Doctor sneaked veg into president’s diet

‘‘We were putting cauliflower in the mashed potatoes.’’ Ronny Jackson, former White House doctor

Getting a child to eat vegetables through subterfuge is familiar to many parents, and Donald Trump’s former doctor has revealed that he even tried the technique on the president.

Ronny Jackson said he regretted leaving his position in March 2018 before carrying out a plan to help Trump to lose 2.3 kilograms.

‘‘We were working on his diet,’’ Jackson told The New York Times. ‘‘We were making the ice cream less accessible, we were putting cauliflower in the mashed potatoes.’’

Jackson had also planned to move an exercise bike or crosstrainer into the president’s White House residence but admitted that ‘‘the exercise stuff never took off as much as I wanted it to’’.

Trump, 73, has a diet that is high in meat. He has said he is ‘‘very happy’’ not to have breakfast and sometimes skips lunch as well. When he does not, he likes a well-done steak, a pizza or a burger.

Corey Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, has said that a typical dinner came from Mcdonald’s and included two Big Macs, two fish burgers and a chocolate milkshake. Trump does

not drink tea, coffee or alcohol but loves Diet Coke.

According to profiles of the president, he eschews exercise, apart from golf, because he believes the body is like a battery, meaning that exercise depletes its finite energy.

Jackson, who was Barack Obama’s doctor, shot into Trump’s affections in 2018 when he told a public briefing that the president had ‘‘incredible genes’’ and that ‘‘if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old’’.

Soon afterwards, he was nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, but withdrew after claims that he crashed a car while drunk and freely handed out prescription drugs to White House staff, which Jackson denied.

He is running for Congress in Texas, touting his ability to burst into the Oval Office and say: ‘‘Sir, I need you to stop what you’re doing and listen to me.’’