JD Vance is taking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s diet advice by eating according to an inverted food pyramid, he has confessed.
Vance, an adult Catholic convert, told NBC News that he began the “crazy diet” that the Health and Human Services secretary recommends during Lent.
But unlike most penitents, who return to their previous ways after Lent, he has kept it going nearly two months later. It involves “a lot of protein,” he said, and “fermented foods writ large, so, you know, yogurt, cheese and things like that.”
“I think it definitely made me feel healthier, and it’s something I’ve continued with,” Vance, 41, explained. “So, you know, that’s one of the cool things about Lent, is sometimes you do these things as an act of sacrifice, and you realize that not indulging yourself is maybe a very good thing.”
In August 2024, Vance said he had lost about 30 pounds since running for Senate in Ohio two years prior. He credited diet and exercise.
In January, Kennedy unveiled his inverted food pyramid, which deemphasized whole grains while prioritizing meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables.
“Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines,” Kennedy said. “We are ending the war on saturated fats.”
Kennedy also called for a “dramatic reduction” in “highly processed foods laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats, and chemical additives.”
Having red meat and animal fats in that new position goes against what the food pyramid had been since its introduction in the early 1990s until it was phased out in 2011. That year, it was replaced by the MyPlate visual, part of a Michelle Obama initiative, which itself was succeeded by Kennedy’s pyramid.
“I’m very disappointed in the new pyramid that features red meat and saturated fat sources at the very top, as if that’s something to prioritize. It does go against decades and decades of evidence and research,” Christopher Gardner, a nutrition expert at Stanford University, told NPR.
In his interview with NBC, Vance confirmed something else he gave up at the start of Lent: the X, formerly known as Twitter, mobile app.
Doing so has made him “much more productive,” he said, while acknowledging that he will reinstall it at some point.
“I live in such a crazy bubble,” he said. “I travel with Secret Service all the time. If you think about how many unplanned interactions I have in a given week, it’s close to zero, because I live in such a bubble. And I think one of the good things about social media is that it actually exposes you to unfiltered raw opinions, and that’s one of the things that I need to hear as a political leader. So I will definitely reinstall it, but I’ve enjoyed my little break from it.”
Others may have enjoyed the break more: Vance was a serial “reply guy,” weighing in on culture wars from his screen, and offering takes which got him in hot water.
One was about Pope Francis, of whom he posted after visiting his tomb, “he was beloved by many Catholics,” suggesting that others—perhaps including Vance himself—were less keen on the last pontiff. He also tweeted, then deleted, an acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide, thereby offending both Turkey—which denies there was a genocide—and Armenia.
A representative for Vance declined to comment.
