Kamala Harris is obsessed with working out.
‘I work out every morning, regardless of how much sleep I’ve had,’ she told former President Barack Obama in a 2020 interview. ‘It’s just the best way to start the day.’
But the Democratic presidential hopeful admits she has a bit less discipline when it comes to her diet, allowing herself to indulge on junk food.
Her go-to snack is Nacho Cheese Doritos and when it comes to cake, ‘caramel is like my favorite,’ Harris, 59, said during a campaign stop at a bakery in September.
Now, a food blogger has tried her diet for a day to find out what fuels America’s next potential president. It comes after he tried Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s diets.
Doctors told DailyMail.com sugar rushes could explain Harris’ giddy personality and trademark laugh.
WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN: Harris shops for her favorite snack, Nacho Cheese Doritos, at a campaign stop in August 2024
WAY THE COOKIE CRUMBLES: In one episode of Kamala Harris’ Cooking with Kamala YouTube series, she baked and enjoyed monster cookies
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Bennett Rea, who runs the TikTok channel Cookin’ With Congress, used public comments Harris has made about her diet to create her daily meal plan.
He said her diet was ‘all over the place… totally all over the place.’
Kamala is not into fasting. She’s said numerous times she always eats breakfast, which usually consists of a grocery store raisin bran cereal.
She has that with almond milk and green tea, which she adds honey and lemon to. Her go-to snack is her favorite chips, Doritos.
Harris is a keen chef – she once had a cooking series on her YouTube channel called Cooking With Kamala – so her meals later in the day tend to be quite fancy.
A typical lunch might see her eat curd rice with pomegranate seeds, coriander, green chili, coconut oil and spices. For dinner, she often has homemade gumbo — a hearty southern stew.
Based on her comments on the campaign trail in Georgia in September, Rea assumed Harris has a chocolate and caramel-favored dessert at night, so he picked a pecan cake with those flavors.
‘It doesn’t really make sense together, like Doritos and curd rice and raisin bran and gumbo,’ he said in the TikTok video. ‘It’s all over the place. It’s totally all over the place.’
‘ALL OVER THE PLACE’: Bennett Rea, 35, said Kamala Harris’ was unconventional but tasty
SUGAR HIGH: In September, Harris visited a small-business bakery and shopping for sweets
However, he did say her lunch and dinner were delicious.
Mr Rea added: ‘I’m just feeling… I’m happy about it. I’m happy about it.’
He added it wasn’t the ‘most normal politicians’ diet’ but her routine made him feel ‘pretty damn presidential.’
Harris’ appetite has also been highlighted in her old YouTube show, where she baked bacon-fried apples and monster cookies consisting of nuts, oatmeal, chocolate chips and M&Ms.
And she has been seen making several stops in bakeries to buy sweet treats on the campaign trail.
In early September, the presidential candidate sparked a barrage of memes online after eyeing a cake and telling the crowd caramel was one of her favorite desserts.
She said: ‘What is that cake… Oh, I want a slice of that. Caramel is like my favorite. Oh, chocolate and caramel – fantastic.’
Doctors told DailyMail.com that lots of sugar could be behind Harris’ giddiness and her unique laugh.
KAMALA CHOPS IT UP: Sweets may be her favorite, but Harris also enjoys hearty foods. She is pictured above eating pork at the Iowa State Fair in 2019
Dr Stuart Fischer, an emergency medicine doctor in New York City, told DailyMail.com: ‘The famous laugh, which is inappropriate at times, can be related to elevations and fluctuations in blood sugar.
‘These fluctuations definitely have a physiological impact [impact on the body and brain].’
Dr Qin Rao, a gastroenterologist at Manhattan Gastroenterology in New York, warned these fluctuations may also be behind some of her less desirable traits.
He said: ‘Eating excessive amounts of sugar, especially refined sugar, can lead to a sudden spike in glucose which can give you a boost of energy.
‘This is usually followed by a “sugar crash” a few hours after due to the production of insulin which can lead to symptoms of lethargy, irritability and generalized fatigue.’
Kamala Harris created waves on social media after her visit to Dottie’s Supermarket in Savannah, Georgia, where her eyes were instantly drawn to a slice of chocolate caramel cake
In July, reports surfaced that Harris had earned a reputation as an alleged ‘soul-destroying’ workplace ‘bully.’ And only four of her original 71 staffers hired by the vice president during her first year in office still remained in their jobs, according to analysis by non-partisan watchdog Open The Books.
Additionally, reports of an ‘abusive’ workplace atmosphere in her office were published by Politico in 2021.
Meanwhile, Dr Fischer said sugar crashes might also explain Harris’ ‘word salad’ during her 60 Minutes interview.
He said: ‘Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, can also lead to disorganized thinking, and incoherent and scattered thoughts.
‘When people have disorganized thinking for one reason or another, they will be grasping at straws and may construct a string of words that evades the topic.’
The Mayo Clinic says the symptoms triggered by hypoglycemia occur because the lower sugar levels interfere with the brain’s ability to function properly.
Dr Peter Brukner, a sports and medicine physiologist in Australia, told DailyMail.com hypoglycemia could be a major issue for Harris during this election cycle.
He said: ‘For someone like Kamala Harris, always traveling and meeting people the whole day, having a sugar crash can be very difficult.
‘Think about needing to give an important speech or talk with voters when your energy level suddenly drops. This could make things quite hard for her.’