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Trump’s Cabinet may be having a very different experience on the porcelain throne than the rest of America.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President JD Vance are among the senior officials embracing a diet that promises weight loss, glowing skin — and, perhaps most eyebrow-raising of all, “nearly orgasmic” poops.
Yes, really. That’s how going No. 2 should feel, according to Dr. Sean O’Mara, who developed the eating plan he says primes the gut to produce bowel movements that are fast, odorless and even wipe-free.
“When you start eating healthy, you don’t need toilet paper,” O’Mara told the New York Times Magazine. “Animals in the wild have no residual stool on their anus.”
The emergency medicine physician turned health optimization expert has followed his so-called “living carnivore diet” for a decade and claims it’s transformed his life — including his trips to the bathroom.
“I could have a bowel movement behind a sheet at a dinner party in the corner of the room,” he said, “and nobody would know.”
The meal plan in question requires followers to ditch sugar, alcohol and heavily processed foods in favor of grass-fed meat and fermented fare like sauerkraut and kimchi.
Other staples include eggs, pickles, yogurt and berries. For snacks, O’Mara recommends “old world cheese,” including Gorgonzola and Parmesan.
The physician claims his signature diet improves digestion, boosts the gut microbiome and melts away visceral fat — the deep abdominal fat that surrounds internal organs.
Kennedy, 72, reportedly adopted the diet last year after meeting O’Mara and has credited it with helping him lose 20 pounds, ease chronic aches and pains and eliminate symptoms of atrial fibrillation.
Vance later joined in at Kennedy’s recommendation. The vice president adopted the diet for Lent earlier this year and, according to the health secretary, has stuck with it ever since.
Other converts in Washington include Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Wall Street Journal reported in June.
The growing list of devotees comes as gut health has become a leading wellness trend, with foods like sauerkraut enjoying a major resurgence. The tangy fermented cabbage — long relegated to hot dogs and deli sandwiches — has reclaimed a starring role on dinner plates thanks to its mix of prebiotics and probiotics.
“I could have a bowel movement behind a sheet at a dinner party in the corner of the room and nobody would know.”
Dr. Sean O’Mara
Those beneficial compounds are produced during fermentation, when bacteria break down the natural sugars in cabbage.
Working alongside cabbage’s prebiotic fiber, probiotics and their byproducts help support a diverse gut microbiome, which plays an important role in digestion, nutrient absorption and immune function.
Experts say regularly eating fermented foods like sauerkraut may support digestive health, weight management and reduced inflammation.
But it’s not all slim waists and perfect poops.
These gut-friendly staples can also trigger gas — a side effect the Wall Street Journal reported has caused some “domestic friction” in Washington households.
And despite O’Mara’s devotees swearing by his regimen, outside experts question whether it really delivers the odorless, wipe-free bathroom experience he promises.
For one, they say, people would need to consume copious amounts of fiber-rich plant foods to balance a meat-heavy diet, or they could be setting themselves up for constipation.
“Fiber adds bulk and holds water in stool, which is what keeps things moving; without it, transit time slows and stools tend to become harder and less frequent,” Dr. Saurabh Sethi, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist in Fremont, Calif., told HuffPost.
He said others on high-meat diets sometimes report the opposite problem, with frequent loose stools that may signal fat malabsorption or a bile acid response to a large fat load.
“Neither extreme is a marker of good colon health,” Sethi said. “Frankly, if your bowel movements are changing dramatically after a major diet shift, that’s your gut telling you something’s off-balance, not optimized.”
Other experts have warned about health concerns associated with diets heavy in red meat and animal fat, which have sent some followers to the hospital with serious conditions. One man following the carnivore diet developed such dangerously high cholesterol that it began seeping out of his hands.
If you do plan on adopting the eating style embraced by some of the federal government’s top brass, it’s best to ease into it.
O’Mara, whose direct consulting services cost $18,000, encourages patients to gradually add small amounts of fermented foods to their diets, starting with a taste and working up to a full serving of about a half cup.
“Eventually they start colonizing, and eventually they tolerate it, and eventually they like it, and soon they start loving these microbes,” he told Business Insider.
