Tom Brady has pushed back on the narrative that he lives by an iron-clad set of food rules, insisting he is far more flexible than people give him credit for, and admitting he makes Nutella pancakes for his kids.
Speaking to CNBC in an interview shared on Tuesday to mark his partnership with chocolate brand Ferrero, the seven-time Super Bowl champion, 48, addressed the scrutiny his diet has attracted over the years.
“I think it’s moderation in all things,” he said. “People have gone kinda overboard with the rigidity of my lifestyle or diet.”
He was keen to paint a picture of a fairly normal family life.
“I have kids and I have Halloweens and birthday parties and we’re like a normal family, so I try to make really healthy choices as often as possible. But when you’re watching football games and you’re at games, you’re traveling and you’re in airports, I understand the reality of life as well.”
He also revealed that a trip to Milan for the Olympics involved eating Nutella pizzas, presumably not something that featured in his peak NFL nutrition plan.
In his playing days, Brady was famous for avoiding white sugar, white flour, dairy, iodized salt, caffeine and a long list of other foods including nightshade vegetables and popular fruits like strawberries.
The TB12 Method, as it became known, was widely covered and attracted as much admiration as it did ridicule.
Since retiring from the NFL in 2022, he has loosened up, though he is quick to stress that he offsets the change with plenty of exercise and water.
His workout routine, which he shared in detail on Instagram in 2024, involves a demanding mix of swimming and weight training.
He credited his more relaxed physical state partly to having shed the stress of professional sport.
“I’m down about 10 pounds, but I’m actually very fit right now,” he said on the Let’s Go podcast in 2023. “I haven’t had the stress that I had while I was playing so that’s allowed me to focus a little bit more on my physical health.”
Brady shares children Jack, 18, Benjamin, 16, and Vivian, 13.
