It’s National Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day, an official holiday dedicated to the proposition that getting more fresh fruits and vegetables is easy, delicious — and, based on U.S. obesity trends — entirely necessary. Starting today, the annual holiday will be celebrated every year on the Thursday before Memorial Day, at the start of the summer produce season.

Three Dole divisions — Dole Fresh Fruit of Westlake Village, Dole Fresh Vegetables of Monterey, CA, and the Kannapolis, NC-based Dole Nutrition Institute — suggested the day as an annual reminder of the link between increased produce consumption and a happier, healthier life.

Following a successful first year of local celebration, the day will be proclaimed a national holiday. Dole representatives are accepting official proclamations designating the Thursday prior to Memorial Day, which this year falls on May 21, as Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day in the California cities and counties where the company is based: Monterey County, Salinas, Westlake Village and Los Angeles County.

According to Bil Goldfield, director of communications for the Dole Food Co., the holiday goes beyond simple recipe and usage ideas to serve a valuable purpose. “One-third of adults and kids in the U.S. eat less than one serving of fresh produce a day, and Americans are twice as likely to be obese than the world population,” he said.  “Eating more fruits and vegetables may help reverse this trend and, according to research, could increase life expectancy.”

Dole will mark the inaugural holiday by posting special fruit and vegetable recipes, tips, nutritional insights and related content on its social pages, and in partnership with its blogger ambassadors. The company has also organized a National Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Pinterest Party on May 21 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. and is inviting health-focused bloggers and social media users to share original photos, recipes and other visual content celebrating a happy, healthy lifestyle rich in fresh fruits and vegetables.

The new holiday falls just one week before the May 27-28 launch of Dole’s Get Up & Grow! North American Tour, a series of healthy-eating caravans that will ultimately visit 480 supermarkets and special events throughout the United States and Canada. In addition to sampling new fruit and vegetables recipes and participating in a number of hands-on activities, tour participants can take the Get Up & Grow! Healthy Living Pledge, a customizable commitment to eating better and living right.

More information about Get Up & Grow is available at www.dole.com/GetUpandGrow. Co-sponsoring the tour is Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Almondmilk. 

Dole chose New Orleans for the launch of National Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day since it traces the founding of its Dole Fresh Fruit and banana business to the Crescent City, and will be setting-off on its Get Up & Grow Tour from New Orleans on May 28.