Walmart cooking program has heart

DALLAS — In an effort to encourage Americans to cook low-cost, heart-healthy meals at home, the charitable arm of Walmart and the American Heart Association have partnered on a new initiative.

The Simple Cooking with Heart program includes live demonstrations, online how-to videos, tips, recipes and free downloadable "host kits," which encourage people to host in-home parties to practice cooking simple, affordable and healthy meals with family, friends and neighbors, the Walmart Foundation and the American Heart Association said.

"At Walmart, we understand it's vital to help families identify and purchase healthy foods and the American Heart Association is helping make that easier with its new program," Walmart senior director Joe Quinn said. "We are committed to bringing our customers healthier food in our stores at our everyday low price, and we are supporting innovative programs that support nutrition education. It will take both of these efforts to achieve real change."

Added Rachel Johnson, American Heart Association spokeswoman and Bickford professor of nutrition at the University at Vermont, "We must equip American families with basic culinary skills along with nutrition knowledge so they can know how to cook and eat at home. These changes will help the American Heart Association achieve its aggressive health impact goal to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20%, while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20% by the year 2020," she said.

For more information about Simple Cooking with Heart, click here.