Tom Brady hit back at those who once criticized the NFL’s strict diet, joking that he will occasionally have sweets in retirement.
“I think there’s moderation in everything,” Brady, 48, told CNBC while talking about his partnership with Ferrero in an interview shared Tuesday. “People take my lifestyle and diet strictness way too far.”
“I have kids, we have Halloween parties, we have birthday parties, we’re just like a normal family. So I try to make really healthy choices as often as possible. But I also understand the realities of life when I’m watching a soccer game, when I’m at a game, when I’m traveling, when I’m at the airport.”
Brady, who is seen nibbling on a Nestle Crunch bar and checking out a Butterfingers table in a new FIFA World Cup advert in partnership with the chocolate brand, added that he sometimes snacks on sweets while playing with his children Jack, 18, Benjamin Laing, 16, and Vivian Lake, 13.
“I make Nutella pancakes for the kids,” Brady admitted. “When we went to Milan for the Olympics, we were eating Nutella pizza.”
In his heyday, Brady was widely known for avoiding several popular food groups, including white sugar, white flour, dairy products, iodized salt, and caffeine. He has also notoriously avoided nightshade vegetables and popular fruits such as strawberries.
Although his eating habits have changed since retiring from his playing days, the seven-time Super Bowl champion added that he balances those changes with “a lot” of exercise and plenty of fluids.
In 2024, the former NFL star revealed his intense workout routine in an Instagram post that showed off his toned muscles.
At the time, he told his followers he had just added “swimming” to his menu to provide “great muscle resistance and aerobic cardio all at once.”
The former quarterback said he will swim four laps of 100 meters in freestyle, then four fast laps of 25 meters and one more lap of 25 meters to recover. He then completed two laps of the 200m freestyle.
Brady also lifts weights to increase muscle mass, including 20 “weighted step-ups,” 20 “high-intensity” band push-ups, and 10 box jumps. He repeats this circuit a total of four times.
Brady has maintained an overall toned look since choosing to retire from the NFL in 2022, which he credits with reducing the “stress” in his life.
“Yeah, I’ve lost about 10 pounds, but I’m actually pretty healthy now,” he said on a 2023 episode of the Let’s Go podcast with co-hosts Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray.
“Now that the stress I was feeling while playing is gone, I can focus a little more on my physical health.”
