What Does Tom Brady Eat? Here’s a Look at his TB12 Diet

The Tom Brady Diet, also called the TB12 Method, is a diet plan NFL legend Tom Brady came up with. It's based on eating whole foods and is one of the main reasons why the 45-year-old is still playing professional football.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback says that his diet and workout routine have helped him reduce risk of injury and improve his athletic performance, recovery, energy level, and health.

The first edition of the TB12 Method, which advises people how to eat like Tom Brady, came out in 2017. In 2020, a new version of the TB12 Method with updated information came out.

Some people have been able to lose weight by following the diet. Others do it in the hope that it would make them feel more energized and help them do better in sports.

Many online reviews from people who have tried the diet have been positive, but critics say it's too complicated, can't be done long term and isn't based on science.

In this article, we will talk about the good and bad things about the Tom Brady Diet so that you can decide if it might work for you.

---

How to Follow the TB12 Diet?

The Tom Brady Diet is a plant-based diet that focuses on whole foods that have been processed as little as possible. Whenever feasible, people are encouraged to eat only organic, locally grown, and seasonal foods.

The diet also requires you to eat only organic, grass-fed, free-range, hormone-free and antibiotic-free meats and poultry, as well as wild, hormone-free, and antibiotic-free fish.

People who follow this diet are told to eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes grown organically 80% of the time. Twenty per cent of the diet is made up of grass-fed, organic, antibiotic- and hormone-free lean meats and fish or seafood caught in the wild.

The TB12 Method has a long list of foods to avoid or eat less of, as they can exacerbate inflammation. These foods are:

• Non-organic dairy from grass-fed cows, refined carbs, trans fats, and saturated fats
• added sugars
• salt\alcohol\caffeine

The diet also doesn't allow:

• GMOs
• Most cooking oils, such as canola and soy
• High fructose corn syrup, and
• Other foods that contain soy.

Brady's personal chef is often quoted as saying that Brady stays away from nightshade vegetables, as they're thought to cause inflammation.

However, research shows that nightshade vegetables do not cause inflammation. In fact, there's new evidence that suggests the opposite.

The most recent version of the TB12 Method lets you eat nightshade vegetables, and the shopping list even includes tomatoes and peppers. The change is likely to be a good thing for people who'tr thinking about going on the diet.

Besides the strict rules about what to eat, the TB12 Diet has a few other rules:

• Drink a lot of fluids. The TB12 Method requires you to drink half your bodyweight in water every day. Most of the water you drink should also have electrolytes added to it, but the diet says that you shouldn't drink water with or around meals.
• Meal timing: People who follow the diet are told not to eat within three hours of going to bed.
• Portion sizes: The diet says to eat meat, poultry, and fish in portions the size of your palm, along with two palms' worth of vegetables.
• When to stop eating: The TB12 Method requires you to stop eating when you're 75% full to supposedly help with digestion and nutrient absorption.

---

Takeaway

The Tom Brady Diet encourages eating foods that are high in nutrients and have been processed as little as possible. It might help you lose weight, keep you from getting sick, and improve your sports performance and recovery.

Nevertheless, it's too restrictive and has some rules that don't make sense from a scientific point of view. Also, the many rules and restrictions make it probably tough to keep up for a long time.