Tom Brady on strawberries: ‘I don’t like the smell, the texture or anything’

Tom Brady during an appearance on CBS' 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.'

Tom Brady has been promoting his book, The TB12 Method, for several months now. Last week, he did a big promotional blast, about one month after the Super Bowl loss. He did appearances on morning shows and late-night shows, and gave tons of interviews. When he was on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert got him to eat his first-ever strawberry and chug a mug of beer too. But it’s not going to become a regular thing by any stretch of the imagination. Brady sat down for a lengthy People Magazine interview about retirement (he’s not retiring), Gisele (she dresses him) and his diet. Some highlights:

Being dressed by Gisele: “I always love her opinion on things, and if she doesn’t like it, what good is it? I try to wear what I can and hopefully she likes it and if she doesn’t she usually tells me. She’ll look at things and definitely has an opinion, which I love. I think she has always been right on whenever she’s chosen things [for me] that she likes.”

When he retires, he’ll still be on his diet: “It’s possible [I’ll change it but] I think I feel really good. It’s hard for me to think that I’m going to be really unhealthy.” Brady—who avoids white sugar, white flour, MSG, caffeine, fungus, dairy and nightshades—says that maintaining his diet allows him to enjoy an active lifestyle, on and off the field. “I like to be out playing with my kids, traveling, golfing, skiing and playing football and doing a lot of fun things. I think leading a healthy lifestyle really is very helpful in living that type of life.”

He just doesn’t like strawberries: “I just don’t like them. At the end of the day, I just don’t like the taste. I don’t like the smell, the texture or anything. It doesn’t really have to do with my diet, it’s just more of my preference, but somehow it got wrapped into my diet.”

He considers himself mostly vegan: He sticks to a “mostly vegan” diet filled with organic foods about 80 to 90 percent of the time, he says, with only the occasional indulgence. “I have times where we go out and there’s something delicious on the menu like a steak or a cheeseburger and it’s really good. I definitely will indulge in that. It’s not super often. I ask my body to perform at a really high level and I realize that the foods that I put into it are what I’m going to get out of it. And if I want to perform well, I gotta eat really well. That’s really the key to me. When I’m eating something that I know is really unhealthy, the only thing I’ll do is eat less. I won’t just eat the normal amount, I’ll eat maybe half of it. I’ll still eat it because obviously I like some foods that are very unhealthy too, but I just won’t eat as much as I probably used to 15 years ago when I would eat, you know, the entire meal.”

[From People Magazine]

Is anyone else depressed at the thought of staying on a really strict diet for their entire lives? I’m not talking about choosing to be vegan and living that way all your life, and obviously I’m not talking about people with true food allergies. I’m just talking about people who make the choice to just eat quinoa and lettuce forever and ever. It’s one thing to have those kinds of diet limitations for your job, but to do it day in and day out for the rest of your life? Ugh. As for his flat-out hatred of strawberries… I mean, there’s some food like that for me. I can just look at something or smell something and I know I will not even put it in my mouth (that’s what she said). But STRAWBERRIES?? Strawberries are innocent! Strawberries are delicious!

Tom Brady during an appearance on CBS' 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.'

Photos courtesy of CBS and WENN.

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63 Responses to “Tom Brady on strawberries: ‘I don’t like the smell, the texture or anything’”

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  1. BJ says:

    I feel that way about bananas,they make me nauseated.

    • Lela says:

      Me too! I can’t even have them on the counter in my kitchen, they need to be hidden away in a cupboard that I will never open

      • whatWHAT? says:

        lol…my sis in law used to be that way…couldn’t even have the in the house.

        now, post-pregnancy, she loves them.

    • Lightpurple says:

      I have never eaten a whole banana. I just can’t. I force myself to eat them because they contain things the body needs but I cannot get through a whole banana.

      • jwoolman says:

        If you really think you need bananas (no, you don’t….), try slicing one and laying the slices flat in a zip lock bag in the freezer. They will keep for at least a couple of weeks. You can just take a couple of slices out at a time to eat or put on cereal etc. I can’t enjoy more than half a banana at a time myself, I get tired of it midway. The slice and freeze approach works really well for me. Also try drowning them in something that you do like. For me that’s peanut butter or any nut/seed butter. I’ll also add dried fruit and/or cinnamon. (Cinnamon is a great addition to a smoothie with banana also.)

        I also found that I prefer chilled bananas. So I put them in the refrigerator. I also don’t like them really ripe, so refrigerating at the moment when they are mostly non-green but not anywhere near spotted works for me.

    • Erinn says:

      The only time I’ve enjoyed banana is in a fruit salad (in small amounts and saturated with the overall flavor of the other fruit) or when I was sick as a kid, my parents would slice them thin and put them on plain toast. I can’t just eat a banana. I don’t like the texture of it.

    • Snazzy says:

      I feel that way about tomatoes. We probably all have something that grosses us out

      • Beth says:

        I love ketchup and tomato sauce, but I can’t eat a tomato. An actual tomato grosses me out.

      • whatWHAT? says:

        Beth, it’s the opposite for me.

        LOVE tomatoes (in NJ in the summer, they are like CANDY) but hate ketchup and not a fan of tomato sauce at all. we’re bizarro twins!

    • QueenB says:

      I love bananas but I cant stand when other people eat them. Im not talking about visual effect but the sound. Ugh.

    • Scal says:

      There was a interview on NPR where he talked about his aunt bringing up trays of strawberries and leaving them in his parents fridge for weeks. So every time he opened the fridge the smell of strawberries would waft out and the longer the trays would stay the worse it would smell. I can see how someone would grow up not liking strawberries with that.

      Personally I hate all tropical fruit (mangos pineapple bananas)

      • jwoolman says:

        Oh, gosh. Strawberries spoil in an odd way so they can look fine but taste awful. They don’t last refrigerated for weeks! They should have frozen all that they couldn’t eat in a couple of days. They freeze very nicely and are great in blended drinks.

        Poor guy. That was tantamount to child abuse. Not to mention attempted poisoning.

    • KiddV says:

      I don’t like bananas either, the texture is gross. I also don’t like berries with seeds.

      With strawberries, I’ve eaten too many that look gorgeous; nice, red, juicy, then take a bite out of it and it’s sour or tasteless. I’ve given up on them. And I live near strawberry farms, I can get freshly picked, but still, I’m usually disappointed. I can go the rest of my life not eating a strawberry.

      • elle says:

        True. In my experience, the more beautiful they are, the blander they taste. And I can’t do bananas.

    • SlightlyAnonny says:

      I was coming down to say that I know people that feel that strongly about bananas (which I kinda get. They have a small acceptable texture window for me) but strawberries? Strawberries are little red miracles!

    • noway says:

      I think bananas have a two day life span where they taste good. Otherwise they are too mushy or too green. I admire people who are so engrained in their healthy lifestyle, but like Kaiser I just don’t get it and it makes me want a chocolate milkshake.

    • jwoolman says:

      I find bananas more palatable well chilled in the refrigerator or as frozen slices, well covered in peanut butter and cinnamon…. but I can live without them. My least favorite fruit.

      I can really relate to his attitude toward strawberries, although they don’t affect me that way. I love them.

      I can’t stand the taste of caraway seeds and will pick them out of rye bread if somehow they escaped my scrutiny prior to purchase. Love rye, hate caraway with a passion. It’s the only seed I have a problem with.

      Not overly fond of rosemary. Really hate the smell of lavender.

      I am allergic to dairy and even the smell of dairy milk nauseates me. When forced to drink it as a kid (“we don’t have allergies in this family”), I tried to be compliant but would get to a point where I knew I would just vomit if I took another sip and refused to go further. I could get chocolate milk down more easily, but it still tasted bad and felt bad going down and in my stomach. It was really traumatic, I still hate eating with other people because of that remembered stress, and the immediate and delayed responses to the dairy milk (including hidden in other foods) added a real layer of misery to my childhood. All completely avoidable. And now I can’t even drink nondairy milks if they are too white, even though they don’t do anything to me – it’s all guilt by association. Fortunately most have a different coloring, especially if flavored with something like vanilla. Love coconut, but the typical white color of the milk is off-putting. Quick, put it in the blender with fruit! Actually now I can make coconut milk on the fly by just adding finely shredded dry coconut to the mix. Whew.

  2. monette says:

    This man depresses the s*it out of me! He talks like a 16 old instagram model.
    I just don’t eat the whole meal, bla bla bla…
    And strawberries are delicious. End of story!

    • naomipaige says:

      I agree. I personally find him quite pathetic.

    • jwoolman says:

      I don’t eat the whole thing a lot myself. That’s not gross, it’s just accepting that my dietary needs are different than when I was younger. He’s not a kid anymore. He knows what makes him feel good and what doesn’t. I used to eat at least half a pizza at once, sometimes a whole one. Today, I can’t manage more than a slice. More than that causes problems that are not worth it. I still enjoy it, I just don’t eat more at one time than is comfortable.

      I just wrap the rest up in my sort of portions and stick it in the freezer for another time. If at a restaurant when doggy bag carryouts isn’t feasible, it’s not wrong to just leave half of it. Portions at US restaurants are enormous. Check out the nutritional info for places like McDonalds or pizza places sometime. For many of us, one meal at such places provides more calories than we need in a day…. He’s very active, but still that pushes out a lot of good stuff he could be eating that 1) makes him feel better during and after and 2) suits his real nutritional needs.

      His diet doesn’t sound strict to me. He’s just paying attention to how food makes him feel and how his body performs after eating it. He can afford the best from the produce department without taking out a bank loan like the rest of us — why not indulge? The underlying assumption in such criticisms about the way he eats is that somehow fruit and veg and whatever else he eats (if mostly vegan, I’m guessing beans, seeds, nuts, grains if he can tolerate them) are not tasty. But they are indeed tasty, especially since he can afford organically grown (they are usually tastier than those grown with routine pesticides, the tomatoes of my childhood seem like a whole different food compared to today’s tasteless wonders bred for easy machine harvesting and transport, for instance).

      And if you stop eating a lot of sugar and salt, you actually soon lose a taste for both, at least in the huge quantities we are used to eating in the US. So a little sweetness and saltiness go a much longer way when you drastically reduce it in your normal diet. Humans need salt, but nowhere near the amount most Americans get today in their food.

      Also I found that my taste buds really woke up once I cut out meat entirely. If he doesn’t usually eat a lot of meat, then he may be enjoying his food at a level that many carnivores don’t experience.

  3. Astrid says:

    Cauliflower is the root of all evil! not strawberries

    • LadyMTL says:

      I feel that way about broccoli, lol. I actually call it “satan’s vegetable”.
      Strawberries are so yummy when they’re in season, otherwise I can take them or leave them. (Here in Quebec that’s usually in June-July).

      • Tania says:

        Have you tried roasted broccoli? I wasn’t a fan of broccoli for a long time but recognized I need to tweak some food habits. I saw roasted broccoli and decided to try it. Just toss in olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast. I can eat that as an entire meal now. I kind of went a bit crazy and bought like half a dozen heads of broccoli and roasted them and eat them as a weekly snack. Delicious!

        Same with roasted brussel sprouts. I used to be able to only eat them when they’re drenched with cheese. Now it’s roasted and toss in bacon!

      • whatWHAT? says:

        yeah, roasted Brussel sprouts are the only way I can eat them. they have a nutty flavor when you do it that way. but any other way and they’re just too bitter.

    • Tiffany says:

      Brussels Sprouts for me. I don’t care how hip you try to make them, they are the Devil.

    • jwoolman says:

      I love cauliflower! Especially raw. Broccoli, on the other hand, is best enjoyed in smaller doses. Except roasted broccoli. That is worth pigging out on. Yum yum yum yum yum. Although Amy’s Kitchen has mastered the art of proper broccoli floret cooking – the ones they use in their frozen entrees are so good.

      Turns out that I like the peeled stems of broccoli much more than the florets, especially when raw. They are now being sold sometimes as slices of the peeled stem, which are lovely. Mann’s packages them as broccoli clovers. I also love broccoli slaw, which is made from the peeled stems also.

      I don’t recall liking Brussels sprouts as a child, but my mother always overcooked everything. I discovered as an adult that I love to eat them leaf by leaf as finger food. I need to try them roasted and raw, now that the local grocery store seems to have them by the piece.

  4. Clare says:

    Agree on the strawberries- gross. But the idea of ‘treating’ myself to a cheeseburger and then only eating half? No. Non. Nope. I get eating healthy and we should all try to put good stuff in our bodies – but what kind of life is it if you can’t allow yourself to eat a whole cheeseburger or a whole plate of pasta, if that’s what you really want that day?

    Also what happens to the half you don’t eat? I can’t with food waste. Ugh

    • Erinn says:

      I wonder if he’d feel sick after eating a full burger, though? Or maybe he’ll eat the whole (single patty) burger and ditch the side? I can’t imagine his stomach tolerating something like a cheeseburger easily when he eats such a restricted diet.

      • Lacia Can says:

        As I was reading that, I thought the same thing about the steak. If you’re eating vegan most of the time, wouldn’t throwing in a big steak make you feel terrible? Maybe if it were on a schedule, say Tuesday evenings or something, that could work. But just randomly adding it seems weird for a high performance athlete. I guess it’s fine because he performs well.

    • Stella in NH says:

      My daughter is the type that she will eat until she is full. She will stop halfway through an ice cream sundae and she’s finished.

      Some portions are so big that yeah, maybe half a cheeseburger is all that one may need to feel satisfied. If Tom is used to eating in careful portions, that may be all that he needs to feel satisfied.

      • Clare says:

        To me it didn’t sound like it was a ‘eat half because I’m satisfied/full/feel sick after more’ but more like ‘eat half because any more would be way too far out of my restricted diet allowance’. I mean, I agree some portion sizes, especially in the US are out of control – but just a life of I’ll eat half a hamburger as a treat, sounds sad to me.

    • VerucaSalt says:

      Yeah, strawberries alone are pretty gross but mash it with sugar and whipped cream, one of my favorite snacks during my cheat days. <3

    • jwoolman says:

      But somebody else (the restaurant) has decided what a whole burger is supposed to be. I remember when we were in Europe for a couple of months when I was ten, my brother and I were astonished at how small the burgers were there compared to what we had in the US even that long ago. People have often remarked on the small portions in Italian restaurants in Italy, compared with such restaurants in the US. Definitions of a proper serving size vary at different times and in different places.

      So it’s not his fault that the restaurant has defined a burger as twice what he really wanted to eat. If they would just serve half portions, things would work out better for many people. Sometimes it may not feasible to share a dish or take some home in a doggy bag. That doesn’t mean you should make yourself sick finishing it all.

      As far as wasting food is concerned – eating more than you need to eat just makes you into a human garbage disposal. If you don’t have a way to store it or give it away safely, just don’t eat it. The universe will forgive you. And the odds are that some critter will benefit from it regardless, one way or another. If the restaurant composts, that’s useful. But a whole ecosystem survives on our discards regardless.

  5. manda says:

    regardless of the strawberry thing, the diet has more to it than not eating strawberries, and it is SUPER overly restrictive. Whatever not really my problem but does not seem like a fun life at all. maybe they just have lots of sex or something

  6. strawberry says:

    and I thought his Trump comments were bad….

  7. OriginalLala says:

    Can we stop diluting the word vegan pls? if you eat a burger or animal protein, you’re not vegan, you’re not “mostly” vegan, you’re just an omni who doesn’t eat alot of meat. Just say you’re mostly plant-based. I’m also sure I have seen photos of him wearing fur and leather. Vegan isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle.

    • Lyka says:

      My friend who is vegan and worked for PETA for years always says that this kind of “dilution” of terminology is actually a good thing for animals. You’re right to note that veganism is a lifestyle choice because it impacts many more areas of your day-to-day than just food – clothing, skincare, makeup, etc. But if the true philosophical/moral goal is reduce animal suffering, then those people partaking in occasional or intermittent veganism are still minimizing their carbon footprint and lessening suffering through some of their actions – and that example is generally more accessible to the ordinary person than an absolute lifestyle shift.

      Of course you’re entitled to be protective of the term “vegan” because it’s a moral guidepost for you. But as we move toward enticing more and more people to cut down on meat and dairy consumption (etc), I personally feel it can ultimately be much more helpful to frame that reduction of suffering in more relatable, repeatable terms for the average American.

      • OriginalLala says:

        I’m not vegan because I eat eggs occasionally (from chickens that live with my friend down the road) even though I eat no meat, dairy, honey etc nor do I wear leather, fur, and only buy cruelty free products. I agree that any reduction of animal suffering is great, but I also think words have meaning, and vegan has a specific meaning so I try to respect that. I think everyone should work to minimize harm to animals but you can’t really eat meat and then claim to be mostly vegan, that’s just plain wrong.

    • jwoolman says:

      I myself separate the idea of vegan eating from vegan lifestyle (which is defined differently by many people). I just say I eat mostly vegan because people understand that the most easily. I am vegetarian but allergic to eggs and dairy, but can tolerate small amounts of cheese (can live without it, though). I need to look carefully at labels all the time, and it helps if something is labeled vegan or if the store only sells vegan items. So yes, vegan is about food also.

      So it’s perfectly appropriate to say you eat mostly vegan, people know what that means. You just want it to apply only to your own entire lifestyle, but that doesn’t work to even describe every person who doesn’t eat any animal products at all. The language is defined by its users, and vegan definitely also applies to a style of eating as well.

      Eating mostly vegan just means most meals are vegan – no animal products at all. No mammals, no fish, no fowl, no insects etc. and no products made from their discharges or corpses (lookin’ at you, carmine dye and honey…). What else they eat occasionally varies from carnivore to vegetarian. People don’t need strict labels, we’re not cans of soup.

  8. Red says:

    He is just so unattractive to me. He seems so vanilla, just no personality whatsoever.

    • RedOnTheHead says:

      Same. I find his smile to be creepy. Do not get the appeal.

    • Lenn says:

      I came to postthe same thing. He might be considered handsome, but I find him completely unattractive.

      • Lacia Can says:

        The parts all seem to be there, but they just don’t add up to an attractive man. He comes across as being a bit dim, so maybe that’s it. I’m not saying he is dim, just that he comes across that way. Automatically less attractive.

    • minx says:

      He doesn’t seem like a bright or curious person. He has his one area of expertise and that’s it, he doesn’t seem interested in anything else.

  9. someone says:

    I get the strawberry texture dislike. The little black seeds in strawberries ruin it for me. I do like strawberry flavor though – like strawberry soda or strawberry Kool-aid. Which when you think about it taste nothing like real strawberries…..

    • jwoolman says:

      I was having trouble digesting seeds at one point, so strawberries were off-limits. But then I treated myself to a refurbished small Vitamix which can pulverize even blackberry seeds (which I never could enjoy eating). So I tossed in some frozen strawberries (my first in two years) with some other fruit and cold water and – heavenly! Likewise for blackberries and red raspberries – the vitamix made everything completely smooth. So if you like the flavor but not the seeds, a really good blender like the vitamix or Blendtec or one of the Ninjas (can’t remember which one, but has good reviews as comparable to the first two) would let you get the flavor and all the nutrition from the seeds without having to deal with the seeds…

  10. Lily says:

    it’s much better to eat like this than to be on a “diet” that most Americans are – deadly mix of sugar, grease, sodium – burger, fries and soda.

  11. Misti says:

    No big deal. I HATE strawberries too.

  12. Sassyfrass says:

    Can’t stand strawberries either and I’m vegan.

  13. perplexed says:

    He’s probably gotten used to his diet. Eating any other way would probably be strange for him.

    It’s like when you cut out sugar and then you suddenly take a dose of it through soda — it makes you feel sick.

  14. Fan of Nobody says:

    Strawberries = most overrated fruit.
    Only because they look pretty and kinda mean Spring has come. I mean there’s a reason they’re often accompanied with whipped cream, sugar, chocolate or in a cake.
    Pears, juicy and sweet, are terribly underated IMO.

    • jwoolman says:

      One problem with strawberries is that unless organically grown, they are pretty heavy in pesticide residues that can’t be washed off. But most grocery stores don’t sell the organically grown ones (which tend to be even pricier). So the taste of the grocery store strawberries may very well be nothing compared with the organically grown one. That’s certainly true of tomatoes and carrots.

    • jwoolman says:

      You’re right, a juicy pear is a delight.

      I just had some wonderfully juicy and sweet slices of honeydew melon, which is always a gamble in my local store. So often they are hard and dry. People – melons don’t really get sweeter off the vine…. And they were from Mexico, so I’m supporting the people who won’t be paying for Trump’s wall! 🙂

  15. JA says:

    I can just imagine that him and Giselle constantly talk about their diets and how above it all they are! I can also imagine sex is also rigid and dictated just so. Vanilla personalities who think strict and disciplined lifestyles give them a sense of elitism from the rest of “us” normal ppl.

  16. Vava says:

    I don’t mind strawberries, but really don’t seek them out or anything. The fruit I detest is raw apples. I can’t stand eating them and I don’t like to be around anyone else who is eating them and crunching away…………..LOL

    Truth be told – I prefer vegetables over fruit.

    • jwoolman says:

      Vava – you probably get sweet overload easily. It really doesn’t matter -you get the same vitamins and minerals from either fruit or vegetables, so eat what you want. That’s why parents shouldn’t worry so much if their child doesn’t like vegetables yet – just use fruit for the same benefits. As the taste buds mature, the kids will find veggies tastier (unless they were pushed on them when the veg didn’t taste good). Just tell them that veggies are for big kids or only for adults…. Forbidden and therefore intriguing.

  17. CN says:

    I have come to a point in my life where I don’t think it’s so strange to put dietary limitations on oneself and build that up into a lifestyle. I’ve come to this place by way of struggling with different foods over the years and not being able to find anything optimal for myself until recently.

    I’m raw vegan and it’s definitely not easy, but my body rewards me for it and so I’m definitely incentivized to stick to it. Having said that, I definitely indulge in other foods from time to time.

  18. Veronica says:

    I mean, it’s his body and he can do whatever he wants with it, but god, I wish this restrictive diet = healthier, more active lifestyle nonsense would stop. Shockingly enough, not all of us who aren’t thin sit around munching on potato chips all day.

  19. Mimz says:

    I just came here to say the same
    Never liked them. Taste like nothing.
    Pretty but just useless fruit in my opinion.

  20. Veeve says:

    I am allergic to strawberries
    To me they are the devils food
    A huge ugly rash all over if I get even a little piece in fruit salad

  21. Naddie says:

    Onions. The damn onions. My dad commits the atrocity of eating RAW ONIONS.