Choose MyPlate

mkeatonmom4

Does MFP use the same dietary guidelines that is on the choose MyPlate website? They use to have a “super tracker” and I kinda miss it. How do you incorporate their information on this app? Is it any different? If so how is it different?

HeidiCooksSupper

MFP generally doesn't have specific dietary guidelines. Yes, there is a default for macros but otherwise what you eat is wholly without specific guidance.

The MyPlate app is from the US government and uses the design of the Healthy Eating Plate but also incorporates numbers of servings like the old food pyramid. It's definitions are pretty basic, e.g., it includes fruit juice as a healthy fruit like any other whereas more nuanced sources recognize that fruit juice is often not recommended because it has had its fiber removed and therefore is more like eating straight sugar in terms of glycemic index. Their ChooseMyPlate app basically helps you keep track of numbers of servings.

You will find folks making all sorts of dietary choices on MFP, partly because no one pattern of food or meals has been shown better for weight control over the long haul. The only thing that correlates with long term weight loss is consuming fewer calories than you expend.

Certainly, one could combine use of that ChooseMyPlate app with their own food choices but I would combine it with more up-to-date knowledge from a source less influenced by big agriculture than has been true for US government dietary recommendations. My favorite is Harvard School of Public Health's "Nutrition Source" which has an augmented "Healthy Eating Plate" and will help you make better choices. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/