The Extreme Food Rules in Tom Brady and Gisele's Old Household

Most households debate whether soda or sugary cereal is allowed in the pantry. One NFL power couple’s kitchen operated on an entirely different level of scrutiny.

Their former private chef eventually opened up about just how far those rules actually went. Keep reading to see what was and was not allowed at their table.

Eighty Percent Of Every Plate Was Vegetables

Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen built their entire diet around a strict formula their private chef followed for years. Chef Allen Campbell has said eighty percent of every plate was vegetables, almost always organic, with the rest split between lean meats like grass fed steak and wild salmon.

Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa and millet filled in the rest of the plate. Nothing processed or refined was allowed anywhere near the kitchen.

An Entire Category Of Food Was Completely Banned

The list of banned ingredients went far beyond the usual junk food suspects. Campbell has said the household avoided white sugar, white flour, MSG, dairy, coffee and any caffeine whatsoever.

Brady also avoided an entire category of vegetables called nightshades, which meant no tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms or eggplant ever touched his plate. Bündchen largely followed the same restrictions, making the household one of the strictest of any celebrity couple’s kitchen.

The Kids Ate A Slightly Softer Version Of The Same Rules

The couple’s children ate a version of the same diet, just with a little more flexibility built in. Campbell has said the kids enjoyed homemade veggie sushi made with brown rice, avocado, carrot and cucumber, along with dehydrated fruit roll ups for snacks.

Unlike Brady, the kids were allowed to eat fruit regularly. Sugar and processed snacks, however, stayed off limits for them just as strictly as for their parents.

Not Everyone Was Convinced It Was A Good Idea

Not every nutrition expert was on board with just how restrictive the diet actually was. One nutrition expert who reviewed the details of Brady’s diet publicly called it sketchy, pointing to the complete elimination of entire food groups as more extreme than necessary.

Cutting out nightshades, dairy and caffeine entirely is not something most nutritionists recommend without a specific medical reason. Whatever the household’s results looked like from the outside, the rules behind it were far from a typical or widely endorsed approach.

So the next time cutting out coffee feels like a big sacrifice, it is worth remembering somebody in the NFL never even tried a strawberry. Extreme as it sounds, it is a reminder that even the most disciplined households do not always agree with what experts consider healthy.