OCTOBER 12, 2011
Walmart Foundation, American Heart Association create program to encourage Americans to cook simple, affordable, healthy meals
DALLAS (Globe Newswire) – The Walmart Foundation and the
American Heart Association have launched a program that encourages
Americans to cook low-cost, heart-healthy meals at home.
Simple Cooking with Heart is teaching Americans how to cook more at
home by giving them tools, basic skills and techniques to get started
and inspired -- and have fun.
Program components include 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.
Traditional home-cooked meals are becoming increasingly rare as more
people are eating at full-service and fast-food restaurants for taste
and convenience. Typically, restaurant food contains more saturated and
trans fats, cholesterol, sodium, added sugars and calories and less
fruits, vegetables and whole grains than home-cooked meals.
In the late 1970s, American children ate 17 percent of their meals
outside the home and fast food accounted for 2 percent of total energy
intake. By the mid-to-late 1990s, 30 percent of meals were eaten
outside the home and fast food contributed to 10 percent of overall
energy intake.
Away-from-home food also accounts for at least half of
all total U.S. food expenditures.
"We know that meals prepared at home tend to be more nutritious than
restaurant meals, but many American families lack the fundamental
skills to prepare healthy, home-cooked meals," said Rachel K. Johnson,
Ph.D., R.D., an American Heart Association spokesperson and the
Bickford Professor of Nutrition at the University of 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,"
Johnson said. "These changes will help the American Heart Association
achieve its aggressive health impact goal to improve the cardiovascular
health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from
cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent by the year 2020."
"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," said Joe Quinn, senior director
at Walmart. "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."
To download the Simple Cooking with Heart Host Kits, find a
live-cooking demonstration in your area or for more information on the
Simple Cooking with Heart program, visit www.heart.org/simplecooking.
About the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart
disease and stroke -- America's No. 1 and No. 3 killers. We team with
millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger
public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to
prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the
nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to
fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or join us, call
1-800-AHA-USA1 or any of our offices around the country, or visit
www.heart.org.
About Philanthropy at Walmart
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are proud to support initiatives
that are helping people live better around the globe. In May 2010,
Walmart and its Foundation made a historic pledge of $2 billion through
2015 to fight hunger in the U.S. The Walmart Foundation also supports
education, workforce development, environmental sustainability, and
health and wellness initiatives. To learn more, visit
www.walmartfoundation.org.
