Kamala Harris Works Out Every Day—And Swears By This Cardio Class
On November 5, Kamala Harris could make history in the 2024 presidential election. But the 59-year-old will start the day off like any other—with a good workout.
“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.”
Over the years, the California native has made it clear that she's passionate about food and fitness. So, what does Harris do for wellness? Here’s everything she’s publicly shared about her routine and her health.
Kamala Harris works out every single day.
Exercise is super important to Harris—so she’ll work up a sweat, even when she’s wiped. But Harris' workouts aren't only for her physical health—she does them to focus up, too. "It's about your mind," she told Elle in 2015. "It gets your blood flowing. It gets your adrenaline flowing."
"I fight for [time for myself]," she continued. "You got to take care of yourself. If I exercise or I eat proper foods, am I indulging myself? That's called feeding your body… that is not about image or luxury."
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.”
The VP also said that she likes to have tea with honey and lemon, too. “Then, I’m out the door,” she added.
She's passionate about cooking.
While Harris has a quick breakfast, she's much more interested in cooking something complex for lunch and dinner. In fact, she's so passionate about it that she once had a cooking series on her YouTube channel called Cooking With Kamala, where she whipped up bacon-fried apples, masala dosa with Mindy Kaling, and more.
“My mother said to me, 'Honey, you like to eat good food. You better learn how to cook,'” she recalled in one episode.
Cooking makes Harris feel "normal," she told The Cut. "Everything else can be crazy, I can be on six planes in one week, and what makes me feel normal is making Sunday-night family dinner," she said. "If I'm cooking, I feel like I'm in control of my life."
One of Harris' favorite dishes is collard greens, she told voters during a campaign stop at The Grey restaurant in downtown Savannah.
“I am not lying to you that I would make so many greens that I'd need to wash them in the bathtub,” she told The Grey's chef Mashama Bailey. “I'm telling you the truth.”
Harris preps the greens with bacon fat, sliced garlic, chili peppers, a lot of water, and chicken stock. She tops them with vinegar and Tabasco.
One day, Harris even hopes to write a cookbook, she told Jennifer Hudson in 2023.
Harris has also been known to buy her produce from local farmers' markets, having frequently been spotted at the DuPont Circle one in Washington, D.C.
She doesn't shy away from snacking.
During the campaign, Harris has let voters know about more of her food faves, including her love of all things sweet. While stopping at Dottie's Market in Savannah in August, Harris went viral for her pick of dessert.
"I want a slice of that. Caramel is like my favorite," she said. "Fantastic."
Watch Harris at Dottie's Market:
Meanwhile, during a stop at a Sheetz convenience store in Pennsylvania, Harris revealed that she reaches for Doritos as a snack. "This is my go-to—the original, nacho cheese," she said.
Her soda of choice is root beer, while husband Doug Emhoff prefers Diet Coke, she added.
She used to work at McDonald's.
Growing up, Harris and her sister Maya were raised by single mother Shyamala, an immigrant from India. During an August policy speech in North Carolina, Harris revealed that she worked at a McDonald's during college at Howard University to "to earn spending money."
Her duties included making french fries and working the cash register, she told Drew Barrymore earlier this year.
She’s a fan of Soul Cycle on the weekends.
Harris seems to focus on low-impact workouts. Each morning, she usually will do 30 minutes on the elliptical or SoulCycle, telling The Cut, “sometimes I swim if it’s not going to create an issue with my hair.”
On the weekend, she likes to do Soul Survivor, which is a longer and more intense SoulCycle class. Emhoff has shared that the couple also like taking six- or seven-mile walks together, per Men's Health.
She used homemade weights during the pandemic.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were snapping up home exercise equipment, Harris got creative with her sweat sessions. “I had liter water bottles that I filled, of course, with water to use them as hand weights,” she told Obama during their 2020 interview.
Emhoff also got ahold of a stationary bike that he put together for her, he told Men’s Health in 2020. “She'd be watching the news, getting ready for her day, lifting a pair of weights made of water bottles and biking on a bike I put together,” he said.
Harris and Doug Emhoff work out together.
Harris is workouts buddies with 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. "Every morning [she] works out, by hook or by crook," he continued. "It got me into the same groove she's in. I'm in way better shape now than I was 10 years ago."
The couple were even spotted in 2021 running up and down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial together.
She's in 'excellent health.'
According to an October report by the White House doctor Joshua Simmons, MD, Harris is in "excellent health." She maintains "a healthy, active lifestyle despite her busy schedule," including daily aerobic exercise and strength training, per the document. She also does not use tobacco products and drinks "only occasionally and in moderation."
Harris does have seasonal allergies and urticaria, which are chronic hives. The urticaria are "sporadic and transient and do not seem to be triggered by any particular exposure," but are managed via Allegra and allergen immunotherapy.
"She possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency," Simmons concluded.
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