Tom Brady's restrictive diet includes avocado ice cream and bone broth
Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, pulled off the greatest win in Super Bowl history last year. And not only did the quarterback lead his team into setting or breaking more than 30 records in a single game, but he did it at the ancient-for-football age of 39.
How does he do it? He adheres to an unconventional anti-inflammatory diet that he’s detailing in a new book, The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance. The quarterback’s self-help book is dedicated to informing readers about the benefits of his seemingly effective habits, which require a great deal of discipline.
The Boston Globe got an early look at the book, and shared some of the more interesting and inspiring nuggets.
He lays out a simple sounding philosophy, writing, “The regimen I follow is a mix of Eastern and Western philosophies. Some of these principles have been around for thousands of years. My nutritional regimen may seem restrictive to some people, but to me it feels unnatural to eat any other way. Many people have conditioned their bodies to a nutritional regiment made up of lots of white or pale-looking foods — french fries, potato chips, white bread, chicken nuggets — that don’t exist in nature.”
In an earlier interview with Allen Campbell, personal chef for Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, their chef explained that the diet consists of plenty of all-natural and whole foods, centering on an extensive list of exclusions: processed foods, sugar, refined carbohydrates, gluten, dairy, and mushrooms. He also recommends limiting consumption of inflammatory nightshade veggies (like tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes), iodized salt, caffeine, and alcohol.
The Globe reports Brady starts his day with a big glass of water and a smoothie, before working out. “Typically, it contains blueberries, bananas, seeds, and nuts,” he says. “It’s nutrient dense, high in fat, high in protein, and high in calories.”
Brady writes that 80 percent of his diet is made up of alkalizing foods, like Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and dandelion greens.
What exactly does alkalizing foods mean? According to Healthline, as you metabolize foods and extract the calories from them, you are actually burning the energy in foods, except that it happens in a slow and controlled fashion. When you burn foods, they actually leave an ash residue, just like when you burn wood in a furnace.As it turns out, this ash can be acidic or alkaline (or neutral). Proponents of this diet say that this ash can directly affect the acidity of your body.
Acid ash is thought to make you vulnerable to illness and disease, whereas alkaline ash is considered protective. By choosing more alkaline foods, you should be able to “alkalize” your diet and improve health.
For lunch, the Super Bowl champ writes it’s “often a piece of fish, but always with lots of vegetables.”
Another quirk? While Brady drinks a lot of water daily, he doesn’t have it with meals. “Drinking water with your meals can interfere with good digestion,” Brady writes. “Drink water half an hour before a meal, and then wait an hour before you have your next glass.”
“Dinner is another nutrient-dense meal that includes a lot of vegetables,” he writes, without getting into specifics.
“I don’t really drink tea, but I might drink a cup of bone broth,” Brady writes. He “rarely” drinks alcohol.
And, back when Brady previewed the book on social media, we were treated to a glimpse of a recipe for avocado ice cream. Brady shared the recipe, which includes just six raw ingredients and seems pretty simple to make. We can’t vouch for how it tastes though!
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