Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on YouTube
Tom Brady’s diet has become something of an obsession for many Americans.
Since the publication of his 2017 health and wellness book, The TB12 Method, “Touchdown Tom’s” eating habits have gone mainstream in a major way.
Every major media outlet has weighed in multiple times and you can even find “I tried Tom Brady’s diet and here’s what happened” videos online.
And unlike many fly-by-night celebrity diets, Brady’s has earned staying power.
The main reason for this is obviously the halo effect. He’s indisputably one of the greatest and most accomplished athletes of all time, so anything he says and does is likely to be judged favorably.
Moreover, Brady isn’t just a Hollywood hunk who got jacked for a superhero movie. Brady’s a world-class athlete who appears to be invincible by normal NFL standards, which many players joke stands for “Not for Long.”
Due largely to the brutal nature of the game, the average NFL player lasts just 3.3 years, and many careers are cut short by torn ligaments, broken bones, severe concussions, and the like.
Not Brady, though.
He’s wrapping up his 19th year in the league with his 9th Super Bowl, and aside from a knee injury that sidelined him in 2008, he hasn’t suffered a major injury in his career.
How has he managed to stay so healthy?
Well, Brady says his unique diet has contributed to his robust health in a major way and enabled his body to endure and recover from levels of stress and punishment that would break the average person.
Hence its popularity.
So, what does the Tom Brady diet look like? Well, it mostly consists of plenty of fresh vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and a moderate amount of lean meats like salmon, turkey, and chicken.
In other words, it sounds like your average “healthy diet” that many obesity and nutrition scientists have been advocating for the last several decades.
It doesn’t stop with “eat a bunch of nutritious things,” however, which is where the controversy begins. Brady’s version of “clean eating” requires more or less only eating nutritious things and prescribes a menagerie of restrictions, including . . .
- No gluten, bread, pasta, or white flour of any kind
- No coffee or caffeine
- No cooking oil
- No potatoes, peppers, or mushrooms
- No drinking water during or around meals
- No eating within 3 hours of bedtime
- No eating fruits with other foods
In fact, once you’ve wound through all the twists and turns of Brady’s diet, as we’ll do in this podcast, you can’t help but wonder if there was any real method to the apparent madness.
I mean, if you were to tear random pages out of the bestselling diet books of the last 20 years and follow whatever you found, you’d likely end up with something similar.
Not only that, but thanks to the aggressive commercializing of the TB12 brand, the regimen also includes a number of Brady’s proprietary supplements and other products.
All that doesn’t necessarily mean the Tom Brady diet deserves the scrapheap instead of the spotlight, though.
As you’ll learn, Brady’s fastidious eating gets more right than wrong and is far superior to the average Western diet, but it’s not without major flaws and fallacies.
Time Stamps:
6:25 – What is the Tom Brady diet?
12:00 – Should I eat mostly anti inflammatory foods?
19:16 – Should I eat mostly alkaline foods?
26:07 – Is it bad to combine food groups in one meal?
30:10 – Should I drink half of my body weight in ounces of water per day?
33:48 – Should I eat as little saturated fat and cooking oil as possible?
43:29 – Who is Alex Gurrero?
49:05 – How can I use food to optimize my body composition, well-being, and longevity?
Mentioned on The Show:
What did you think of this episode? Have anything else to share? Let me know in the comments below!
+ Scientific References
- Evans, E. M., Mojtahedi, M. C., Thorpe, M. P., Valentine, R. J., Kris-Etherton, P. M., & Layman, D. K. (2012). Effects of protein intake and gender on body composition changes: A randomized clinical weight loss trial. Nutrition and Metabolism, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-7075-9-55
- Paddon-Jones, D., Westman, E., Mattes, R. D., Wolfe, R. R., Astrup, A., & Westerterp-Plantenga, M. (2008). Protein, weight management, and satiety. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(5). https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/87.5.1558s
- Gannon, M. C., & Nuttall, F. Q. (2004). Effect of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet on blood glucose control in people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, 53(9), 2375–2382. https://doi.org/10.2337/diabetes.53.9.2375
- Casal, S., Malheiro, R., Sendas, A., Oliveira, B. P. P., & Pereira, J. A. (2010). Olive oil stability under deep-frying conditions. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 48(10), 2972–2979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2010.07.036
- Gamel, T. H., Kiritsakis, A., & Petrakis, C. (1999). Effect of phenolic extracts on trans fatty acid formation during frying. Grasas y Aceites, 50(6), 421–425. https://doi.org/10.3989/gya.1999.v50.i6.689
- Bastida, S., & Sánchez-Muniz, F. J. (2001). Thermal Oxidation of Olive Oil, Sunflower Oil and a Mix of Both Oils during Forty Discontinuous Domestic Fryings of Different Foods. Food Science and Technology International, 7(1), 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1106/1898-PLW3-6Y6H-8K22
- de Lorgeril, M., Renaud, S., Salen, P., Monjaud, I., Mamelle, N., Martin, J. L., Guidollet, J., Touboul, P., & Delaye, J. (1994). Mediterranean alpha-linolenic acid-rich diet in secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. The Lancet, 343(8911), 1454–1459. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(94)92580-1
- Daley, C. A., Abbott, A., Doyle, P. S., Nader, G. A., & Larson, S. (2010). A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef. In Nutrition Journal (Vol. 9, Issue 1, p. 10). BioMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-9-10
- Benjamin, S., Prakasan, P., Sreedharan, S., Wright, A. D. G., & Spener, F. (2015). Pros and cons of CLA consumption: An insight from clinical evidences. In Nutrition and Metabolism (Vol. 12, Issue 1, p. 4). BioMed Central Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-7075-12-4
- Aladedunye, F. A., & Przybylski, R. (2009). Degradation and nutritional quality changes of oil during frying. JAOCS, Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, 86(2), 149–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-008-1328-5
- Azizian, H., & Kramer, J. K. G. (2005). A rapid method for the quantification of fatty acids in fats and oils with emphasis on trans fatty acids using fourier transform near infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIR). Lipids, 40(8), 855–867. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-005-1448-3
- Bartsch, H., Nair, J., & Owen, R. W. (1999). Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids and cancers of the breast and colorectum: Emerging evidence for their role as risk modifiers. In Carcinogenesis (Vol. 20, Issue 12, pp. 2209–2218). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/carcin/20.12.2209
- Dinicolantonio, J. J., & O’Keefe, J. H. (2018). Omega-6 vegetable oils as a driver of coronary heart disease: The oxidized linoleic acid hypothesis. In Open Heart (Vol. 5, Issue 2, p. e000898). BMJ Publishing Group. https://doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2018-000898
- Dehghan, M., Mente, A., Zhang, X., Swaminathan, S., Li, W., Mohan, V., Iqbal, R., Kumar, R., Wentzel-Viljoen, E., Rosengren, A., Amma, L. I., Avezum, A., Chifamba, J., Diaz, R., Khatib, R., Lear, S., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Liu, X., Gupta, R., … Mapanga, R. (2017). Associations of fats and carbohydrate intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 18 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study. The Lancet, 390(10107), 2050–2062. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32252-3
- Liu, A. G., Ford, N. A., Hu, F. B., Zelman, K. M., Mozaffarian, D., & Kris-Etherton, P. M. (2017). A healthy approach to dietary fats: Understanding the science and taking action to reduce consumer confusion. In Nutrition Journal (Vol. 16, Issue 1). BioMed Central Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-017-0271-4
- Fritsche, K. L. (2015). The Science of Fatty Acids and Inflammation. Advances in Nutrition, 6(3), 293S-301S. https://doi.org/10.3945/an.114.006940
- heart and stroke foundation. (n.d.). SATURATED FAT HEART DISEASE AND STROKE RECOMMENDATIONS.
- Jackson, S. L., Cogswell, M. E., Zhao, L., Terry, A. L., Wang, C. Y., Wright, J., Coleman King, S. M., Bowman, B., Chen, T. C., Merritt, R., & Loria, C. M. (2018). Association between urinary sodium and potassium excretion and blood pressure among adults in the United States national health and nutrition examination survey, 2014. Circulation, 137(3), 237–246. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.029193
- Lewis, J. L. I. (n.d.). Overview of Electrolytes - Hormonal and Metabolic Disorders - Merck Manuals Consumer Version. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/hormonal-and-metabolic-disorders/electrolyte-balance/overview-of-electrolytes
- Noakes, T. D. (2011). Is drinking to thirst optimum? In Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism (Vol. 57, Issue SUPPL. 2, pp. 9–17). Ann Nutr Metab. https://doi.org/10.1159/000322697
- Maughan, R. J., & Shirreffs, S. M. (2008). Development of individual hydration strategies for athletes. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 18(5), 457–472. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.18.5.457
- Sawka, M. N., Burke, L. M., Eichner, E. R., Maughan, R. J., Montain, S. J., & Stachenfeld, N. S. (2007). Exercise and fluid replacement. In Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (Vol. 39, Issue 2, pp. 377–390). Med Sci Sports Exerc. https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0b013e31802ca597
- Fisher, R. S., Malmud, L. S., Bandini, P., & Rock, E. (1982). Gastric emptying of a physiologic mixed solid-liquid meal. Clinical Nuclear Medicine, 7(5), 215–221. https://doi.org/10.1097/00003072-198205000-00005
- Golay, A., Allaz, A. F., Ybarra, J., Bianchi, P., Saraiva, S., Mensi, N., Gomis, R., & De Tonnac, N. (2000). Similar weight loss with low-energy food combining or balanced diets. International Journal of Obesity, 24(4), 492–496. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801185
- Stephens, B. R., Sautter, J. M., Holtz, K. A., Sharoff, C. G., Chipkin, S. R., & Braun, B. (2007). Effect of timing of energy and carbohydrate replacement on post-exercise insulin action. Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, 32(6), 1139–1147. https://doi.org/10.1139/H07-126
- Cribb, P. J., & Hayes, A. (2006). Effects of supplement timing and resistance exercise on skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 38(11), 1918–1925. https://doi.org/10.1249/01.mss.0000233790.08788.3e
- Kreider, R. B., Earnest, C. P., Lundberg, J., Rasmussen, C., Greenwood, M., Cowan, P., & Almada, A. L. (2007). Effects of ingesting protein with various forms of carbohydrate following resistance-exercise on substrate availability and markers of anabolism, catabolism, and immunity. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 4. https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-4-18
- Tang, J. E., Manolakos, J. J., Kujbida, G. W., Lysecki, P. J., Moore, D. R., & Phillips, S. M. (2007). Minimal whey protein with carbohydrate stimulates muscle protein synthesis following resistance exercise in trained young men. Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, 32(6), 1132–1138. https://doi.org/10.1139/H07-076
- Fenton, T. R., Lyon, A. W., Eliasziw, M., Tough, S. C., & Hanley, D. A. (2009). Meta-Analysis of the Effect of the Acid-Ash Hypothesis of Osteoporosis on Calcium Balance. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 24(11), 1835–1840. https://doi.org/10.1359/jbmr.090515
- Mostert, M., & Bonavia, A. (2016). Starvation ketoacidosis as a cause of unexplained metabolic acidosis in the perioperative period. American Journal of Case Reports, 17, 755–758. https://doi.org/10.12659/AJCR.900002
- Umpierrez, G. E., Latif, K., Stoever, J., Cuervo, R., Park, L., X. Freire, A., & E. Kitabchi, A. (2004). Efficacy of subcutaneous insulin lispro versus continuous intravenous regular insulin for the treatment of patients with diabetic ketoacidosis. American Journal of Medicine, 117(5), 291–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2004.05.010
- Bischoff, F., Sansum, W. D., Long, M. L., & Dewar, M. M. (1934). The Effect of Acid Ash and Alkaline Ash Foodstuffs on the Acid-Base Equilibrium of Man. The Journal of Nutrition, 7(1), 51–65. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/7.1.51
- Lee Hamm, L., Nakhoul, N., & Hering-Smith, K. S. (2015). Acid-base homeostasis. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 10(12), 2232–2242. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.07400715
- Fenton, T. R., & Lyon, A. W. (2011). Milk and acid-base balance: proposed hypothesis versus scientific evidence. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 30(5 Suppl 1), 471S-475S. https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2011.10719992
- Schwalfenberg, G. K. (2012). The alkaline diet: Is there evidence that an alkaline pH diet benefits health? In Journal of Environmental and Public Health (Vol. 2012). Hindawi Publishing Corporation. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/727630
- Nawrot, P., Jordan, S., Eastwood, J., Rotstein, J., Hugenholtz, A., & Feeley, M. (2003). Effects of caffeine on human health. In Food Additives and Contaminants (Vol. 20, Issue 1, pp. 1–30). Food Addit Contam. https://doi.org/10.1080/0265203021000007840
- Loftfield, E., Cornelis, M. C., Caporaso, N., Yu, K., Sinha, R., & Freedman, N. (2018). Association of coffee drinking with mortality by genetic variation in caffeine metabolism: Findings from the UK Biobank. JAMA Internal Medicine, 178(8), 1086–1097. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.2425
- Tavani, A., & La Vecchia, C. (2000). Coffee and cancer: A review of epidemiological studies, 1990-1999. In European Journal of Cancer Prevention (Vol. 9, Issue 4, pp. 241–256). Eur J Cancer Prev. https://doi.org/10.1097/00008469-200008000-00004
- Lee, H., Lee, I. S., & Choue, R. (2013). Obesity, inflammation and diet. In Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (Vol. 16, Issue 3, pp. 143–152). Korean Society of Pediartic Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.5223/pghn.2013.16.3.143
- Ellulu, M. S., Patimah, I., Khaza’ai, H., Rahmat, A., & Abed, Y. (2017). Obesity & inflammation: The linking mechanism & the complications. Archives of Medical Science, 13(4), 851–863. https://doi.org/10.5114/aoms.2016.58928
- McKay, B. R., De Lisio, M., Johnston, A. P. W., O’Reilly, C. E., Phillips, S. M., Tarnopolsky, M. A., & Parise, G. (2009). Association of interleukin-6 signalling with the muscle stem cell response following muscle-lengthening contractions in humans. PLoS ONE, 4(6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006027
- Lee, J., Sun, C., Zhou, Y., Lee, J., Gokalp, D., Herrema, H., Park, S. W., Davis, R. J., & Ozcan, U. (2011). P38 MAPK-mediated regulation of Xbp1s is crucial for glucose homeostasis. Nature Medicine, 17(10), 1251–1260. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2449
- Lu, L., Sun, R. R., Liu, M., Zheng, Y., & Zhang, P. (2015). The Inflammatory Heart Diseases: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments. Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics, 72(3), 851–855. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12013-015-0550-7
- Chrysohoou, C., Panagiotakos, D. B., Pitsavos, C., Das, U. N., & Stefanadis, C. (2004). Adherence to the Mediterranean diet attenuates inflammation and coagulation process in healthy adults: The ATTICA study. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 44(1), 152–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2004.03.039