It’s funny. I’m watching the broadcast of the New Orlean Saints v. New England Patriots which Tony Romo is calling – the former QB of the Dallas Cowboys. They went down to their side line reporter and started talking about this ‘no gluten, dairy free’ diet that both Tom Brady of New England and Drew Brees of New Orleans are on in an effort to extend their longevity. It’s not enough that Tom Brady is playing some of his best football at 39 and 40 when most QB’s are well out of the league, or if still in, are on a severe down slope, or that Drew Brees at 39 is also playing very competitively. We can go back and listen to the specifics, but Tony Romo – who’s great by the way in this broadcast booth – he mentions yeah, maybe some of that stuff is ok, or works even – the gluten free or dairy free or whatever – but those guys were great when they came into the league, their great now etc, etc. He said you know, if you believe that’s what makes you better when you’re under snap on Sunday’s, that’s fine, but I think a lot of that stuff…and he kind of trails off or I don’t remember, but he essentially says it’s bullshit. It’s some sort of placebo effect, which is a whole other discussion in and of itself.
It’s amazing the continued laughing and resistance to the ideas promoted primarily by Tom Brady – ideas centered primarily around the idea that diet – and that the decrease and management of inflammation in the body – is the key to longevity in not only sports, but in being more comfortable as a human being later in life. Tom promotes and practices some key ideas – sleep is massively important. Diet – including the elimination of all foods they have determined to be ‘inflammatory producing’ including gluten, possibly most grain foods, and even tomatoes, etc. No coffee or caffeine, very little to no alcohol, tons of vegetables, no refined sugars, etc, etc. He also promotes the idea of pliability training over traditional strength or weight room training which has been the foundation of the NFL and a lot of sports for well over 50-60 years.
And yet he’s laughed at. Or disregarded. This is why I keep a pretty keen eye on the Patriots and Tom Brady. He’s not just implementing these ideas on a grand scale, he’s a major test case. Of course people won’t give his practices credit even if he’s throwing TD’s into his 60’s, but a lot more people will listen. It’ll give people pause: maybe this stuff does make a difference.
I know from my own experience it’s subtle and takes time, but when I add or remove gluten and dairy from my diet, when I get plenty of sleep etc….my body works better. Smoother. Less random aches and pains.
So there you have it. Tom Brady’s diet. Laughed at. That’s fine. As a Seahawk fan I’m hoping he continues to succeed and get better and better. Of course that has a time limit. And of course a more interesting question is why I want him to succeed. I believe in this stuff – I think it’s purely logical. I get it. We want to be able to eat what we want to eat, and there’s a resistance on a grand and deep level to not associate diet with disease or our bodies and minds breaking down. We want to believe it’s just age. “I’m over 40…all down hill from here.” Dementia is just…can’t do ‘nothin’ ’bout it…just an ‘age thing’, etc etc. Just total bullshit. I guess people refrain or resist responsibility. I’m all for it. Maybe it’s a control issue, but I think we have a lot more control and therefore responsibility in how we age as humans, and how we ‘perform’ while we’re here. And perform might just mean being happier doing whatever it is you’re choosing to do, or making better choices to begin with.
The end…