Here's What Ainsley Earhardt Eats In A Day

Ainsley Earhardt is no stranger to making headlines. Everything from Earhardt's lavish lifestyle to her awkward dance moves has been documented and analyzed by fans and critics alike. The Fox News personality started her career as an anchor at Columbia, South Carolina's WLTX-TV after graduating from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor's degree in journalism. She then moved to a CBS affiliate in ​​San Antonio, Texas before landing at Fox News in 2007.

From there, she worked her way up to what she called her dream job, being named co-host of "Fox & Friends" in 2016. As she told People at the time, her goal was to be informative but also engaging. "I want to be on the curvy couch and provide that to the audience, where I'm fair and balanced when I'm telling stories," she mused. "I also want to provide fun and entertainment."

Nearly a decade later, Earhardt is still pursuing that goal, although the public's focus has been known to often shift from her work to her personal life. Like in April 2023 when Earhardt and Sean Hannity finally went public with their secret romance, stirring up plenty of talk. Another hot topic of conversation has been her healthy lifestyle, with folks regularly taking notice of Earhardt's tanned and toned legs and fit physique. In that respect, diet has played a big role and we now know what Ainsley Earhardt eats in a day.

The old saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day is more than just an adage, it actually holds true. Indeed, healthy people usually eat breakfast, as skipping it can potentially increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes, among other downsides. Even so, it seems Ainsley Earhardt has chosen to ignore this expert piece of advice. Speaking with My Morning Routine, the anchor revealed that her days usually start around 3 a.m. as "Fox & Friends" goes on the air at 6 a.m. After checking on her kids and getting ready, she told the outlet, "[I] go into the kitchen before I leave to grab either a cup of coffee or a glass of water."

She leaves the house without eating anything and, rather than picking something up along the way, she drives straight to the office. There, it's off to hair and makeup with any spare time used to catch up on the latest news. Earhardt's prep work is done about an hour before the show goes live, and she spends the remaining time in her office, reading more news and drinking hot ginger tea or more cups of Joe. "I normally just have coffee at work because I don't really get hungry until after 'Fox & Friends,'" she mused, but conceded, "Occasionally, I'll get trail mix out of the vending machines in the kitchen."

Despite her penchant for skipping breakfast, Ainsley Earhardt prides herself on being a healthy eater. As she told Haute Living in 2018, she's a pro at packing veggies into her meals – a task made easier by the fact that her daughter, Hayden Dubose Proctor, whom she had with then-husband Will Proctor in 2015, enjoys them as much as she does. "My daughter actually loves what I love," Earhardt enthused. "She loves broccoli and cauliflower, so I steam them and that would last for several days."

Other dinnertime staples in the Earhardt household include green beans, grilled chicken, and organic, ground turkey. "[Hayden] eats turkey meatballs and I put that with zucchini instead of spaghetti and put a little bit of Parmesan cheese on top and it is delicious," the anchor continued. "Our meals are pretty simple, but very healthy and filling."

That being said, Earhardt does leave room to occasionally cheat on her diet by indulging in her go-to comfort foods: pizza and pasta. However, she also tries to make those healthy any way she can. Sharing her favorite dish to cook with Columbia Metropolitan, the mom of one revealed it's "zucchini pasta with marinara sauce and lots of Parmesan cheese."

There are plenty of guilt-free desserts that won't ruin your diet, but the one thing they all have in common is low sugar content. That's because eating too much sugar can wreak havoc on your body. Indeed, the American Heart Association recommends that women should have no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar per day, while men shouldn't exceed 9. However, most American adults easily surpass those numbers, eating an average 17 extra teaspoons of sugar a day.

It seems this is a fact that Ainsley Earhardt is well aware of; she tries to steer clear of sweets and sugary treats –- even if it's not always easy. "My advice would be to start eating healthy and give it a little while," she told Haute Living in 2018. "It is really hard at first because you crave those foods, but after a few weeks, you stop craving them and it becomes much easier." As she explained to the outlet, not only is it better for long-term health, but there's also a more immediate, tangible effect. "...you will find that you start to enjoy the healthy choices and that you can go to bed without the guilt," she mused. "It just makes me feel better in the morning."

Ainsley Earhardt was born in Charlotte, North Carolina but her family soon moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina before eventually settling in Columbia when she was in the fourth grade. As she told the Columbia Metropolitan, it's here that she spent her formative years and so, it's the place she considers to be her true hometown. It's also where she fell in love with food, particularly with two iconic restaurants that have since unfortunately shuttered: Italian staple Al's Upstairs and fine dining go-to Dianne's on Devine.

It was also in Columbia that she developed her taste for Southern cooking. To this day, Earhardt has a soft spot for the hearty, delicious staples of the South. Over the years, she's shared some of her home recipes on "Fox & Friends," like grilled flounder paired with sliced tomatoes and grits. "My mom's grits were the best," she proudly told viewers. "She would cook them for hours and hours and hours, she never did anything instant — everything was homemade." Noting how well the ingredients complement each other, Earhardt dubbed it one of her favorites as co-host Carley Shimkus noted, "This is a healthy meal, too." Usually a stickler for clean eating, Earhardt conceded that wasn't exactly true but underscored that there's nothing wrong with the occasional indulgence. "Well, I don't know if grits are healthy, but who cares?" she quipped. "It's delicious!"

Southern cooking is well known for its expert use of spices, but despite loving her hometown cuisine, Ainsley Earhardt does not do well with heat. As she confessed to The Hill in 2016, "I am not into spicy foods." However, it's not just a matter of taste – the anchor simply can't handle the heat. "Big Red chewing gum is even too hot for me," she admitted.

Instead, when it comes to following her mother's recipes, Earhardt prefers to focus on using ingredients that add depth of flavor rather than heat. As she shared with audiences on "Fox & Friends," one of her go-to options is pimento peppers. While their bright red color may suggest a big kick, these chilis are actually mild and sweet. They were frequently used by Earhardt's mom in various tasty recipes, like Southern pimento cheese, which blends various cheeses (cheddar, Swiss, and Parmesan) with mayo and pimentos to create a delicious spread. The handy little peppers also make an appearance in several other Earhardt-approved dishes, such as pimento cheese tomato pie and pimento cheese biscuits.

Ainsley Earhardt went viral in December 2024 when she shared some eyebrow-raising thoughts on the merits of American vs. European food. During a Fox News segment supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s plans to "Make America Healthy Again," Earhardt enthused, "It's wonderful that he wants to clean up our foods." Seemingly agreeing with RFK Jr.'s claims that what Americans eat is unhealthy, she claimed, "When we go to Europe, we can eat pasta, we can eat pizza, we don't gain any weight." According to the anchor, eating the same exact dishes stateside would lead to weight gain due to the way ingredients are grown and processed in the U.S.. "The pesticides, the chemicals, we want all of that out," she concluded.

Folks were quick to mock Earhardt's comments with one critic quipping on Bluesky, "They have lower calorie pesticides in Italy." Even so, the backlash didn't deter Earhardt from making similar comments the following January. "When you go to Europe, the food is delicious –- it's so fresh -– and you don't gain weight if you eat a big bowl of pasta," she insisted (via X). "We want that to come here to America." Again, criticism was swift as some folks argued that her reasoning was flawed while others went as far as to attack her directly. "This is downright anti-American smh," one netizen wrote.