Marco Rubio Claims Keto Diet Triggered a ‘Near-Psychotic Event’

Marco Rubio may be on board with the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, but when it comes to his own diet, he isn’t exactly following the playbook.

The secretary of state, 55, and his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, sat down for a wide-ranging chat on The Katie Miller Podcast‘s Tuesday, August 11 episode, and one of the lightest moments came when the host asked the couple to settle a classic debate: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Marco and his wife were in instant agreement — yes, it is.

The rest of the conversation revealed just how far Marco’s diet is from that of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has become known for his red meat-heavy eating habits as the face of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

Marco recalled a brief and painful stint on the keto diet a few years back. “You need carbohydrates to function,” he said. “Four or five years ago I tried keto. You just eat all this protein so you go through this massive withdrawal from sugar and carbohydrates for the first 72 hours. It was a near-psychotic event for me.”

He joked the diet would be dangerous for someone in his line of work. “Like if I did [keto] in this job, I would be in there, ‘Mr. President, we must bomb Paraguay.’ And it’s like, ‘Why?’ ‘I don’t know, I’m just really mad, I haven’t had any sugar.’ The point is, I’m not against this diet, I’m not asking that we ban it, I encourage people to try it. I’m just saying it’s not for everyone. That’s what I’m saying.”

As for RFK Jr.’s stricter approach, Marco wasn’t buying it as a lifestyle for the masses. “I’m not gonna travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut. It’s ridiculous! I can’t do it. It’s not sustainable for me,” he said, even as he maintained, “I am in favor of MAHA” — a claim Jeanette, 52, disputed.

She wasn’t shy about calling out her husband’s actual eating habits either. “He eats all the things you should not be eating. Every single thing,” she said. “Anything that’s sugar, [he] will take it down.”

She also revealed his weakness for a certain toaster pastry, which Marco happily defended: “The Pop-Tart is one of the great American innovations in the history of the world, if you think about it. It comes in this beautiful foil package.”