Tom Brady's diet on an "average day" will make your head spin

There are so many rules to follow! Brady outlines them all in his new book, The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance.

It is incredibly difficult to argue with the massive success he has had on the field. That said, I thought I'd give a shot at distilling what can be found in the book - with a bit of help from a very well-written Boston Globe article:

As he outlines in the book, Brady follows four general principles about combining food:

1) The first is not to eat proteins with carbohydrates like potatoes or bread. 

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2) The second is that mixing proteins or carbs with vegetables is “ideal” for digestion.

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3) (Brady) follows a so-called alkaline diet, which purports to minimize muscle inflammation

Generally tries to limit “acidifying” foods — such as white rice and bread, but also cold cuts, pineapples, and yogurt, to name a few — to 20 percent of his diet. The other 80 percent he says should be made up of alkalizing foods, like Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and dandelion greens.

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4) His fourth principle is not to drink much water with meals, for similar reasons.

“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.”

So... What does an average day look like for Brady?

Again with help from the Boston Globe article, here's what I came up with:

  • 6AM: Wakes up, immediately drinks 20 oz of water w/electrolytes 
    • "drinks 12 to 25 glasses of water a day"
  • SHOWER, then SMOOTHIE
    • Typically, it contains blueberries, bananas, seeds, and nuts,” he says. “It’s nutrient dense, high in fat, high in protein, and high in calories.”
  • 8AM: Works out
    • drinks water w/electrolytes during
  • Within 20 minutes of working out: PROTEIN SHAKE 
    • w/almond milk + electrolytes
  • 11AM: Snack, if he feels like it 
    • "Brady encourages snacking"
  • 12p: LUNCH 
    • “often a piece of fish, but always with lots of vegetables.”
  • 2P-5P: Protein shake, protein bar, or fruit. 
    • “Eat fruits alone. They digest quickly. Other foods don’t.”
  • 6P: DINNER 
    • "another nutrient-dense meal that includes a lot of vegetables"
  • No dessert on an average day.

Think you could bare it? Brady summarizes in his book like this:

“I enjoy how I eat, and what I eat, and never feel like I’m missing out.”