Tom Brady is a multiple Super Bowl winner.  He’s also a businessman, and he’s glommed onto the formula for marketing a diet regimen:

• Be a celebrity, preferably a sports celebrity, because they’re instantly believable.  Not credible, but no one cares about credibility or facts, just that you’re believable.
• Look good, have a killer bod.  People will think your diet is the reason. Hey, sexy sells.
• Have an equally hot spouse or significant other who can endorse you. And when you say you get to bed early every night, no one would doubt you. 
• Talk about nutrition “beliefs” and “philosophy”.  Facts aren’t good for business.
• Exclude all the standard food commodities. They’re not elite enough (see below).
• Have all the trendy “free-froms”:
  • No gluten.
  • No red meat.
  • No dairy.  
  • No white potatoes or any other nightshade vegetables either, like peppers, eggplant, or tomatoes.  They’re “inflammatory”. 
  • No GMOs.
• Keep it as green as possible.  Heavy on leafy foods, but he also includes beans – I do like this part.
• Go against the grains – at least the common ones, like wheat and corn – again, those commodity foods the masses eat, because you aren’t most people.
• Have expensive “uniquely formulated” products to sell – only available from your web site.  It’s critical to eat like a wealthy, elite athlete, not a commoner.
• ELECTROLYTES!  The ones he sells in particular — the TB12 electrolytes.  They’re part of his “alkalinizing” the body, a must for health in his book.  (NO science supporting this – none).  A 20-serving, 1.7-ounce bottle sells for $15 (plus shipping).  That’s 71 cents per serving.  A serving of milk gives you three times more potassium, plus protein, sodium, calcium, and other nutrients you  need after a workout, for one-third the price. This from someone who chastises food companies about “brainwashing” consumers.  Shame on you, Tom. 
• WHEY PROTEIN POWDER?!  This dairy food is OK – IF it’s TB’s specially formulated one.  It’s $50 for 21 servings, or $2.38 per serving.  To get the same amount of protein from real milk would set you back only about 65 cents, and you’d get all the other nutrients in milk to boot. 

Keep Edgy: Diss the Mediterranean Diet!

No cooking with olive oil!  Swap it for coconut oil.  No scientific basis for this – coconut oil is way more saturated than any animal fat.

No yogurt, eggplant, tomatoes, or peppers!  No cheese!  Nutrient-rich foods that have fed and sustained Italians and Greeks for thousands of years have no place in this winner’s diet.  Fish only if it’s wild-caught.  Farmed salmon, while quite healthy and affordable, but probably not exclusive, elite, or expensive enough.

You’re Busted, Tom. Ditching Dairy Is Dumb.

Dairy foods – from milk to yogurt to cheese – have unparalleled qualities.  If you know your nutrition, this isn’t debatable.  It might be boring, but facts often are. 

He writes, “When I was a kid, the dairy industry rolled out lots of campaigns urging people to drink lots of milk.  But research today is pretty clear that we should consume dairy in more limited amounts. Our belief [there’s that word again] at TB12 is that dairy products are high in calories and lower in nutritional value than other foods.”

I don’t know what “research” he’s talking about (I’d bet he doesn’t either), but there is no drink that can match a glass of milk for nutritional value and affordability.  None.  Furthermore, a mountain of solid science verifies the benefits of dairy foods, including that a glass of low-fat chocolate milk after a workout is BETTER than sports drinks for repairing muscle mass and improving endurance in subsequent workouts.   Why? Probably a great carb-to-protein ratio and a great electrolyte balance, plus vitamins and minerals.  Of course, milk is a commodity, so it has to be out. 

No GMOs?

Tom seems to disagree with over 100 Nobel prize winning scientists who have attested to the safety and nutritional value of foods produced with genetic engineering. I wonder what he knows?

Cut-To-The-Chase-Advice

Nutrition advice should be grounded in science and facts, not beliefs or philosophies.  Using the word “belief” shouldn’t give you a pass to propagate nutrition myths and misinformation. 

Most of us don’t have personal chefs to cook our meals (and clean up afterwards).  Tom’s diet may not be harmful to the average person, but the DASH and the Mediterranean diets have far more science behind them and are solid, affordable, and sustainable paths up the mountain towards good health.  They don’t require expensive “website” foods and supplements or forbid foods either – it’s a matter of how much and how often.  Not sexy, just solid.  For my health, I’ll go there.  Sorry, TB.