Arkansas’ own Wal-Mart is trying to be a good corporate citizen, the latest effort being $9.5 million in grants it and the Wal-Mart Foundation is giving to various organizations to promote healthy eating habits.

This comes after a much-heralded initiative last year to provide better (read: healthy) and more affordable food choices at the world’s largest retailer.

Nearly half of the grant money will go toward a program to teach nearly 40,000 participants how to shop and cook healthy on a budget.

I don’t want to sound like ye of little faith, because I do embrace this concept, but the problem isn’t just about money.

Why we eat what we eat comes down to taste, habit, time, culture, family, accessibility, dietary needs and a thousand other reasons.

Growing up on Saturday morning cartoons and those fruit(ish)-filled toaster tarts, I became used to a certain type of food: The fast and easy kind that always tasted the same. I think more than a few of you out there can identify.

As much as I’ve tried to change my bad habits, sometimes instant gratification in the form of a candy bar or chips is the only thing I want. And while I can start off the week with a meal plan and have all of my recipes and ingredients on hand, sometimes by Thursday (OK, Wednesday), things fall apart and the last thing I want to do is spend time in the kitchen cooking.

I’m sure more than a few of you know the feeling.

I know Wal-Mart is the all-powerful, almighty Oz. But I wonder if even it can combat such attitudes and, for lack of a better word, nurture, when it comes to our food choices.

It has a lot of work to do to win the hearts, minds and stomachs of families everywhere.