Gout, Tom Brady and plant based diets

A article in Boston.com about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady caught my attention yesterday and wanted to bring it to your attention so you can see the similarities in Tom Brady’s diet. On Monday Boston.com ran an all-access interview with Tom’s personal chef Allen Campbell. He not only cooks for the Tom Brady but he also cooks for his wife, model Gisele Bundchen.

You must be wondering what does this have to do with gout. Well, plenty! In a Hillary Clinton for president commercial, it stated that 7 out of 10 Americans were on at least one prescription drug. That is an astounding 7 out of 10 Americans that are sick one way or another!

70% of the population! 98% of the population may not be suffering from gout but 1-2% suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, another 1-2% suffer from psoriasis, another 2-3% suffer from osteoarthritis, about 10% suffer from diabetes, about 30% suffer from high blood pressure, 35% suffer from heart disease, so it’s easy to see how we are all basically sick one way or another. You may suffer from diabetes but I suffer from gout. The point I am trying to make is that all this disease and sickness is caused by one thing only. Diet!

A poor diet will destroy you, kill you before your time. This body has about 100 years of life capacity and many of us die way before that. Just this past year alone, I had an aunt passed away at 57 years old from melanoma cancer. She was quite obese to say the least and I always worried about her health.

On my deceased dad’s side, a cousin of his, also passed away at 57 years old only! He got a stroke and boom gone! He wasn’t obese, worked out and was in decent shape but he ate a lot of fried food. Fried food will clog your arteries causing either heart attack or stroke. But food is like crack cocaine, it is very addictive. But just like drugs can kill you, so can a poor diet.

That’s why what Tom Brady’s chef says is so interesting and true to a certain extent. What he first says is that 80% of Tom’s and Gisele’s daily calories are from organic vegetables. Sound familiar if you’ve read my ebook? Yes 80% of their daily calories are from complex carbohydrates, primarily vegetables but also includes whole grains, brown rice, quinoa, millet and beans. Yes beans, which many of you fear!

The other 20% of their diet consists of lean meats like grass-fed organic steak, wild salmon, chicken and some duck. In my gout diet plan, I limit meat to 10% simply because we as gout sufferers are obviously more sensitive to it.

 

So what do Tom Brady and his wife Gisele Bundchen do not eat?

They do not eat any white sugar, no white flour and no MSG. I couldn’t agree more! His chef also goes on to say how he uses lots of raw extra virgin olive oil but never cooks with it! He is spot on! Furthermore, he never uses canola oil which turns into trans-fats. As for sodium, he uses Himalayan pink salt and no iodized salt. I agree with Himalayan salt but you can also use sea salt.

One group of food that Tom avoids is the nightshades because the chef claims they are not anti-inflammatory. So basically they avoid tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers and eggplants. He does use tomatoes here and there but very sparingly. I somewhat agree with this but it’s not true, only if you are glutton and over-eat these foods can they cause inflammation and besides skipping them means you’ll be missing out on so many other health benefits. Although, gout sufferers should limit their tomatoes consumption for sure. I rarely eat them myself cause they are a gout trigger.

They also avoid coffee and any type of caffeine as well as dairy. I don’t agree with that either since many studies have proven the health benefits of coffee and dairy but in a gout diet I limit dairy which is mostly fat to 10% of your daily calories. It’s ok to have a piece of cheese or some butter on your bread but if you go over the 10% limit, that’s where you can start to get into trouble.

Chef Allen Campbell is also quoted as saying, “It’s very different than a traditional American diet”. That’s for sure chef Campbell! He goes on to say, “But if you just eat sugar and carbs (not complex carbohydrates) which a lot of people do, then your body is so acidic, and that causes disease.” Bingo! Nailed it! Couldn’t say it better myself! What does he finally say? “Sugar is the death of people” It is chef Campbell, it really is!

He then continues, “I think we’ve been lied to by a lot of food companies over the years, by a lot of beverage companies over the years. But we still do it. That’s just America. We believe that Frosted Flakes is a food. You keep eating those things and you keep wondering why we do have just incredible rates of disease in our country.” Chef Campbell is totally right! That is why 7 out of 10 Americans are on prescription drugs and basically sick!

Tom Brady’s kids even follow this strict diet and Tom even said how Coca-Cola is poison for children and how they can sell that to kids. Brady’s kids instead enjoy fresh fruit rolls, vegetable sushi rolls, and raw chocolate chip cookies. So there you have it! Eat like Tom Brady and you may limit the risk of developing a disease and this concerns us gout sufferers as well. If you want to learn more about Tom Brady’s diet regime he now has a book out titled “The TB12 Method“, make sure to check it out!

One other article that caught my attention and this was from action film actor Sylvester Stallone who recently said that he doesn’t recommend being too fit and over exercising cause this will cause damage to your kidneys eventually. Again, I’ve always been against rigorous exercise, the best exercise is moderate like I outline in my post on exercise. Not only to avoid harming your kidneys but also to avoid worsening your joints too! Until next time.