Here is what Tom Brady eats to stay in peak condition at an age most players have already retired
If you've ever wondered - from the couch, horizontally, picking at buffalo dip on a Sunday afternoon - what Tom Brady eats to stay in peak football shape at 39, now you can learn all about Brady's diet from his personal chef.
Boston.com ran an all-access interview with Allen Campbell, the chef employed by Brady and Giselle Bundchen to cook all their meals - and all their kids' meals. Most will think the diet is pretty crazy and even healthier than you could have imagined.
So, what do Tom and Gisele eat? From Campbell:
80 percent of what they eat is vegetables. [I buy] the freshest vegetables. If it's not organic, I don't use it. And whole grains: brown rice, quinoa, millet, beans. The other 20 percent is lean meats: grass-fed organic steak, duck every now and then, and chicken. As for fish, I mostly cook wild salmon.
OK, that doesn't sound too crazy. Maybe more telling is what Brady doesn't eat:
No white sugar. No white flour. No MSG. I'll use raw olive oil, but I never cook with olive oil. I only cook with coconut oil. Fats like canola oil turn into trans fats. ... I use Himalayan pink salt as the sodium. I never use iodized salt.
[Tom] doesn't eat nightshades, because they're not anti-inflammatory. So no tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, or eggplants. Tomatoes trickle in every now and then, but just maybe once a month. I'm very cautious about tomatoes. They cause inflammation.
What else? No coffee. No caffeine. No fungus. No dairy.
I, um, OK.
(*pours out coffee, empties refrigerator*)
And how about a cheat day? What does Campbell cook up Tom and Gisele when they just want to, you know, relax? Have some good, old-fashioned comfort food? He said:
I've just did [sic] this quinoa dish with wilted greens. I use kale or Swiss chard or beet greens. I add garlic, toasted in coconut oil. And then some toasted almonds, or this cashew sauce with lime curry, lemongrass, and a little bit of ginger. That's just comfort food for them.
Brady has regularly gone on the record saying that he wants to play football well into his 40s. With a diet this scrupulously healthy, he might just play longer than that, too.