Educational Media Reviews Online

Any new government health initiative seeking to modify Americans’, especially American kids’ poor dietary habits is almost doomed to elicit yawns. The new plate-based graphic rolled out recently by the U. S. Department of Agriculture to replace the old food pyramid was designed to portray proportions of foods on a plate (including a notable increase in vegetables and fruit compared to other foods), but it also incorporates other basic health instructions.

This video production, aimed at teens, provides a mix of graphics, cartoons and live action film, narrated by a pleasant young woman, which clearly explains the health messages behind the new graphic model. The intent is to impress upon the audience the long-term and short-term consequences of bad nutrition and exercise choices, while providing clear, easy-to-follow tips to improve those behaviors. Whether or not teens will actually make the behavioral changes requested is another matter, still the production makes a good effort. Health educators, school nurses and others should welcome this short film as an adjunct to a general nutrition course. (See also My Plate and You DVD review.)