Tom Brady's Health Habits Are Giving Experts Cause For Concern

After all, most people would find guzzling down 20 ounces of "electrolyte water" first thing every morning a bit odd. It's great, of course, that Brady is a big advocate of staying hydrated. But thanks to his TB12 Method, the star QB takes this habit to what some would consider a dangerous level.

On some days, the quarterback can drink up to 25 glasses of water. That comes out to a whopping 200 ounces of H2O! This is well in excess of what an average body should be consuming and can lead to life-threatening conditions such as hyponatremia and water intoxication. Brady, however, has claimed that over-hydrating can ward off a variety of health problems — including sunburn.

That's right: according to his 2017 memoir/workout guide, The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance, Brady believes that post-outdoor workout hydration can prevent sunburn. This is, to put it politely, not backed up by any scientific evidence. And Brady's claims about his "revolutionary training, conditioning, and wellness system" only get more questionable from there.

One of the tenets of the TB12 Method is the concept of "muscle pliability." According to Brady, making one's muscles "long" and "soft" allows the body to disperse the shock of tackles. This could possibly explain why the QB has the ability to bounce back from hard hits. But some scientists say there's a problem with his logic.

The trouble is that "muscle pliability" has no strict definition. Strength training experts Dr. John Rusin and Dr. Joel Seedman told Stack that it could actually stand for a bunch of different things. So while most football players do emphasize flexibility over muscle growth in their workouts, the experts agree that it is not an exact science. This begs the question: why does Brady believe in his method?

Part of the reason is a bit obvious. After all, if drinking 200 ounces of water a day would guarantee that you could play football at Brady's level at age 43, most athletes would hit that H20 hard. But it's also not as if Brady came up with TB12 all on his own. In fact, we need to look to none other than Alejandro "Alex" Guerrero for some answers.

For 12 years, Guerrero has served as Brady's "spiritual guide, counselor, pal, nutrition adviser, trainer, massage therapist, and family member." He's even a godfather to one of the quarterback's sons. And you might recognize him from one of his old infomercials. But in some parts of the health and wellness world, Guerrero is also known as something else: a fraud.

The Argentine native first came onto the scene back in 1996 when, after earning a degree in traditional Chinese medicine from Samra University in Los Angeles — a school that no longer exists — he opened his own health treatment practice. He began working with professional athletes around that time, too. By 2005, in fact, Guerrero had built a solid reputation within the alternative medicine community. Then the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sanctioned him.

Guerrero had appeared in a number of infomercials falsely claiming to be a doctor and pushing a dietary supplement called "Supreme Greens" that he said was proven to cure cancer and AIDS. But there was no scientific basis for these claims, and the FTC officially banned him from ever telling people he was a doctor again. But it seems that Guerrero wasn't exactly set back by the outlawing.

A few years later, he founded a new company called 6 Degree Nutrition. This promoted — among other things — a supplement called Neurosafe that Guerrero claimed helped athletes heal from head trauma. Naturally, football players — including Wes Welker and Tom Brady —became the primary proponents of Neurosafe. But in 2012 the FTC intervened once again.

In 2012 the government agency intervened with a strongly worded statement. The FTC said Guerrero had “extraordinary” claims that had no basis in science. Guerrero, therefore, had to shut down the company and cease the marketing of Neurosafe. So it was back to the drawing board once again for the wellness guru. But this time around, he'd have some help.

After growing close with Brady, Guerrero helped the then-Patriots quarterback develop his TB12 Method, and the pair went into business together. The two opened the TB12 Sports Therapy Center next to Gillette Stadium in 2013. The association also allowed Guerrero an opening to provide his brand of services to the many in the wider Patriots organization.

In fact, by 2017, Guerrero was working with a lot of the players in the Patriots' locker room. Buoyed by Brady's constant praise, Guerrero had seemingly found his niche in the sports world. He even had his own office by the locker room and could be on the sideline at games. That is until he started rubbing head coach Bill Belichick the wrong way.

In 2015, according to The Boston Globe, the training team behind the Patriots had expressed concern that Guerrero's methods contradicted their own. Then, in December 2017, Belichick decided to strip Guerrero of most of his team privileges. And to make matters worse, a number of prominent professionals — and one high-profile agency — were also becoming suspicious of Guerrero's claims during his time with TB12.

In 2013 the Division of Professional Licensure conducted an investigation into TB12 and Guerrero that last 12 months. This was because Guerrero is not a licensed trainer, massage therapist, or sports therapist. The TB12 center is similarly not a licensed facility — yet people were seemingly going to it for medical help. At the end of the investigation, though, no action was taken. But that didn't stop some doctors from speaking out.

"Guerrero functions in a different world than doctors," Dr. Jessica Flynn, a specialist in sports medicine at the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, wrote on her blog in 2017. "He doesn't have to prove his therapies work, or even that they are safe." Others have been more brutal in their criticism of Guerrero. Sports writer Tom Ley even went as far as to call him a "dangerous quack guru." Tom Brady was disappointed by the criticism.

Brady has continued to defend Guerrero and his "alternative" practices — or simply shut down those who have asked him questions about it. But after winning an unprecedented seventh Super Bowl title at the football-world-ancient age of 43, it's not hard to see why. Still, even beyond the incredible water consumption and workout habits, the TB12 Method pushes some pretty strange dietary claims.

The goal of Brady's diet is that it stays at 80 percent alkaline and 20 percent acidic. That means he's eating things such as nuts and vegetables instead of acidic, inflammatory foods, such as fruit. The purpose of this, he says, is to maintain high pH levels and therefore improve athletic performance. Sounds pretty scientific, right? Well, the truth isn't so straightforward.

The fact is that focusing on any one part of a diet is not going to work for everyone — or for every purpose. “I hate to focus just on one aspect of a constituent of the diet, and say, ‘Okay, therefore this food is all good and this food is all bad,’” Eric Rimm of the Harvard School of Public Health, told Boston.com in 2017. “We have seen people who have higher consumption of tomatoes and lycopene have much lower risk of prostate cancer, so obviously that’s not something that a 40-year-old professional athlete is thinking about. He’s thinking about other aspects.”

As for the anti-inflammatory aspect of the diet, that's another thing that falls under the not-really-scientifically-proven. “It’s really my experience, so I don’t think anyone can tell me what my experiences have been,” Brady told WEEI in 2017. “This is stuff, like I said, that I have been doing for a long time.” So what is he actually eating?

Brady actually gives us an insight into his routine in The TB12 Method. So, after chugging down his 20 ounces of electrolyte-spiked water in the morning, Brady typically enjoys a smoothie for breakfast. “Typically, it contains blueberries, bananas, seeds, and nuts,” the Patriots QB wrote. “It’s nutrient-dense, high in fat, high in protein, and high in calories.” Perfect for an athlete.

This guy's a pro footballer, so it's no surprise that he'll normally do an intense workout after breakfast. And, of course, he'll drink plenty more water while doing it. Then he'll take on a shake made of protein powder and almond milk. It's very important for Brady that the protein shake is eaten within 20 minutes of his workout, too.

“I never go long without snacking,” Brady wrote. So it's likely that he'll be chowing down on some snacks before he makes it all the way to lunch. Does he eat his own TB12-branded bars? Maybe. They are, after all, made up of many of the same ingredients he puts in his breakfast smoothies. But what's on the menu for lunch?

Lunchtime is around 12:00 p.m., and Brady said it is “often a piece of fish, but always with lots of vegetables.” One of the rules of his diet is that he can't eat proteins — such as his lunchtime fillet of fish — with carbs such as potatoes or rice. Another rule says that it's “ideal” for digestion if he eats his protein with vegetables. Carbs and veggies are seemingly okay, too.

He doesn't have a go-to snack food for the hours between lunch and dinner. So he could just wolf down a second protein shake or perhaps eat a piece of fruit. But a third rule of the diet is that if he does eat, say, a banana, it has to be eaten alone. “Eat fruits alone,” he wrote. “They digest quickly. Other foods don’t.”

You might also catch the QB snacking on chips and guacamole, raw veggies, and even hummus. He'll drink water, too, but only at certain times. “Drinking water with your meals can interfere with good digestion,” Brady stated in his book. “Drink water half an hour before a meal, and then wait an hour before you have your next glass.”

“Dinner is another nutrient-dense meal that includes a lot of vegetables,” Brady stated. You probably won't find booze next to his plate, either. One recipe in the book is for a chicken burger and another is for a salmon burger — without any fries, of course. There is a pasta recipe, but he doesn't "eat this often." But what about dessert?

Well, on a normal day, there will be no dessert. Unless maybe you include another protein shake. “I enjoy how I eat, and what I eat, and never feel like I’m missing out,” he wrote. Mind you, the book does feature a recipe for avocado ice cream — which is reportedly one of the star's favorite dishes. Experts are understandably divided on the diet.

“I think anyone can do it, I agree with him,” Dr. Jessica Flynn told Boston.com. “It just depends on what their goals are. That will also determine how much of it you do. Maybe someone just looks at the resistance bands exercises and thinks that it’s a great manual, and starts doing those exercises. They’re great. They’re not going to harm anyone, as long as you work into them slowly, it could be used for absolutely anyone.”

“I think he has a very unique lifestyle. Some of which is working out a lot. And burning a lot of calories because of his day job. I think that puts him in a slightly different class of individuals in terms of their nutrition and in terms of their nutritional needs,” said Dr. Eric Rimm.

“So while the book might be written for a high school athlete or a farmer or a doctor, very few people will burn as much energy and will be as active during the day, like during the entire day of every day of the week,” Rimm continued. “Just because it worked for Tom Brady, it’s not necessarily going to work for a 16-year-old kid,” Flynn agreed.

“One of the things that I would say would be concerning is if you have younger athletes doing this program, there are a lot of variables you don’t know with this type of stuff,” Mike Fantigrass from the National Academy of Sports Medicine said. “And the research can only answer a hypothesis, which is one question. It takes a long time to do research and understand what’s going on.”

As for the 80:20 diet that Brady uses, the doctors' verdicts are not in yet. “That’s one that a lot of people have written about, where there’s great interest in trying to understand the interactions between foods and just sort of our natural metabolism,” Rimm told Boston.com. “It’s very tricky because he’s focused on one area: feeling healthy at 40 years old.” But there are some foods that the experts agree you should be avoiding at breakfast time.

Unfortunately, not all oats are created equally. So the next time you reach for instant oatmeal, be sure to check the label. For instance, a portion of Quaker Foods' original instant oatmeal contains just 100 calories and no sugar. Great! But a pack of the maple and brown sugar flavor piles on 160 calories and more than 10 grams of sugar. Not so great.

Granola is normally made up of oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. Delicious, right? Well, yes – but dietician Maggie Moon told Women’s Health in April 2019, “The most common pitfall with granola is adding in too many filler ingredients that add sugar and calories without any positive nutrients.” The best thing to do, then, is to read the ingredients list on the box and opt for brands that don’t add sugars.

Fat is something we are usually programmed to avoid. However, it's actually great for helping to keep you full up. Why? Well, because it takes longer for your body to process than carbohydrates. Non-fat yogurt is also often loaded with sweetener or sugar to make up for its lack of fat. In fact, flavored non-fat yogurts can sometimes have more sugar than ice cream of a comparable serving size.

The problem with pancakes is that they are usually made with refined grains of wheat flour. And refined grains have been identified by researchers as contributing factors to health problems such as obesity and insulin resistance. Topping them with sugary syrups provides a second big reason why pancakes are not the ideal way to start your day — even if they are delicious.

Over recent years, the emergence of cereal bars on store shelves has provided a seemingly new and popular healthy breakfast option. The problem is that many cereal bars are actually packed full of sugar. They also only contain a little protein, so eating a cereal bar is not much different from eating a candy bar — from a nutritional perspective.

Another well-loved breakfast or morning-food option is the iconic blueberry muffin. This American institution is, sadly, another poor choice for a nutritious morning snack. After all, there are very few actual blueberries in a blueberry muffin most of the time. You normally get sugary "imitation blueberry pieces" instead.

What options should you go for when looking for a healthy breakfast drink? Well, you can probably strike concentrated orange juice off the list. Concentrated orange juice, having been heavily processed, loses a lot of the nutrients found in fresh orange juice. The high quantity of fructose also spells disaster in terms of contributing to spikes in blood sugar levels.

Smoothies — while delicious — are high in free sugars that are released from fruit that has been blended. So, the reality is that most smoothies contain a lot of sugar and not a lot of protein. It turns out that drinking them on their own really is a poor breakfast-time option.

“If you go for particularly sugary cereals it can raise levels of glucose in the bloodstream, which may result in a short burst of energy but this will only last for a short period of time, leaving you feeling more sluggish later on,” Pippa Campbell, a coach focusing on nutrition and weight loss told Cosmopolitan in February 2018.

Fried eggs, fried sausages, fried bacon, and fried bread are all great — but not all in the same meal. The fact that everything is cooked in copious amounts of oil is clearly not a good sign, and it can have serious repercussions for your heart if eaten too regularly. The best advice is to only go for this option on rare occasions if you want to guarantee better health.

Full-fat yogurt is packed with the good stuff: protein, calcium, B vitamins, and loads of minerals. It also contains probiotics that can aid digestion and top up your immune system. But be wary of yogurts with fruit mixers inside. These unhelpful additions will often super-size the amount of sugar and calories in an otherwise healthy snack. If you want to sweeten the snack, simply add fruit yourself.

Deli meats are likely to contain plenty of saturated fats and sodium. Why does this matter? “Too much sodium stiffens our blood vessels and stresses our heart and kidneys,” dietician Sam Teece told EatingWell in July 2020. And a surplus of saturated fats could result in more chances of getting heart problems.

WW, Jenny Craig, Medifast, and Nutrisystem offer their followers ready-made or frozen meals to enjoy at home. Yet the concern for some is the amount of sodium contained in each meal. For example, Good Housekeeping reported that some frozen dinners can pack in more than 600mg of sodium per portion. That's a decent chunk of someone's recommended daily 2,300mg allowance.

Research has indicated that drinks spiked with artificial sweeteners could also lead to peaks in blood sugar levels. Diet sodas may contribute to weight gain as well. So while these studies are far from conclusive, it’s still better to ditch the soda altogether — in favor of good old H2O.

Some kinds of margarine contain more trans fats than butter. This is bad news because trans fats aren't good for your heart — and they can raise your cholesterol levels. On top of that, Harvard Health reckons that there are no studies proving that eating margarine will prevent heart disease, as some once believed.

These often caffeine-laden drinks can adversely affect the cardiovascular health and blood pressures of regular consumers — especially younger buyers. The beverages could cause sleep and digestive issues as well. And, on top of this, just one can of the stuff may contain more than 60 grams of added sugar.

Bread is a popular option in the morning because it's cheap, tasty, and seems to fill you up pretty well. However, white bread is a poor choice over the brown or wholemeal varieties. “A fiber-rich diet helps to maintain bowel integrity and can also aid in reducing bad cholesterol,” nutrition coach Campbell told Cosmopolitan.

Avocados are pretty fatty foods — and while they mostly contain "good" fats, they can still be very calorific. "A serving of avocado is one-third of a medium avocado," nutritionist Kylie Arrindell told Houston Methodist. "So to get those healthy fats without overdoing it, I recommend limiting the amount of avocado you put on your toast to two servings or less."

Who doesn’t love bananas? Not only are they sweet and delicious, but they also provide a whole host of health-boosting benefits. This includes plenty of minerals, fiber, vitamins, and carbohydrates. But most banana bread will contain flour, sugar, and butter or oil — making them a not-so-healthy snack. And if your chosen variety doesn’t contain whole wheat flour or nuts, then its nutritional value is likely to be minimal.

Turkey bacon is lower in saturated fats and calories when compared to pork. But that doesn’t mean it's healthy. As the Cleveland Clinic has pointed out, turkey bacon remains a food that’s packed with both sodium and saturated fats. It also doesn’t contain as much protein, vitamin B, or selenium as the pork variety. So whichever option you choose, you should try to consume it sparingly.

These moreish snacks should only be eaten in small amounts. That’s because trail mix ingredients are low-volume yet high-calorie foods. Scoff more than a handful, then, and your daily calorie-based goals will likely be ruined. Plus, those varieties that include chocolate, yogurt coatings, or any kind of added sugars will transform a healthy snack into, essentially, candy.

This snack sounds like a home run. But that yogurt covering? Not so healthy. Yale University’s David Katz told Time, “While these coatings may be called ‘yogurt,’ they are really a kind of ‘frosting’ of which yogurt is an ingredient.” In reality, then, what you’re eating is a few raisins doused in oil and sugar.

People have turned to sugar substitutes such as agave nectar in the belief that this “superfood” — as some have termed it — is better for our bodies. However, studies haven’t conclusively demonstrated that agave nectar is any healthier than straight-up sugar. In fact, it’s still what’s termed a free sugar, and there are actually more calories per teaspoon in agave when compared to sugar.

It can seem tempting to seek out milk without all the fat content, but in reality, milk without the fat can also be missing essential vitamins. The key? Check the label, of course! At the very least, you'll want to purchase and consume milk that has been fortified.

Many people will go for a wrap instead of a sandwich because it seems like less bread. But that's only part of the story; it all depends on what's wrapped inside the bread. If you're packing salty meats and extra servings of condiments into a wrap, they're really not healthier at all.

Why just eat one piece of fruit when you can eat all of your favorites in one bowl? In theory, that could be a good thing. But, in reality, store-bought fruit salad is often packaged in a sweetened syrup that is chock-full of sugar. This completely eliminates the health perks of real fruit. Try making it yourself instead.

All on their own, beans are pretty nutritious. After all, they're packed with natural protein! However, protein means nothing in the face of all the added sugar and sodium that comes with some canned baked beans. The good news is that this tasty treat is easy to make healthy at home.

When saturated fat was declared bad in the worldwide press, manufacturers raced to rid their products of any trace of it. However, without that fat, food often ended up lacking flavor. How did companies fix this conundrum? In many cases, by adding sugar and artificial sweeteners — which can be even worse than fat. Remember: fat in moderation is necessary for a balanced diet.

Just because a product is organic or gluten-free doesn't mean it's actually healthy. Yes, organic and gluten-free foods can still contain high levels of oil, sugar, and refined grains. Read the labels, folks! Or, if you want a healthier snack, try a couple of carrot sticks.

This popular snack among dieters isn't as innocent as it seems. These carb-rich crackers lack fiber and protein, so you may be tempted to eat a lot of them without getting much nutritional benefit. Rather than eating rice crackers, then, you'd perhaps be better off finding a more nutrient-rich and filling snack.

These savory snacks are often advertised as a healthy way to satisfy hunger — mostly because they only contain 1 gram of fat. However, that's not the whole story. After all, pretzels are refined carbohydrates — which basically means more sugar.

Many brands claim that their products can act as meal replacements — which can be very misleading to consumers. Protein bars, for example, will hardly keep people full for very long. And there are also many artificial additives and hidden sugars added to many types of bars.

Smearing crackers with peanut butter is a common snack — but those who use low-fat peanut butter aren't eating healthier than their full-fat-favoring brothers and sisters. Why? Because, you guessed it, sugar is often added to make up for the lack of fat, and that's a huge no-no.

Those who don't eat meat but still want to enjoy burgers and hot dogs will often settle for "meat" substitutes. These could be made out of veggies or pea protein or soy protein... but other pesky ingredients like canola oil and xanthan gum tend to creep in. As always, then, check the label before deciding what food to put in your mouth.

This dried-out meaty snack likes to parade around as a healthy source of protein. Yet while beef jerky may offer protein to a consumer, the preservation process it goes through includes a lot of salt. This can lead to bloating and water retention — as well as other health effects.

Many of the vitamins found in salads actually need a bit of fat so that the body can fully absorb them. So fat-free dressings can strip us of the opportunity to break down many of the nutrients in the vegetables — and therefore make our "healthy" salad options a little less guilt-free.

People trying to avoid olive oil usually turn to this popular alternative — but the truth is it's really not any better. The oil is still full of saturated fat. So if you're using coconut oil for anything other than adding coconut flavor to your meals, many nutritionists recommend sticking to olive or avocado oil.

At first glance, acai bowls look like they're teeming with healthy stuff. But while the foundation might be nutritious, acai bowls are often loaded up with high-calorie and high-sugar foods such as granola and fruit. So you'll need to carefully consider the contents before chowing down.

You knew Mickey D’s would make an appearance eventually. Former employee Pandas_panic recalled that they would “make a few trays [of bacon] at breakfast. Maybe one or two more at lunch, and that’s it for the day.” Translation: any bacon you get after the early hours has been sitting there for hours. Oh, and it's probably not the most nutritious way to start your day, either.