Senior figures in Donald Trump's administration have adopted a steak and sauerkraut diet in a bid to lose weight, after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said he shed 20lb in 30 days.

Vice President JD Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy now follow grass-fed meat and fermented foods.

Cabinet Officials Trade Tips on the Sauerkraut Diet

Kennedy, 72, was the first to adopt the regimen, followed by Lutnick, 65, and Duffy, 54. Reporting has described the appeal as including promises of slimmer waistlines and improved skin.

Vance, 42, began during Lent and has kept it. Officials trade tips when they gather at the White House. Kennedy often travels with a stash of sauerkraut. Lutnick ferments vegetables at home rather than rely on shop jars.

Vance lunches on eggs, sauerkraut, pickles and berries, then eats beef or lamb with more cabbage. Aboard Air Force Two he snacks on grass-fed beef jerky or a bunless hamburger with fermented vegetables.

Former House speaker Kevin McCarthy said he lost four inches around the waist after Duffy pointed him to the same doctor.

Read more

The Living Diet and Its Pricey Architect

The regimen is the work of Dr Sean O'Mara, who tells patients to eat sauerkraut and kimchi beside grass-fed steak and to drop alcohol and sugary food.

He says the mix reduces visceral fat around the organs and supports the gut microbiome. Kennedy said: 'Within 30 days I lost 20 pounds.'

He has also attributed improvements in aches and the disappearance of atrial fibrillation to the diet, although those are personal claims rather than evidence that the regimen caused the changes. O'Mara's listed Alpha Start package costs £5,993 ($8,000) for a two-hour consultation and full-body scan.

Lutnick, long wary of red meat, gave up Diet Coke for plain iced coffee. Snacks include what O'Mara calls old world cheese. Dietary advice issued earlier this year by Kennedy and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins mentioned fermented foods.

Lutnick first spoke about the diet with Kennedy on a trip to Colorado.

Vance Says Call Bobby, Skip the Pleasure

Kennedy told a Michigan audience in June that Vance already looked different on the same plate. Kennedy claims a 20lb loss in 30 days on meat and ferments. Lutnick, Duffy and Vance eat steak, sauerkraut and kimchi and skip alcohol. Dr Sean O'Mara designed the plan. Jars travel with the health secretary.

On 3 September Vance told reporters he had asked Kennedy about giving up sugar for Lent and was steered toward something more intense. He now eats a lot of high-protein food and a lot of sauerkraut.

Kennedy's wife, Cheryl Hines, has joked about being asked to carry a bag of sauerkraut in one of her good clutches on date nights. Converts say the promised benefits outweigh the slightly sulphurous odours that cause friction at home.

Trump has kept pizza, fries and Diet Coke in public view. Kennedy has been reported to travel with sauerkraut, while Vance has described eating fermented foods while travelling on Air Force Two. Kennedy's 20lb claim remains the figure against which the others are now judged, though Vance has offered no public number of his own.

O'Mara first advised politicians while assigned to assist the White House during the George W. Bush administration

Read more