Note: This is a two-part special feature by students who ate a modified version of Tom Brady’s diet.

Part I: Tom Brady Diet Podcast by Cassandra Plisinski and Sabrina Romano

Part II: Tom Brady Diet Article by Grace Tierney

Who wouldn’t want to be like Tom Brady? Many consider him the greatest football player of all time. To start, one could follow his diet, which is exactly what I did for three days.

Tom Brady’s book The TB12 Method is $19.94 on Amazon. This was not an ideal price, so I resorted to the internet for recipes. According to the article, “Here’s what Tom Brady Eats On an ‘Average Day’” by  the “Boston Globe”, Brady’s diet consists of 80 percent vegetables and fruits and 20 percent lean meat. For breakfast, Brady eats a smoothie or protein shake. For lunch he eats fish, vegetables, a protein bar and fruits such as grapes, banana, or an apple. He chooses from an assortment of snacks including a protein bar, fruit, chips and guacamole, hummus, raw vegetables, or yet another protein shake. At dinner time, Brady eats quinoa, brown rice, beans, chicken, steak, salads with avocados. He adds vegetables to all of these meals. To add to all of these restrictions, he also stays away from gluten, white sugar, white flour, MSG, coffee, caffeine, and dairy. After doing all this research, I knew I was about to face a huge challenge by following this diet.

Day 1: Monday, October 23rd

Breakfast: To start the day, at around 6:30 AM, I made a smoothie. The smoothie consisted of blueberries, raspberries, a banana, a scoop of vanilla protein powder, chia seeds and almond milk. This smoothie was definitely not my favorite. I already don’t like smoothies that much, and the protein powder added an odd texture and flavor. I was wondering if it would actually fill me up until lunch. To my surprise, I was pretty full up until 9:30 so I had a granola bar. I would rate my breakfast a 6.5/10.

Lunch: For lunch, I packed myself a kale, spinach, cucumbers, and carrots salad. For dressing, I brought lemon juice. Then I packed carrots and hummus, a tangerine, vegan and organic cheese puffs and another protein bar. The salad would have been good except the kale was a little overpowering with just lemon juice, but I ate it anyway because I did not want to be hungry. Other than that my lunch was really good, and I felt full and energized. I would rate my lunch a 8/10.

This specific day I had a cross country meet. I was worried I would feel low energy or just not myself because of my change in diet. I actually had a good meet and felt a lot better than usual.

Dinner: I got home pretty late and ate dinner right away at around 7:30. For dinner, my mom and I made brown rice, grilled chicken, and a variety of roasted vegetables that included brussell sprouts, parsnips, onions and carrots. This meal was very good and I would definitely make again. I felt full but not too full. I would rate this meal a 10/10.

Overall, my first day went well. I had a couple concerns about the diet such as if I would be hungry the whole day, but my concerns went away. I was excited for the next two days of the diet. Also throughout the day I drank around 64 ounces of water, which is less than Brady drinks, but for my weight, that is the healthiest amount.

Day 2: Tuesday, October 24th

Breakfast/Lunch: For breakfast this day I had the same smoothie as Monday. At 9:30 I had a protein bar to hold me over until lunch.  I liked the dinner I had Monday night so much that I had the leftovers for lunch, as well as the same snacks (clementine, organic chips, and carrots and hummus) in my lunch I had on Monday.

I got home from cross country practice and ate some gluten free chips and homemade guacamole. I love this snack and eat it often so I would rate this one a 10/10.

Dinner: That night I made myself a salad with kale, spinach and other mixed greens, carrots, avocados, cucumbers, strawberries and steak. For dressing, I mixed olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This salad was pretty good, however not as filling as my normal dinners. Other than that, it was very tasty so I would rate it a 8/10.  Again, I drank a lot of water, around 64 ounces, which helped me stay hydrated.

Day 3: Wednesday October 25th

Breakfast/Lunch: At this point in the diet I was really craving junk food, but I stuck with it. For breakfast I again ate the same smoothie, which I still didn’t like that much. The  for lunch I packed myself some plain brown rice, tangerines, carrots, cucumbers and some other organic snacks. I again really liked this lunch especially because I am used to eating a sandwich and other unhealthy snacks.

Dinner: When I got home that day I had some gluten free pretzels, which are really good, as well as a granola bar. That night my mom and I made quinoa with sauteed spinach and also chicken. I really liked this meal except for the spinach. However the quinoa was very good and flavorful. I would rate this meal a 9/10. This day I drank around 64 ounces of water.

After trying Brady’s diet, I felt really good. I felt full but also healthy and good about myself, but is this diet actually attainable for an average person? My answer is yes, but with hard work, patience and money. Even though it was hard to restrict myself from food that went against the diet, I believe it was not the most difficult part. I think the preparation of food and process of thinking of and making my meals was not easy at all. I wasn’t used to having to meal prep and make my lunch, normally I just grab my snacks and go.

Also another problem with Tom Brady’s diet is the price. He is a professional football player so he definitely does not have to worry about money, but after spending 170 dollars on three days worth of groceries, I don’t even want to think about how much they would cost per month or year.

So if you are considering adopting a healthy lifestyle, just consider the logistics such as price and attainability before beginning it.