In honor of his lifelong commitment to nutritious eating and his focus on fitness, the Good Housekeeping Institute is proud to award American pop culture icon Popeye the Sailor Man the GH Nutritionist Approved Emblem.
The timing couldn’t be better: Popeye is celebrating his 95th birthday on January 17. That’s 95 years of advocating for healthier food choices like spinach, the not-so-secret source of his strength.
“Around the time of the Great Depression, when Popeye first appeared in a comic strip, the American diet was sorely lacking in important nutrients, which was especially concerning with regard to children,” says Stefani Sassos, the GH Institute’s Nutrition Director and a registered dietitian. “Eating spinach activated Popeye’s superhuman strength, and he set an important example for adults and children.”
The association between Popeye and spinach remains strong today, making him an enduring model for nutritious eating.
Join Us in Celebrating National Popeye the Sailor Man Day
Popeye the Sailor Man has won the hearts of fans for decades, and his values of loyalty, strength, resilience and confidence have made him a mainstay of American culture. On January 17, the nautical hero’s fans are invited to participate in the inaugural National Popeye the Sailor Man Day. Officially declared by the National Day Calendar committee, National Popeye the Sailor Man Day is one of fewer than 20 new holidays added to the 2024 calendar out of over 20,000 proposed additions.
The experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute were also impressed by Popeye’s decades-long passion for ocean conservation and his work as an ambassador for The SeaCleaners, an organization fighting against plastic pollution and raising awareness of worldwide ocean conservation and cleanup efforts.
If you feel like powering your day with spinach as Popeye does, check out some of our favorite easy spinach recipes that would make even Popeye proud. And watch for additional partnerships and collaborations to honor Popeye’s 95th anniversary all year long, offering fans around the world many ways to celebrate the iconic Sailor Man.
To watch Popeye's adventures and learn more about him, including recent news and a timeline of his greatest moments over the last 95 years, visit popeye.com, follow him on Instagram @popeye and X @popeyetweetsk or use hashtags #95YearsStrong and #PopeyeTheSailorManDay.
Olivia (she/her) is a media and tech product reviews analyst at the Good Housekeeping Institute, covering tech, home, auto, health and more. She has more than five years of experience writing about tech trends and innovation and, prior to joining GH in 2021, was a writer for Android Central, Lifewire and other media outlets. Olivia is a graduate of George Washington University, with a bachelor's degree in journalism, political science and French, and she holds a master’s degree in communications from Sciences Po Paris.
