Tom Brady, at 39 years old, just won his 5th Super Bowl. As painful as it is for this Miami Dolphins fan to admit, Brady’s success and career longevity have been absurdly impressive.
What’s also impressive (although not as impressive as this catch by Julian Edelman!) is Tom Brady’s diet. Miami plays a small cameo role here (yeah!)–because that’s where Brady met his personal chef, Allen Campbell, back in 2013-ish. The Boston Globe interviewed Campbell to find out exactly what fuels the quarterback. It turns out, Brady’s chef is super into veganism, and that pro-plant-based philosophy is the main reason Brady chose him as chef. That’s big time for an NFL star who, in 2012, infamously ate a turkey leg on the sideline of a Thanksgiving game.
Campbell says “80 percent of what [Brady and his family] eat is vegetables . . . And whole grains: brown rice, quinoa, millet, beans.” And one of the hard and fast rules of Brady’s diet is “No dairy.”
Bleacher Report columnist Dan Pompei reports that “For most of the year, Brady is a vegan.” To be completely clear, Brady still apparently eats certain kinds of meat–mostly gimmicky green-washing stuff like “grass-fed” beef and wild salmon. But he starts each day with a vegan smoothie of almond milk, protein powder, seeds, nuts and a banana.
Sorry New Englanders–if you want to live like your hero Tom Brady, you’ll have change around your clam chowder recipe to be like Tom: swap Earth Balance for butter and cashew cream for heavy cream.
Here’s a quote on his chef’s cooking philosophy:
Around the time I met them, I had started really focusing on plant-based diets, because that’s where all the nutrition is. Their previous chef came from a very similar perspective, and they wanted something similar to their old chef. Even from the start, it was just such a great match between what they wanted and my philosophy. . . My philosophy is that a plant-based diet has the power to reverse and prevent disease.
Also from the Boston Globe interview, here are some foods Brady’s chef has recently cooked for the Brady family:
- Lentil buckwheat ‘footballs‘
- A quinoa dish with wilted greens (kale, Swiss chard, or beet greens), plus garlic, toasted in coconut oil; throw in some toasted almonds, or cashew sauce with lime curry, lemongrass, and a little bit of ginger
- Fruit rolls from bananas, pineapple, and spirulina
- Veggie sushi made with brown rice, avocado, carrot, cucumber, and a ponzu sauce
In the past year, Brady has also revealed these vegan treats to be among his favorite snacks:
- His favorite pre- and post-workout snack is his company’s own Amazon Crunch.
- His go-to ice cream is a vegan avocado ice cream.
Now Tom’s speaking the Avocadbro’s language!