I tried Tom Brady’s TB 12 system. Here’s what happened.
Have you heard of the TB 12 diet?
It is a diet made famous by NFL player Tom Brady. In fact, it is also called the ‘Tom Brady Diet’.
There is a reason why she is famous. I mean he’s 42 years old and he’s still playing at his best. Surely there must be something unique about what he does.
In Brady’s book, The 12 TB Method, Patriots quarterback Outline what an average day’s eating and exercise are in his shoes. or cleats.
I’m in the middle of a fitness change, so I thought I’d give it a try and see what happens.
So below I will explain what intense diet Include, and reveal my results from every aspect. I’ll then talk about the actual science of the Tom Brady diet.
Prepare to be surprised!
morning
Here’s how the Tom Brady diet starts today. Brady says he usually gets up around 6 a.m. and immediately drinks 20 ounces of water with electrolytes.
- Brady is a staunch advocate of staying hydrated to an almost absurd degree. He says he drinks 12 to 25 glasses of water a day, supplementing with his trademark TB12 electrolytes.
- Yes, he promotes food products along with his book. surprised?
- After a 20-ounce glass of water, he makes a smoothie containing ‘blueberries, bananas, seeds and nuts’.
- According to Brady, they are “rich in nutrients, high in fat, high in protein, and high in calories.”
- Then he exercises at 8 in the morning.
- While working out, Brady says he drinks more water with electrolytes.
Once he’s done working out, Brady devours a protein shake with one scoop of his protein powder. With more electrolytes, of course.
And he always makes sure to shake it up within 20 minutes of finishing a workout.
Wait any longer and your body will start looking for its own sources of protein and start shredding the muscle you were just building.”
see also: what is the noom diet ?
what did you find
This part of the day worked well for me. I usually get up at 6 am anyway. Getting 24 ounces of water was easy, and I felt great.
8 hours is a long time to go without water, so it was a great way to instantly rehydrate. I also made sure to put some ice in the water, which increased my alertness and lowered energy levels.
The juice taste great! I am allergic to nuts, so I had to skip them, but besides that, I felt energized and made my stomach surprisingly full.
Drinking water with electrolytes made sure to conserve my energy, and I was shooting for most of the exercises (5km run with a 30min weight session).
afternoon
What does Tom Brady’s lunchtime diet entail?
Around noon, Brady had lunch, which was ‘often a piece of fish, but always with plenty of veggies.’
Brady says he sticks to four principles when it comes to food.
First, don’t eat protein with carbohydrates like bread or potatoes.
The second is that combing protein or carbohydrates with vegetables is good for digestion.
Brady says he follows a mostly alkaline diet, which means limiting “acidic” foods like white rice and bread to just 20 percent of his diet. The other 80 percent should be made from alkaline foods, such as sweet potatoes.
Brady is a staunch advocate of snacking and says that if he needs to snack between 2-5 p.m., he’ll have a fruit (banana or apple) or a protein shake that contains electrolytes.
Its third principle is that eating fruit with other foods is harmful to digestion, and its fourth that water should not be consumed while eating because it interferes with digestion.
what did you find
I was very hungry when I arrived at 12 noon because I had only had a protein shake and a drink a day. I’ll admit that this was probably the hardest part of the diet: feeling incredibly hungry from around 9am to 12pm. However, after about 5 days, I got used to it and no longer bothered by hunger pangs.
For lunch, I made sure to eat some type of meat (like chicken, pork, or fish) with a pile of veggies.
It felt like a healthy meal and I usually have a protein shake (or bar) in the afternoon. Definitely healthier than I usually eat.
I also made sure to have at least a few glasses of water with electrolytes throughout the afternoon. Lots of baths stopped, but my energy levels remained very stable.
I’m usually prone to sluggish afternoons, but after about 10 days I’ve had a lot less.
see also: what can you eat on a gluten free diet
evening
Tom Brady diet for dinner. Brady usually eats dinner around 6 pm.
According to Brady: ‘Dinner is another nutrient-dense meal with lots of vegetables.’
He doesn’t go into the details of exactly what that involves.
Brady says he doesn’t drink alcohol and he doesn’t eat dessert either, but he usually eats his ‘protein shake’.
However, the book includes a recipe for the famous avocado ice cream. Unfortunately, I haven’t tried it, but it may be a useful addition to the diet if it feels a bit boring.
what did you find
This was, again, very easy. I simply ate what I had for lunch – meat and vegetables. Good meal.
I figured it wasn’t enough food for me for the first few days, so I fed him several cuts of meat and a big load of veggies.
Every night I had a protein shake, which was great. The protein shakes are really filling, so I didn’t feel hungry all night long.
Here are my results
The Tom Brady Diet works because it is an all-encompassing diet. Brady himself says that ‘it’s always about balance’.
I felt energized in the morning, thanks to the smoothie and protein shakes, and as long as I made sure I had enough meat and vegetables for lunch and dinner, I never felt hungry (except for the first five days).
The extra water intake also felt like I was flushing toxins from my body and I was never in danger of becoming dehydrated.
However, I currently live in a humid and hot climate so that’s probably why it works so well for me.
Within one week, I was able to shed 1 kilogram and feel stronger in the gym thanks to the massive amount of protein.
Be careful, though. These protein shakes make you fart. It didn’t bother me but it did bother my girlfriend.
These results could also be thanks to the fact that my diet was pretty poor before trying it. But it does work to maintain my energy levels, help me lose weight, and build my muscle, so I’m going to keep it up!
But maybe not as religious as Tom Brady does. Read the science behind the diet below to find out why.
[Buddhism not only provides a spiritual outlet for many people, but it can also improve the quality of our personal relationships. Check out my new no-nonsense guide to using Buddhism for a better lifehere].
What Science Says About Tom Brady’s Diet
It’s important to realize that Tom’s diet isn’t really that different from the others out there.
In fact, it’s really a combination of anti-inflammatory eating and an alkaline diet, with an emphasis on eating primarily organic foods.
According to Tom Brady, to reach peak performance, you must have adequate fuel for effective workouts.
The diet is ‘plant heavy’ but meat, poultry and fish are included – only in small amounts.
So, to recap, here’s what’s absolutely forbidden in the TB 12 diet:
Gluten and refined carbohydrates like bread, snacks, grains and pastas
Saturated trans fats
Dairy like milk, cheese and yogurt
Lots of salt
Vegetables like tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes and peppers
Excessive alcohol and caffeine intake
Processed foods and added sugars
Also, Tom Brady makes sure to eat a diet that is 80% alkaline and 20% acidic.
why? Because by choosing low-acid products, the body’s pH approaches the neutral level – reducing inflammation (and risk of disease).
Here is a sample of alkaline or acidic foods:
Alkaline foods: broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, sweet potatoes, and zucchini.
Acidic foods: strawberries, pineapple, oranges, salmon, beef, walnuts, yogurt, soybeans.
Now I’m not a dietitian or a scientist, but I decided to research the science of what the Tom Brady diet really does. This is what I found:
1) Eating Anti-Inflammatory Food May Really Benefit You
by searchInflammation within the body has been linked to heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancers, autoimmune diseases, and Even mental health problems.
So cutting out processed foods, added sugars, refined carbs, and trans fats is a good idea, and replacing them with vegetables, fruits, nuts, healthy fats, and oils is great for inflammation.
Adopting these changes appears to benefit most people.
2) You don’t have to avoid dairy as much as Brady does
Brady avoids dairy products due to their inflammatory effect. That really depends on the dairy Brady is talking about.
Certainly, ice cream causes inflammation, however, some types of low-fat milk and yogurt have been shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect.
The intake should be moderate, but it is definitely good to eat healthy yogurt that contains good bacteria. It is also a good source of calcium, vitamin D and protein.
So in this case, most people don’t need to be as extreme as Tom Brady.
3) You don’t necessarily need to avoid all nightshade vegetables like Brady
This includes vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and potatoes.
People often report that this is the cause of arthritis due to solanine.
But there is no evidence to suggest this. In general, these vegetables are actually anti-inflammatory.
So for most people, you should eat this vegetable.
4) An alkaline diet is not as important as Tom Brady thinks
Brady makes sure to eat foods that have an alkaline effect on the body to reduce acidity and inflammation. People have said that alkaline diets reduce the risk of developing or developing cancer.
However, there are no actual studies that directly link acidic foods with cancer. There is absolutely no evidence that an alkaline diet has a significant effect on inflammation.
Again, you probably don’t need to follow this religiously as Tom Brady does.
5) And do you really need to drink one gallon of water per day?
Tom Brady suggests that everyone should “drink at least half their body weight in ounces of water each day…Ideally, you’ll drink more than that, while also adding electrolytes.”
There is no doubt that we all need water. But does Brady’s rule half body weight in ounces stack up scientifically?
He is not the first person to advocate this. It’s a common myth about hydration, According to Live Science.
According to research, you don’t have to go that far, even if you are a very active person.
It can also be a little dangerous. People who consume more fluids than they excrete are prone to a condition called hyponatremia, which is an imbalance of water in the body that occurs when excess fluid removes too much sodium from a person’s blood.
So, what is he actually recommending? The safest strategy is to drink palatable fluids when thirsty.
There is no universal formula for daily water intake. Everyone’s water needs vary based on their age, weight, level of physical activity, and general health.
Drinking when you’re thirsty and a little water during exercise – is the only rule of healthy hydration.
Conclusion
Tom Brady’s diet is sure to push the body to the limits. Tom Brady himself says that he goes to extremes to reduce inflammation in the body. I found it somewhat restrictive, especially when I don’t have my own chef to cook my food like Tom Brady.
So in the end, I think there are many benefits to the Tom Brady diet and it’s clearly working for him. Specifically, eating anti-inflammatory foods and reducing inflammation seems to be a great exercise that most people should do.
However, I don’t think I need to go as extreme as Tom Brady does.