlate still valid to follow in 2026?

Yes. Although USDA retired the MyPlate.gov website in January 2026, the nutrition science behind MyPlate did not expire. MyPlate implemented the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025 — a peer-reviewed federal report that remains published and scientifically valid. Its core messages still hold: make half your plate fruits and vegetables, make at least half your grains whole grains, vary your protein, and mind portion sizes.

Registered dietitians, WIC clinics, university extension programs, and USDA's own Team Nutrition still teach the plate method because it communicates balance at a glance. The 2025–2030 guidelines refine emphasis rather than overturn these fundamentals.

So following MyPlate today means following mainstream, still-current nutrition advice — you simply use the preserved MyPlate Plan calculator and food-group guides here instead of the retired federal site. The guidance also adapts by life stage: our guide to MyPlate for older adults applies the same five food groups and daily amounts to adults 60+.

MyPlate vs. the Food Pyramid: what's the difference?

MyPlate and the Food Pyramid are two eras of the same federal guidance. The Food Guide Pyramid arrived in 1992, stacking food groups vertically with grains at the wide base and fats at the narrow top — a design people routinely misread as a ranking or an eating order. A 2005 redesign, MyPyramid, added personalization and a stair-climbing figure but still needed a legend to decode.

In 2011, USDA replaced the pyramid with MyPlate: a place setting divided among fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein foods, with dairy beside it. The shift traded an abstract triangle for the most familiar object in eating, making one message instantly visible — half your plate should be fruits and vegetables. All three implemented the Dietary Guidelines for Americans of their day; only the picture changed. In January 2026, the plate itself gave way to an inverted pyramid at RealFood.gov.

What are the MyPlate portions, and what does an example plate look like?

MyPlate shows proportions, not fixed serving sizes. Vegetables and grains take the two largest sections — each about 30% of the plate — while fruits and protein foods fill roughly 20% each, and dairy sits in a cup beside the plate. The headline rule combines two of them: make half your plate fruits and vegetables.

A typical dinner might be a palm-sized piece of salmon (protein), a scoop of brown rice (grains), and half the plate filled with roasted broccoli and a side salad (vegetables), plus an apple and a glass of milk.

Your exact daily amounts — measured in cups and ounce-equivalents — depend on your calorie level, which ranges from about 1,000 to 3,200 calories a day. The MyPlate Plan calculator converts your age, sex, height, weight, and activity into those personal targets; the food-group guides break down what counts in each group.

Who maintains MyPlate now?

No single federal website maintains the MyPlate icon anymore. After USDA retired MyPlate.gov in January 2026, responsibility for the MyPlate format split: USDA's Team Nutrition still publishes MyPlate-branded materials for schools, while the interactive consumer tools — the MyPlate Plan calculator and the MyPlate Kitchen recipes — were taken offline.

MyPlate.food independently preserves and maintains those tools. It is not a government site and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by USDA; it rebuilds the MyPlate Plan from the same public Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025 food-pattern tables and hosts all 1,072 preserved recipes.

USDA appears here only as the original source of the underlying science. For current official guidance, USDA now points the public to RealFood.gov; for the preserved MyPlate plate and its calculator, this site is where that format lives on.

The five food groups on the plate

Every MyPlate recommendation is expressed through five food groups. The plate shows their relative share of a typical meal; your personal daily amounts depend on your calorie level.

  • Vegetables (Largest section — about 30% of the plate): All fresh, frozen, canned, and dried vegetables, plus beans and lentils. Variety matters: dark green, red and orange, starchy, and other vegetables each week.
  • Grains (About 30% of the plate): Bread, rice, pasta, oats, tortillas, and cereals, measured in ounce-equivalents. MyPlate's guidance: make at least half your grains whole grains.
  • Fruits (About 20% of the plate): Whole fruit, cut fruit, and 100% fruit juice. Together with vegetables, fruits fill half the plate — MyPlate's most famous message.
  • Protein foods (About 20% of the plate): Meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, and soy, in ounce-equivalents. Beans and lentils count here too — they pull double duty with vegetables.
  • Dairy (The circle beside the plate): Milk, yogurt, cheese, and fortified soy alternatives — pictured as a glass beside the plate rather than on it, typically 2–3 cups a day.

Core MyPlate messages

  • Make half your plate fruits and vegetables: The single most repeated MyPlate message, and the easiest to apply: before anything else lands on the plate, half of it belongs to produce.
  • Make at least half your grains whole grains: Swap refined grains for whole-grain bread, brown rice, oats, and whole-wheat pasta where you can.
  • Vary your protein routine: Rotate seafood, beans, lentils, nuts, and lean meats rather than defaulting to the same protein every meal.
  • Amounts are personal, not one-size-fits-all: The plate shows proportions; the MyPlate Plan converts them into daily amounts matched to your age, sex, size, and activity — from 1,000 to 3,200 calories per day.

How to use MyPlate at a real meal

The MyPlate icon is easiest to use as a quick plating check. It is not a rigid meal plan; it is a way to turn the Dietary Guidelines into an ordinary breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

  • Start with produce: Put fruits and vegetables on roughly half the plate. At dinner that may be salad plus roasted vegetables; at breakfast it might be fruit plus vegetables in eggs or a wrap.
  • Choose a grain, preferably whole: Use about a quarter of the plate for rice, pasta, bread, tortillas, oats, cereal, or another grain. MyPlate's grain message is to make at least half of those choices whole grain over the day.
  • Add a protein food: Use the remaining quarter for seafood, poultry, meat, eggs, tofu, nuts, seeds, beans, or lentils. Beans and lentils can count as either protein foods or vegetables depending on the rest of the day.
  • Include dairy or a fortified alternative: The circle beside the plate stands for milk, yogurt, cheese, lactose-free dairy, or fortified soy alternatives. If dairy does not fit your diet, use the calcium and vitamin D guidance as the underlying nutrition target.
  • Use the calculator for daily amounts: The plate gives the shape of a meal. The MyPlate Plan gives the quantities for a whole day, translating your calorie target into cups and ounce-equivalents.

Printable MyPlate one-sheet

Use the free MyPlate Plan one-sheet as a handout for the plate method: a simple visual guide to building a balanced meal.

  • Plate groups at a glance
  • Water, healthy oils, and activity reminders
  • PDF download for classrooms, clinics, and kitchens

Open the printable · Download PDF

MyPlate compared with other guides

The definition is only the start. The important question is what MyPlate simplified, what it kept from earlier guides, and where it differs from other plate-style advice.

  • MyPlate vs. the Food Pyramid: The pyramid ranked food groups vertically, which made the proportions easy to misread. MyPlate moved the same broad idea onto a familiar dinner plate, making the half-fruits-and-vegetables message visible immediately.
  • MyPlate vs. MyPyramid: MyPyramid added personalization and activity, but the vertical color bands needed explanation. MyPlate kept personalization through the MyPlate Plan and made the public icon much simpler.
  • MyPlate vs. Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate: Harvard's plate is more specific about whole grains, healthy oils, water, and protein quality. MyPlate is the official federal baseline and paired the visual with quantitative daily food-group targets.
  • MyPlate vs. RealFood.gov: RealFood.gov is the current federal consumer site launched with the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines. MyPlate.food preserves the retired MyPlate-format calculator, recipes, printables, and education pages.

From food pyramid to plate: a short history

MyPlate is one chapter in eight decades of U.S. federal food guidance. Each icon replaced the last as nutrition science — and communication science — moved on.

MyPlate timeline

  • 1943: The Basic Seven: Wartime guidance dividing foods into seven groups, later simplified to the "Basic Four" (1956) that generations of Americans learned in school.
  • 1992: Food Guide Pyramid: The famous pyramid put grains at the wide base and fats at the narrow top. Recognizable everywhere, but routinely misread — the stacked design implied a meal sequence rather than proportions.
  • 2005: MyPyramid: A redesign with vertical color bands and a staircase for exercise. It introduced personalization at mypyramid.gov but was criticized as unreadable without a legend.
  • 2011: MyPlate: USDA replaced the pyramid with a plate. Launched June 2, 2011 alongside the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, it traded abstraction for the most familiar object in eating: the plate itself.
  • 2026: MyPlate retired: On January 7, 2026, USDA and HHS released the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines, launched RealFood.gov, and retired the MyPlate.gov website. The new federal icon is an inverted pyramid; the MyPlate Plan calculator was removed and not rebuilt.

Where MyPlate lives now

MyPlate did not vanish in 2026; its pieces moved. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service still publishes MyPlate-branded Team Nutrition materials for schools. The 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines food patterns that powered the MyPlate Plan remain published, and dietitians still teach plate-method eating because it works at a glance.

MyPlate.food preserves the retired tools — the calculator methodology, recipe library, printables, and education pages — independent of USDA. Unlike a frozen archive or a mirrored copy, the tools here stay maintained and publish their math with named sources.

MyPlate questions, answered

  • What is MyPlate in simple terms?: MyPlate is a picture of how to build a healthy meal: a plate that's half fruits and vegetables, with the other half split between grains and protein foods, plus a serving of dairy on the side. It was the USDA's official food guide from 2011 to 2026.
  • What are the five MyPlate food groups?: Fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy. Vegetables and grains take the largest plate sections, fruits and protein slightly smaller ones, and dairy appears as a cup beside the plate.
  • Who created MyPlate, and when?: The U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced MyPlate on June 2, 2011, replacing the MyPyramid icon. It implemented the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
  • Does MyPlate still exist in 2026?: As a federal consumer website, no — USDA retired MyPlate.gov on January 7, 2026 when it released the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines and launched RealFood.gov. But MyPlate materials still appear in USDA's Team Nutrition school program, and the MyPlate Plan calculator and recipes are preserved and fully usable on this site.
  • What replaced the food pyramid?: MyPlate replaced the pyramid era in 2011 — first the 1992 Food Guide Pyramid, then its 2005 successor MyPyramid. In January 2026, the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines introduced a new icon that flips the original: an inverted pyramid with protein, produce, and healthy fats at the wide top.
  • How do I get my personalized MyPlate Plan?: Use the free calculator on this site: enter your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level, and you'll get a daily calorie target translated into specific food-group amounts, with printable and emailable results.
  • How is MyPlate different from the food pyramid?: The pyramid ranked food groups vertically by recommended quantity, which most people misread. MyPlate shows the same science as a place setting — proportions of an actual meal — making the core advice (half your plate fruits and vegetables) visible without explanation.
  • How does MyPlate compare to Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate?: Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate (also 2011) uses the same plate format but emphasizes whole grains specifically, adds healthy oils, recommends water over dairy, and distinguishes protein quality. MyPlate is the federal baseline and pairs the visual with quantitative personal targets via the MyPlate Plan.
  • Is MyPlate.food the official USDA MyPlate website?: No. MyPlate.food is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the USDA. It preserves the MyPlate Plan calculator methodology and the MyPlate Kitchen recipe library after USDA retired the MyPlate.gov website in January 2026. USDA's current guidance lives at RealFood.gov.

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