Tom Brady famously avoids "nightshade" vegetables, which he excludes from his diet due to the belief that they cause inflammation. According to his personal chef and the TB12 diet guidelines, he restricts:
Brady's personal chef is famously quotedopens in a new tab as saying that Tom Brady avoids nightshade vegetables due to their supposed inflammatory properties.
The Boston.com article doesn't say why Brady shuns fruit, but the fear typically comes from the fact that fruit is high in the sugar fructose. Some people mistakenly think that fructose is bad for you because of an outdated understanding of how fructose works in your body.
Famously, Brady had never eaten a strawberry until a joke-y visit to the Stephen Colbert show, and claims to avoid all nightshades – peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and potatoes – claiming they have inflammatory properties, sticking to an alkaline diet instead.
Contrary to popular belief, cucumber is not a nightshade vegetable. Nightshade vegetables include a vegetable group belonging to the Solanaceae family and encompass a whole family of flowering plants. Cucumber belongs to the squash or gourd family called Cucurbitaceae (also called cucurbits).
That means, no tomatoes, peppers (including hot sauce), eggplant, and others. Avoid inflammatory foods. Brady doesn't eat anything that has the potential to cause inflammation. So dairy products, coffee and caffeine, and gluten are a no-go.
Nightshades Contain "Toxic" Chemicals
Solanine is the primary alkaloid in tomatoes, and it's also found in white potatoes and eggplant. Solanine can cause digestive upset and nausea when eaten in very large amounts, but this is extremely hard to do.
As for Brady's love for avocado ice cream, he shared that it was among his favorite treats when he was with the New England Patriots in 2016. "I wanted to share with you guys another step toward achieving your peak performance," Brady wrote when he announced his fandom for avocado ice cream.
Inflammatory Foods
Increasing evidence has indicated that potatoes, as a rich source of bioactive compounds, exhibit health-promoting properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activity [20].
She went to an osteopathic doctor who advised her to cut out alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and gluten. Her diet has evolved since then, but it's this change that Bündchen credits with helping her deal with her anxiety disorder.
The following foods are included in the Tom Brady diet: Most vegetables (except for nightshades) All types of fresh fruits. Gluten-free whole grains, including quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, oats, etc.
Sweet potatoes and black pepper are not nightshade vegetables, however, despite their similar-sounding names.
Vitamins That Fight Inflammation
Foods to avoid
While many people believe Tom Brady's eating habits are “ultra-strict” (even though – as you'll see below – the truth is very different) the real reason Brady doesn't eat strawberries has nothing to do with nutrition. He just doesn't like the smell.
Tom Brady says his diet is not as restrictive as most people would think, and that he is more than happy to indulge on pizza, bacon, and chocolate whenever he feels like it. In the past, Brady has been known for having an extremely strict meal plan.
And sure enough, the TB12 diet includes eggs in its recommended recipes and in a list of foods to eat, not only for their protein content but also for their immune supporting nutrients, like vitamin D.
There are no fruits categorized as night shade.
No, coffee is not a nightshade; it comes from the Coffea plant, which belongs to the Rubiaceae family, not the nightshade family (Solanaceae), but it's sometimes confused due to its acidity causing irritation similar to some nightshades. Common nightshades you avoid in elimination diets include tomatoes, potatoes (not sweet), peppers, and eggplants, while coffee is a distinct plant family.