Forget pancakes and waffles—Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen would rather down energy drinks for breakfast.
That’s according to a Washington Post article published Monday that reported the McDonnells use state and taxpayers’ money to purchase energy drinks, including Boost and 5-Hour Energy shots. Although the state pushed back, the Post reports that the governor’s chief of staff Martin Kent specifically overruled the audit on the energy drinks, arguing that since the governor and his wife have them for breakfast every day, they should be covered by the state—“just like breakfast is covered for EVERY Governor and First Lady,” he wrote.
The eight-ounce Boost drinks are advertised as meal replacements and contain 240 calories, 10 grams of protein, 26 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and about 43 other ingredients. Maureen McDonnell’s choice of breakfast, the 5-Hour Energy Shot, is currently under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration for its possible role in 13 deaths. Kent says McDonnell will occasionally supplement her daily energy shot with a Boost drink, too.
Here at Well+Being we take the phrase “to each his own” to heart, but we’d like to offer some healthier—and tastier—breakfast ideas for the governor’s family. Because don’t vanilla-almond porridge and blueberry cookies sound way better than 8 ounces of cellulose gel and copper sulfate? Yeah, we think so, too.
