Avoid 5 unhealthy foods Tom Brady never eats to stay jacked at 45

Tom Brady’s NFL career may be over, but that doesn’t mean he’s sitting on the couch watching Netflix all day and working on his beer belly.

The seven-time Super Bowl champion was known for his fitness and diet discipline during his playing days, and evidently that hasn’t changed since he hung up the pads.

In an interview with People Magazine recently, Brady said that even though his playing days are over, he still considers his body an asset that “I still want to maintain.”

He also bristled at the suggestion that — despite the fact there are certain food groups he never touches — that his diet is overly micromanaged.

“I don’t think it’s a strict regimen,” he told People. “I think it’s just trying to make healthy choices that allow me to live the life I want to live.”

Finding the perfect diet

This is of particular interest to me given how much I’ve been writing about diet lately:

• Avoid these 5 unhealthiest foods in the world to life a long, vibrant life
• Eat these top 5 healthiest foods in the world and you’ll feel amazing
• Why I’m getting super healthy with 1 crazy new diet (just made it up)

These line up pretty well with the way Brady does (and doesn’t) eat.

On the healthy side, you’ll find lots of fruit and greens.

And on the unhealthy side, you’ll find two foods that Brady once called “poison”.

According to the unhealthy foods power ranking I wrote about above — the second-unhealthiest food in the world is Soda. The third is sugary cereal.

Brady believes these two foods in particular are downright toxic.

Those are just two of the foods he never touches.

In general, Brady avoids all of the following:

• white sugar
• dairy products
• white flour
• iodized salt
• caffeine
• alcohol

Brady’s diet is built around one key goal: reducing or eliminating inflammation.

This is, for the most part, a super healthy approach.

Although some of the science around certain aspects of his eating habits is a bit dubious (particularly around not eating “nightshade” vegetables like eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, and potatoes), it’s hard to argue with a regimen that made him history’s greatest quarterback.

And it has allowed him to stay jacked at 45 even though he isn’t hitting the practice gridiron several days per week anymore.

I found the no caffeine thing super interesting.

As you know if you’ve followed me here for any amount of time, I quit a lot of things this year.

The most important was alcohol, but the most difficult was caffeine.

One of the reasons I’ve found it so hard to let the latter go is I thought it made working out soooo much easier.

And, to be honest, it probably does.

But caffeine does bad things to my ADHD brain — anxiety, poor mood, lack of focus — so for me, the drawbacks far outweigh the workout benefits.

And if Tom Brady could manage an NFL-level training schedule without ingesting a drop of coffee, I should be able to do the same with my far more moderate activities.

The power of routine

As a former sports journalist, I can tell you it’s actually a bit uncommon for former professional athletes to continue putting that level of effort into diet and fitness after retirement.

In fact, a lot of ex-pro athletes completely let themselves go when their playing days are done.

I understand this, in a way.

The discipline you must apply to maintain the physique and energy required to play professional sports is extremely demanding.

After so many years of working out that hard … even when you’re tired, injured, or just don’t want to … I can see how some guys might just get sick of it.

And yes, I can see how one might tire of denying oneself a freakin’ cookie.

But Brady is built different. It’s why he’s the GOAT quarterback.

And to be honest, I don’t think I would have done all that work just to let it all fall apart the moment my athletic career was over either.

The main reason is: whether you’re trying to start a good habit or end a bad one, the hard part is at the beginning.

That’s when the resistance is most powerful.

Any massive victory, whether it’s building a business or building a great physique, is built on picking up small wins every day.

As you continue to do the work every single day, the compound effect of that work accelerates your success.

Meanwhile, the momentum you’ve built over time makes it that much easier to continue.

So it becomes a situation where, rather than being annoyed you have to go to the gym, you get annoyed if you can’t make it to the gym.

Why Brady keeps grinding

It’s not just about the pride of being in shape even as you age — it’s about feeling good and energetic, both mentally and physically.

You don’t need to be a pro athlete to benefit from that kind of lifestyle.

And really, if you already have a good routine to begin with, why would you let go of all that momentum?

Sticking with his pro-style habits is obviously working for Tom Brady.

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