Just in time for Super Bowl Sunday...I want you to EAT LIKE A QUARTERBACK!! When it comes to handing out nutritional advice, most football players are probably last in line. This is understandable since they do not have to worry about their weight or their waistlines and when it comes to pre-game meals, the motto is probably "the bigger the better." With the amount of calories that the players burn in each game, we are talking about some major league hunger. If you are thinking that I am suggesting that eating like a quarterback means that I want you to bulk up on pre-game carbs and ingest 5,000 calories on Game Day, then you probably don't know which quarterback I am talking about.
The quarterback who is living the dream when it comes to healthy living is one of the ones who will be fighting to win the 52nd Super Bowl this coming Sunday. It is the New England Patriots starting QB, # 12, Tom Brady. You don't have to be a fan of the Patriots to recognize the significance of Tom Brady to his team and to the NFL. The 40-year old is legendary, not only because he is the oldest starting QB to ever play for a Super Bowl ring, but also for the statistics of his very successful career. Brady has played his entire professional career for the Patriots and since he became their starting quarterback in 2001, the Patriots have never had a losing season and have won 14 division titles. They have played in twelve AFC Championship Games from 2001 to 2017, including seven in a row from 2011 to 2017, and have won eight of them. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are known as the most successful head coach/quarterback team in NFL history. At over 200 wins, they have won more regular and post-season games than any other such duo. With those stats, it is probably no surprise that they have gone to six Super Bowls (about to be in their 7th), winning 5 of them.
I am not as interested in or as fascinated by these winning statistics as I am by Tom Brady's healthy lifestyle. His strict regimen, known as the "TB12 Method" is becoming as fabled as his touchdown passes. I waited a long time to be able to check-out Brady's book "The TB Method - How to Achieve A Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance" and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait. He covers many topics that are near and dear to my heart...hydration, nutrition, brain training, rest and recovery. He also goes into great detail about the methods he uses to train, complete with step-by-step pictures of his workout routine. This is not only a "how-to" book, but it's also the ultimate troubleshooting tool since Brady takes you through the various sports injuries that commonly impact athletes. It is obvious that TB is writing to all of us, not just to the elite athletes that he trains with and competes against. If only we each had a Body Coach like Brady has who has worked with him for the past 12 years. This Body Coach performs regular pliability work on Tom's muscles to ensure that injuries are prevented and each one of his muscles is maximized to its fullest potential. While those of us who are not professional athletes may not have a Body Coach on retainer who will give us targeted, deep-force muscle work before and after each workout, there are many other things that Tom Brady does to maximize his health, performance and longevity that we can incorporate into our daily lives. Tom Brady wants to be our cheerleader when it comes to aging gracefully. He acknowledges that we are each going to be faced with a certain amount of slowdown, but by bringing together the right variety of tools in a holistic manner, we can slow down the aging process instead of grinding ourselves to a halt as we get older.
Here are my top take-aways from the TB12 Method:
1) DRINK MORE WATER - I talk about this quite a bit with my clients. It's Tom Brady's number one tip and I agree that it should be at the top of all of our to-do lists. The body's lymphatic system, which helps fight infection and vacuum out damaged cells, can rid our body of toxins. The only way it can do this is if we keep ourselves properly hydrated. This is because the lymphatic system is 95% water and we need to keep it clean and constantly flowing in order for it to do its job. Drinking more water can help flush out the effects of poor nutrition so if you are eating pizza and wings during the Super Bowl (or any day), make sure to drink lots of water!
Tom gets very real about water in his book since according to his calculations, none of us are drinking enough. If you are counting your daily intake of coffee, tea, soda and alcohol in your hydration count, then Tom is right and your math is way off. This is because those beverages are actually DEHYDRATING you rather than doing what liquids are supposed to do which is replenishing the water in your body that you are sweating and breathing out. This is particularly problematic in warmer weather. Tom also says that if you think drinking one or two glasses of water in the morning, a bottled water at lunch, tap water at dinner and having a bottle on your nightstand is enough, then you are definitely not fully hydrated. He explains that we need to be drinking one-half of our body weight in ounces each day and that it takes 14 days to reach a baseline of proper hydration. I love that he says in the book, if you are hydrated, you will look like "a beautiful, fresh piece of tenderloin behind the butcher's counter. If you are not drinking enough water, then you can expect to look like a shriveled piece of beef jerky."
Great advice straight from his book: pay attention if you have dry lips, dry eyes, dry skin, headaches, nosebleeds or you are waking up in the middle of the night with a dry throat...these are all SYMPTOMS OF DEHYDRATION.
2) NOT ALL CALORIES ARE CREATED EQUAL - Tom Brady credits his fast recovery each week, after playing so hard on Sundays, to the foods he chooses to eat. He admits then when he was in his 20's, he had a "work hard, play hard" mentality when it came to nutrition. He would "reward" himself with treats after gameday, rationalizing these choices because he had trained so hard and performed so well. He says that many of the younger players on his team still do this and that he is able to recover more quickly than them because he subscribes to a mostly plant-based and seasonal nutritional regimen. He eats whole foods that are grown naturally and locally and he avoids all processed foods. Tom reminds us that even "real foods" can be bad for you if you eat them in the wrong form..."the calories you get from an apple are different than the ones you get from an apple pie. It's the nutrients in the apple that can help accelerate recovery and reduce inflammation."
3) WHAT TO EAT - If you have been following me for awhile now, then you have already heard from me what I think we should all be striving to eat. Until I read "The TB Method", I was unaware that Tom Brady and I were handing out the same advice.
- Eat as much real, organic and local food as you can;
- Eat mostly vegetables;
- Buy local foods whenever possible;
- Eat seasonally;
- Consume essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6 fats found in sardines, wild game, flaxseed and flaxseed oil, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and olive oil);
- Eat foods high in fiber; and
- Eat a variety of foods.
4) WHAT NOT TO EAT - This is probably the least favorite part of any program for healthy living but in order to make any real changes and improvements in your health, you need to take a long look at this list and try to implement as many of them as you can.
- Avoid refined carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods;
- Avoid unhealthy fats;
- Limit dairy;
- Limit salt;
- Limit nightshades (darker plants and foods like eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and potatoes);
- Limit caffeine; and
- Limit alcohol.
5) CONTROL YOUR PORTION SIZES - The amount of meat you eat should be no bigger than your palm and it should be accompanied by at least two palms' worth of vegetables. Tom also says that we should eat all of the veggies first so that by the time we get to the steak, we are already pretty full.
and lastly...
6) EAT DINNER (at least) THREE HOURS BEFORE YOU GO TO BED - to give your body a chance to digest the food before your metabolic burn rate slows down and your body goes into recovery mode.
I have never read a book written by an athlete that I have loved as much as Tom Brady's TB Method. The advice is practical, the tips are helpful, the recipes in the back of the book look delectable, and Tom's writing style has me believing that I can beat back Father Time and feel like a winning quarterback. While we mere mortals won't ever be suiting up for the gridiron, we most certainly can take steps to optimize our health. Our definition of "peak performance" may vastly differ from someone who has to be strong enough to have won five Super Bowls, but wouldn't it be great to have more energy, feel lighter, be better hydrated, and feel as if we have found the fountain of youth? I am willing to give it a try and start eating like a quarterback. Super Bowl Sunday is the perfect day to start!
Do you want help eating like a quarterback? Sign up for a complimentary Health Coaching Session with me and you'll be ready for "game day" in no time!