Several members of Donald Trump’s Cabinet are following a diet that involves eating vast quantities of sauerkraut.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vice President JD Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy are all stuffing their faces with the potent German delicacy as part of a desperate bid to shed the pounds, The Wall Street Journal reports.
In addition to sauerkraut, the diet put together by Dr. Sean O’Mara also involves eating fermented foods such as kimchi and grass-fed steak and abstaining from alcohol and sugary foods.
Kennedy, who is spearheading the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, was the first to go on the diet before convincing the other leading Cabinet officials.
The stench coming from the food being consumed by Kennedy and Vance et al is said to be causing some “domestic friction,” according to the Journal.
While not confirming who is actually among his patients, O’Mara said that he prefers to “work with older people because the ROI is so much greater.
“It’s like taking over a sinking ship, a company that is headed to bankruptcy,” O’Mara told the Journal.
Speaking at an event in Michigan last week, the 72-year-old Kennedy claimed that he had “lost 20 pounds” after following the diet for 30 days. He also said Vance is on the sauerkraut diet and “you can see how different” the 41-year-old vice president looks.
The Trump administration is so obsessed with the diet that they talk about it and exchange tips when they meet at the White House, according to the Journal.
Kennedy is said to be such an advocate of it that he carries a stash of sauerkraut when he travels.
Kennedy’s wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm actor Cheryl Hines, bemoaned last year how the health secretary needs a constant supply of sauerkraut with him at all times.
“We’ll be in the car, dressed up. I’ll have my little clutch, right? One of my good bags that I only take out every once in a while, because I want to keep them nice,” Hines told Katie Miller’s podcast. “And he’ll hand me a bag of sauerkraut and say, ‘Can you put this in your bag?’ And I’ll say, ‘I actually cannot.’”
It is not just those connected to the White House getting involved in the fad.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he was put on the diet after bumping into Duffy and noticing how good Duffy’s skin looked. The transport secretary then recommended McCarthy see O’Mara.
“He told me I was the worst case he’d ever seen but he’s so positive he said: ‘You’ve got great potential,’” McCarthy told the Journal about his first meeting with O’Mara, adding he lost around four inches off his waist since going on the diet.
