How Healthy is Vice President Kamala Harris?

By Tarshua Carter Williamson
BlackDoctor
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
https://blackdoctor.org/

As the election season gets into to full swing with no presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris going up against Donald Trump, all eyes are on Harris to find out what she’s up to, what she stands for, and even how healthy she is.

We took a deep dive into her past comments on her fitness routine, her diet and what kind of health issues she may face in the future. Here are some insights in the lifestyle of our nation’s first Black female Vice-President.

Kamala Harris works out every single day.

Exercise is super important to Harris, and she’ll work up a sweat, even when she’s wiped.

“I work out every morning, regardless of how much sleep I’ve had,” she told former President Barack Obama in a 2020 interview. “It’s just the best way to start the day.”

Harris is also workouts buddies with her husband Doug Emhoff. “I don’t know if we talked about that on our first date, but if came up when we started spending time together, I realized I had to up my game,” Emhoff told Men’s Health. “It’s not like I can sit around and eat a bowl of cereal while she works out.”

Emhoff said his wife inspired him to work out more. “I’m in way better shape now than I was 10 years ago.”

VP Harris Gets Creative with Her Workouts

Like many people exercising at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, Harris said that she couldn’t find hand weights to use in her workouts, because they were sold out. (After gyms closed, the demand for common home workout equipment such as kettlebells and adjustable weight dumbbells surged.) So Harris got creative.

“I had liter water bottles that I filled, of course, with water to use them as hand weights,” the California senator told Obama.

Harris has previously said that her workout routine was 30 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill, or swimming, “if it’s not going to create an issue with my hair,” she told The Cut in 2018.

She starts her day off with fiber.

Harris tends to eat breakfast after she works out. “I usually stand at my kitchen counter eating some kind of Raisin Bran in almond milk while I look at my schedule for the day,” she told The Cut in 2018. “It’s the generic Raisin Bran that I get from the grocery store—I try to not have a lot of sugar in it.”

Her Diet is a Realistic One

As busy as she is, Harris doesn’t skip the most important meal of the day — but she doesn’t usually opt for a sit-down breakfast, either. In 2018, she described her daily routine to The Cut, and her standard breakfast is one that many busy folks can relate to.

“I usually stand at my kitchen counter eating some kind of Raisin Bran in almond milk while I look at my schedule for the day,” stated Harris. “It’s the generic Raisin Bran that I get from the grocery store — I try to not have a lot of sugar in it. I have tea with honey and lemon and then I’m out the door.”

Don’t judge her for her modest breakfasts, though. Harris is a foodie at heart — she just knows how to prioritize. “Sunday family dinner is my thing to stay focused and keep some normalcy,” she told Jennifer Hudson in 2023. She then elaborated on her love of cooking, exclaiming, “One day, I’m going to write a cookbook!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjcoimgDU5g

She Likes Red Meat

At recent rallies, former President Donald Trump has taken to accusing his new Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, of wanting to ban red meat if she wins in November.

Trump’s claim is false.

Harris has never supported “pass[ing] laws to outlaw red meat to stop climate change,” as Trump misleadingly told a North Carolina audience on July 24.

Nor is Harris plotting to “get rid of your cows” as Trump added on July 31 in Pennsylvania.

In fact, when asked about the issue during a 2019 climate change forum on CNN, Harris said that she loves cheeseburgers — and that she thinks updating dietary recommendations to encourage healthy, environmentally friendly eating is a better approach than “banning certain behaviors.”

“Just to be very honest with you: I love cheeseburgers from time to time. Right? I mean, I just do,” Harris said. “But there has to be, also, what we do in terms of creating incentives that we will eat in a healthy way, that we will encourage moderation, and that we will be educated about the effects of our eating habits on our environment … and the government has to do a much better job of that.”

Following up, host Erin Burnett asked Harris if she would support changing the “food pyramid” — aka, the optimal daily nutrition guidelines released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Even as a VP, She Likes to Cook

Harris has long talked about her love of cooking, and demonstrated it on the 2019 YouTube series “Cooking With Kamala,” which saw her, among other feats, make masala dosa with actress Mindy Kaling. And Harris, 59, has expressed a kind of reverence for Sunday family dinners.

When talking about her upbringing, Harris recalls in one video, “My mother said to me, Honey, you like to eat good food. You better learn how to cook.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz7rNOAFkgE

Health Concerns for Women in their 60’s

As she turns 60 this year, here are some of the health challenges, the aspiring next President of the United States might face:

Heart disease
Heart disease is a leading cause of death for people 65 and older, and women in their 60s are often concerned about it. Women should regularly check their blood pressure and cholesterol.

Cancer
Early detection is key for cancer, so women should continue to have regular pelvic exams, Pap smears, mammograms, and colonoscopies.

Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis weakens bones and becomes more common with age. Women who are 60+ should get a bone density test.

Neurological health
Women in their 60’s should be evaluated for early Alzheimer’s or dementia, especially if they are experiencing memory loss.

No matter how the election ends, VP Kamala Harris looks as though she’s striving to be her strongest, healthiest self.