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(CNN) Thomas Jefferson may have been America's first foodie. The Founding Father developed a taste for French cuisine , grew a vast vegetable garden and cherished a farm-to-table diet .

Abraham Lincoln was more of a modest eater. According to historians, the 16th president "liked apples and hot coffee ," and didn't demand much in a meal.

On the other hand, Ronald Reagan was known for his sweet tooth. The country's 40th president munched on jelly beans to quit smoking and quickly fell in love with the candy , often keeping a stash nearby in the White House.

Now, it seems that a fast food connoisseur will enter the White House.

"But he's not the first one to like McDonald's and Burger King and occasionally that wonderful Popeyes chicken," said William Seale, a historian and journal editor with the White House Historical Association.

"Fast food makes its way through the doors of the White House. From time to time, presidents or even guests will order a Big Mac or the like, and the Secret Service will go pick it up," Seale said. "The Carter children did that and George W. Bush, too."

After all, the eating habits of American presidents seem to mirror the ever-evolving diets of the American people, said Suzy Evans, a Newport Beach, California-based literary agent, historian and author of the forthcoming children's book "Abraham Lincoln's Lunch."

"Presidential culinary history might seem insignificant or even trivial," Evans said. "But if you look closely enough, it can teach us much about American social, cultural and political history and the rich and venerable history of dining, diplomacy and the American presidency."

The president who just wanted cornbread

When it comes to America's interest in food, there was an infatuation with European cuisine in the late 1700s and early 1800s. That seemed to shift around the late 1800s -- a change that was reflected in James Polk's food preferences. He was the 11th president of the United States.

"President Polk was a very finicky eater, and he didn't like the fancy food that came up from the White House kitchen," Seale said. "He wrote of a banquet repast in his diary, 'I saw the food and I couldn't tell what it was. It must have been French' ... Instead, he asked for turnip greens and cornbread."

Before about 1950, nearly all presidents thrived on natural food from the farm, Seale said. Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman preferred such dishes as turnips, string beans, beets and other farm products, prepared in the simplest ways.

"The Roosevelts used to send things from their Hyde Park vegetable garden down to the White House," Seale said.

"They drank pure whole milk, meats and other products from their Hudson River farm," he said. "The coming of restaurants and specialist chefs changed that in the sense that creative and even exotic dishes teased the public interest. Plain roast beef became buried in sauces. Especially during the Kennedy administration did international cooking, particularly French, take over the White House kitchens."

In the late 1800s, large meals and increasingly sedentary lifestyles had become the norm for wealthier Americans.

Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office John Adams 1797-1801 – study by Duke psychiatrists found John Adams would have been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Hide Caption 1 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office William Henry Harrison, March-April 1841 – William Henry Harrison battled with dyspepsia and indigestion. Before he had been in office a month, he caught a cold that developed into pneumonia. On April 4, 1841, he became the first president to die while in office.

Hide Caption 2 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Abraham Lincoln, 1860-1865 – Abraham Lincoln is widely thought to have suffered from depression. Hide Caption 3 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877 –

The study by Duke psychiatrists found Ulysses S. Grant would have been diagnosed as an alcoholic with social phobias. Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Chester Arthur, 1881-1885 – Chester Arthur was diagnosed with Bright's disease, a fatal kidney condition, after a year in office. He did not seek a second term and died less than two years after leaving office. Hide Caption 5 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897 – Grover Cleveland suffered from obesity and gout and was treated for cancer in his jaw while in office.



"President Cleveland was one of the most compelling stories of concealment in the high office," said Jerrold Post, professor emeritus of psychiatry, political psychology and international affairs at George Washington University. "He was brushing his teeth one day and found a lump on roof of the mouth. Instead of telling the public, he smuggled his dentist, head and neck surgeon and surgical team onto a pleasure yacht, where they removed the roof of his mouth to get rid of the carcinoma. He emerged a week later complaining of a toothache." Hide Caption 6 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909 –

The Theodore Roosevelt suffered from asthma and was blind in one eye as the result of a boxing injury in 1905. He was also deaf in one ear. The 2006 study by Duke psychiatrists applied today's diagnostic criteria to historical records and found Roosevelt would have been diagnosed with bipolar. Hide Caption 7 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921 –



While in office, "he suffered a massive stroke, but they concealed it and just said he was under the weather and no one was informed," Post said. Woodrow Wilson had a debilitating stroke in 1919 that left him partially paralyzed while in office. According to Jerrold Post, Wilson had suffered several strokes while he served as president of Princeton but never revealed his medical history to voters.While in office, "he suffered a massive stroke, but they concealed it and just said he was under the weather and no one was informed," Post said. Hide Caption 8 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-1945 –

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was paralyzed in both legs , likely as a result of polio that struck when he was 39. But it was the cover-up of his advanced heart disease and elevated blood pressure when he ran for his fourth term that historians question. FDR died just a few months after that election. Hide Caption 9 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953-1961 – Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered from ongoing gastrointestinal problems. He was later diagnosed with Crohn's disease Hide Caption 10 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office John F. Kennedy 1961-1963 –

John F. Kennedy "probably had more diseases than any of the other presidents," said George Annas, chairman of the department of health law, bioethics and human rights at Boston University School of Public Health. Kennedy took office suffering from hypothyroidism, back pain and Addison's disease and was on a daily dose of steroids and other drugs. Hide Caption 11 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969 – Lyndon Johnson had serious heart disease, which he often concealed, during his years in the Senate and White House, and it was his failing health that kept him from running against Nixon in 1968. The study by Duke psychiatrists also found that Johnson would have been diagnosed as bipolar. Hide Caption 12 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office Ronald Reagan 1981-1989 – Ronald Reagan had a cancerous tumor and two feet of his colon removed in 1985, but it was his diagnosis of Alzheimer's following his presidency that have many wondering whether his performance in office was affected. Hide Caption 13 of 14 Photos: U.S. presidents: Ailing in office George H. W. Bush 1989-1993 – George H. W. Bush was diagnosed with Grave's disease while in office. According to former White House physician Connie Mariano, "There was some question when he had hyperthyroidism, Grave's disease, around the time of the Gulf War. Did that make him more hyper and aggressive? Did it affect his memory, his ability to focus? It's hard to say." Hide Caption 14 of 14

As a result, several presidents in the mid-19th century to early 20th century -- from William Howard Taft to Theodore Roosevelt -- had rotund body types, said Amy Bentley, a historian and professor of food studies at New York University.

"This is an era of increased food supply and the industrialization of food. For men especially, large bodies are emblematic of one's power," Bentley said. "A large, rotund body is in effect saying, 'I don't have to do manual labor' and 'I have enough food.' "

By the post-World War II era, the American population began to suffer health conditions that are associated with the overindulgence of food, such as heart disease and hypertension.

"Right around the World War II period, you get more concerns about health, and that is somewhat reflected in the presidency," Bentley said.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, for instance, suffered a heart attack in 1955. Afterward, the 34th president modified his diet and avoided fats.

Many presidents since Eisenhower have consumed health-conscious diets.

'Ketchup on cottage cheese for health'

Evans, the author in Newport Beach, described such nutrition-focused diets as "food-as-fuel" eating.

"Healthy, 'food-as-fuel' kind of guys could include Woodrow Wilson, a wartime president, and John F. Kennedy, and while Barack Obama does occasionally indulge in pizzas, burgers and ice cream, the Obama's kitchen garden on the White House lawn is part of a long culinary tradition," Evans said.

Additionally, "Richard Nixon would slather ketchup on cottage cheese for health reasons," she said.

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By the late 20th century, nutritional studies emerged that linked weight with health concerns and heart disease with diet, Bentley said. Therefore, notions of a healthy diet played a larger role in presidents' eating habits.

"At some point, breakfast turned from fried eggs and bacon to cereal, skim milk, toast, coffee, juice. So you start seeing presidential styles of eating (be) a reflection of national trends," Bentley said.

Clinton, whose appetite for junk food and sweets while in the White House was well known, adopted a healthier diet after his term ended. He now considers himself a vegan.

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"I was lucky I did not die of a heart attack," Clinton said of his eating habits in a 2011 interview with CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

This focus on health also was evident in the 2000s in the George W. Bush administration.

While in office, the American public watched Bush pursue a healthy lifestyle, Evans said. Bush would eat healthy snacks, such as pretzels. In fact, in 2002, he choked on a pretzel and afterward, jokingly told reporters , "Always chew your pretzels before you swallow."

"It may be that earlier presidents were similarly vigilant about their health, but with George W. Bush, it was seen as important to promote his healthy habits as a way to shape his persona," Bentley said. "That just goes into high gear with the Obamas."

A throwback?

The Obamas not only introduced healthier meals and snacks to the White House, but also promoted healthy eating as a major national issue with first lady Michelle Obama's health and wellness-focused "Let's Move" initiative.

"The Obamas are very calorie-conscious and health-conscious, which is a reflection of the first lady. Her vegetable garden is a serious thing, something permanent for White House residents to come," Seale said, "In Mrs. Obama's parting, her garden has been endowed handsomely by the Burpee seed company ."

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Now, with the Trump administration, Bentley said, we might see a different model of eating that might be something of a "throwback to the post-World War II era of being enamored with the qualities of fast food."

"You could argue that Trump's food aesthetic is similar to this earlier post-World War II era, where the dominant values for food were sameness, predictability and quantity over quality," she said.