Essentially, the experience made me neurotic and anxious about food (one of my great pleasures!) without making me especially healthy.

I wish I could stay I'd stayed equally stalwart in my dedication to the plan all week, but that wouldn't be quite true. I sort of lost enthusiasm and dedication, unsurprisingly, just as the weekend hit.

A quarter of Americans eat dinner out at least three nights a week, so for the USDA to systematically ignore this facet of the American eating system is risky.

I tried incorporating two new normal life things into my MyPlate Experiment: restaurants and cooking for a group. They each presented minor challenges, but not as many as I might have suspected.

I'm not a healthy eater. But for the next week, I'm going to try my hardest to eat exactly in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.