Meredith has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to enhance its Million Hearts initiative with a new Healthy Eating & Lifestyle Resource Center. The CDC launched the initiative in 2011 with the goal of preventing 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. Its primary objectives are to improve treatment and care and to empower Americans to make healthy choices such as avoiding tobacco and reducing sodium and trans fat consumption. EatingWell worked with the CDC to develop family-friendly meal plans that emphasis on managing sodium intake.

While the site already featured tools to help consumers assess their heart attack and stroke risk, much of the site has been targeted at healthcare providers. With the addition of the Healthy Eating & Lifestyle Resource Center, the site will be “more appealing and approachable for consumers,” said Larry Sommers, GM, Digital Media & Business Development, EatingWell Magazine. “Our mission is to inspire people to eat healthy every day, which we support through magazines, books and websites of course. But the credibility and reach of the CDC is amazing and we are in a position to help them with their mission. When it comes to food, we know something about delicious and easy, but also about health,” Sommers added.

Central to the offering is a collection of heart healthy recipes, complemented by meal plans and inspiring articles and slideshows—all “powered by EatingWell.” Particularly compelling is the Advanced Recipe Search tool, which allows users to search by course, type of dish, cooking time and more—with user-friendly parameters that include “quick,” “kid-friendly” and “vegetarian.”

“We wanted to create something that was fun, engaging, visual and that simplifies things. We tried to create a tool that makes healthy choices and recipes as fun as for shopping for shoes on Zappos.” In addition to providing 750 lower-sodium recipes to search from, the Resource Center also provides 28-day prescriptive meal plans to lose weight. All of the recipes featured in the Resource Center include nutritional facts, use everyday ingredients found at local supermarkets and have been tested by EatingWell. Recipes will be added over time, including seasonal options.

For Meredith, “this is a strong integrated play,” says Sommers. “It leverages our content assets to reach a wider audience, but one that aligns with our goals of supporting the health and wellness space.” He says that Meredith is “proud to partner with the CDC. They are the real deal. Partnering with them is a great validation of the quality of content we publish.”