THE FAST FOOD PRESIDENT
He’s been known to eat two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish and a chocolate milkshake in one sitting and gets through 12 cans of Diet Coke a day, which he orders at the press of a button
FUELLED by mounds of fast food, 12 cans of Diet Coke, scant sleep, frequent bouts of rage and up to eight hours of TV, Donald Trump’s daily lifestyle sounds like a recipe for a cardiac arrest. The 70-year-old’s only exercise is the odd round of golf and even then he takes a buggy around the course.
As a billionaire with a personal chef at his disposal you’d expect Trump to be more discerning when it comes to mealtimes. Yet his penchant for devouring copious amounts of junk food is well documented.
During the presidential campaign last year he tweeted a photograph of himself tucking into a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken on board his personal Boeing 757 jet. Another showed him indulging in a McDonald’s burger to celebrate winning the Republican presidential nomination and he was pictured wolfing down a gargantuan pork chop on the campaign trail in Iowa.
In 2015 his daughter Ivanka voiced concern over her father’s diet, saying: “I wish he would eat healthier and maybe slow down. Sometimes I tell him, ‘Oh, you have to, you know, slow down.’ But it’s the only speed he knows.”
According to nutritionist and author Dr Zoe Harcombe, an expert in public health dietary guidelines, Trump’s junk food diet sets a dangerous example in a country where the obesity epidemic is three decades old. Two studies last year concluded that 38 per cent of America’s adults and 17 per cent of teenagers are clinically obese.
“If true this is a terrible diet,” Dr Harcombe says. “Twelve cans of Diet Coke contain far more than an adult’s daily recommended dose of caffeine. Consuming too much of it induces energy highs followed by crashing lows and potentially manic behaviour, which could explain his enraged tweets.
“Junk food is associated with reduced longevity and a higher incidence of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and certain cancers. The fact he doesn’t drink alcohol, tea or coffee isn’t enough to negate the very unhealthy nature of his lifestyle.”
TRUMP, however, doesn’t seem to care. His love of overcooked steaks is well known and he has even suggested doing away with state dinners in order to save time, saying: “We should be eating a burger on a conference table.”
A former aide said they had “never seen” Trump snacking on fruit or nuts in stark contrast to his predecessor Barak Obama, whose healthy diet and daily runs were part of his trademark.
George W Bush was also an exercise buff, obsessed with staying trim by mountain biking and working at his Texas ranch. Meanwhile Bill Clinton – who now eats a largely vegan diet – ran regularly though he would famously end a workout at McDonald’s.
Fitness appears to have no place in Trump’s administration. In a forthcoming memoir by former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and aide David Bossie they reveal his appetite “seems to know no bounds when it comes to McDonald’s, with dinner consisting of two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish and a chocolate malt”.
That’s a staggering 2,400 calories in one meal. The NHS recommends that men consume no more than 2,500 calories per day. Lewandowski and Bossie also say: “On Trump Force One there were four major food groups, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza and Diet Coke.” Leading nutritionist May Simpkin believes it is Trump’s obsession with the fizzy drink that underpins all his poor dietary choices.
One can contains 42mg of caffeine, meaning Trump drinks a staggering 504mgs of caffeine a day, 104mgs more than the recommended intake for adults. “There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that the brain reacts in exactly the same way when it registers sweetness as it does when sugar has been consumed,” Simpkin explains.
“So Trump will be living on a rollercoaster of blood sugar fluctuations. With each crash he craves more sugar, which he’ll get from the carbohydrate elements of the pizzas and burgers.
“He will at least get a good source of protein from eating steak but I have no idea how he’s getting his five a day of fruit and vegetables and all the nutrients they contain for the body to function properly.
“The lack of nutrients will compromise his energy, digestion and mental health. As you get older everything becomes more sluggish so you almost need a more exemplary diet because you can no longer get away with a poor one.”
Still Trump remains defiant and has Diet Coke on tap at the White House. Whenever he craves a fix he simply pushes a button and a butler magically appears with a glassful – or 12.