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Podcast Diet Clash
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared on Katie Miller’s podcast with his wife, Jeanette, and pushed back on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “meat and ferments” regimen.
““I'm not gonna travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut,””
Rubio said, “I'm not gonna travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut,” while insisting he supports the MAHA push and wants Americans to be healthy.
In the same conversation, Rubio praised the “Pop-Tart” as “one of the great American innovations in the history of the world,” and Jeanette immediately contradicted him when he tried to claim he was “MAHA.”
Rubio also described trying keto as “a near-psychotic event for me,” and said that if he had been in the job doing it, he would have urged Trump to “bomb Paraguay” for no reason.
The episode was recorded in Washington, DC, where MEAWW said the conversation veered into “sauerkraut coolers” and other candid topics on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.
Candid Exchanges Go Viral
Rubio told Katie Miller, “No! This is a CRAZY diet,” when asked whether he had adopted Kennedy’s red-meat-and-fermented-vegetable approach.
Jeanette cut in to dispute Rubio’s claim about MAHA, saying, “No he is not,” and she added, “He is completely not.”
The MEAWW recap also quoted Rubio joking that Kennedy “has to travel with coolers of sauerkraut,” and Rubio said, “I’m not going to travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut. It’s ridiculous. I can’t do it!”
Rubio’s wife then answered what he eats by saying, “Pop-Tarts! You eat sweets!” while the Raw Story account described Vice President JD Vance flagging Rubio’s “infamous sweet tooth.”
In the same podcast, Rubio connected a Sharknado scene to the Reflecting Pool controversy, saying, “There’s a scene where the sharks are in the reflecting pool,” and then imagining “if we put sharks in the reflecting pool.”
Policy Image and Personal Stakes
Rubio’s comments tied extreme dieting to personal and political consequences, as he said keto caused “massive withdrawal from sugar and carbohydrates for the first 72 hours” and described it as “a near-psychotic event for me.”
““I don’t know, I’m just really mad; I haven’t had any sugar.””
He said that if he had been doing keto “in this job,” he would have told the president, “we must bomb Paraguay,” and when asked why, he said, “I don’t know, I’m just really mad; I haven’t had any sugar.”
Rubio also framed his stance on MAHA as supportive but not personal, telling Miller, “I’m in favor of MAHA. Like, I think people should be healthy,” while Jeanette said he does not eat healthy and is fond of Pop-Tarts, sweets and fast food.
In the Times of India account, Rubio said he is “not against this diet” and “encourage[s] people to try it,” but added, “it’s not for everyone,” while insisting Kennedy’s diet is “not a sustainable thing.”
Rubio described his work rhythm in national security, saying he sometimes wakes up at 2.30 am and that “Those are sometimes as early as 7 a.m.,” as he commutes from home to the State Department and tries to be at the White House before or shortly after noon.