One of our big stories back in January was our coverage of an interview with Tom Brady and Gisele’s personal chef Allen Campbell. Their chef was explaining their somewhat extreme elimination diet, only this diet is not a temporary, let’s-clean-out-our-systems thing for a month. This is how Tom and Gisele live full-time, every day that they are together, and it’s how they’re raising their kids too. Their daily diet eliminates: white sugar, white flour, MSG, caffeine, dairy, peppers, mushrooms and eggplants. They do eat lean meat (mostly fish) with whole grains, beans and quinoa. That’s it, day in and day out. Well, did you know that Gisele and Tom also have a home in Costa Rica, and that they have another personal chef at the Costa Rican home? It’s true. Her name is Joanne Gerrard Young, and she’s been cooking their vacation meals for the past five years. And she’s given an interview about what their vacation diet is like.
We turned to Joanne Gerrard Young, master raw food chef, holistic nutritionist, and health educator behind The Healing Cuisine, who has spent the last five years cooking for the power couple—and their family and friends—at their home in Costa Rica, to find out what might really end up on the Brady-Bündchen clan’s plates.
“They don’t always do raw, but since it’s so easy to do in Costa Rica, we do a 80/20 raw diet, with big colorful salads and lots of fresh veggies,” says the Canada-born chef. “‘G’ likes to eat vegetarian sometimes, so we’ll do a grain separate from the protein, and she’s totally into juice cleanses, so she’ll do about one per year.”
The couple also primarily eats their biggest meal at lunch and then a smaller dinner. As for sweets? “They didn’t want to do desserts anymore, for healthy eating purposes, but I shared all of my raw vegan desserts with them and they love them and have them all the time,” the chef explains.
With Brady’s busy schedule, he’s only able to make it down to the Central American paradise about once a year, but Bündchen makes it down there regularly and always requests Young as her local plant-based chef. “Eating Joanne’s healing food reminds me of our connection to our beautiful planet,” the model explains on The Healing Cuisine site.
I like salads as much as the next person. I know I talk a lot about how much I love potatoes and carbs, but the truth is, as I get older, I do crave fresh food, salads and “raw” options more and more. If you gave me a month of only salad-eating, I would be fine with it. But eventually I would need some French fries. So it’s not that I hate the fact that Gisele and Tom want all of this veggie-heavy food, it’s that it’s the same thing, day after day, and doesn’t that get boring/tedious? And the phrase “raw vegan dessert” made my stomach turn, then I reached for a Reese’s peanut-butter Easter egg. God, Tom and Gisele’s kids will never know the joy of Easter candy!!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
They sound like a super fun couple.
This is an example of a raw vegan dessert.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/8c/4f/fa/8c4ffaad58b280c13bd54307084171cd.jpg
People who bash vegan food usually have no idea what it looks like.
Yes, I had to follow an essentially vegan diet for medical purposes and it really opened my eyes to how many delicious things you can eat. I added dairy back to my diet, but I now often eat a vegan meal.
Some raw vegan desserts can be really decadent and this is coming from someone who is not a vegan. I try to eat healthy and I have done the vegan thing but in the end I couldn’t keep enough weight on and had to add animal protein back to my diet. Giselle sounds like a nightmare though. I would never force such an extreme diet on my kids. Yes, raw vegan is kind of extreme for a child.
It looks good because it’s masquerading as chocolately creamy deliciousness. Not saying vegan food can’t taste good, and I know some people actually prefer the taste of unprocessed food, but come on. Eating a strictly vegan diet would get boring for many people (without help from a professional chef!)
Yes, I’ve gotten some raw vegan desserts and they’re truly delicious and satisfying.
@QWERTY you beat me.
People should not sleep on raw vegan desserts. There are some that I would happily eat everyday and I am not a vegan or raw foodist.
It’s not masquerading as anything, for god’s sake. Real chocolate is vegan.
I love this recipe for raw carrot “cake” http://www.therawtarian.com/raw-carrot-cake-recipe
I’m currently ( 3 months ) on a raw organic vegan diet due to health reasons and I won’t lie… it is hard but t the raw vegan desserts that I have sometimes are the highlight of my life.
I don’t think it’s that surprising. It sounds delicious for 80 percent of the time. I could never eliminate sugar from my diet completely, but I could eat it once a week. Or cheese. Or caffeine. Ok, forget it, but good for them.
I could do it if i had a personal chef to prepare a bunch of different and delicious meals for me.
But I’m too poor so I’d end up making the same meals over and over until my family ended up fighting over mouldy cheese and stale crackers
Ha! That would be sad.
You don’t need to eat fancy to eat vegan. Fruit, veg, nuts, seeds, beans, grains – how hard is that? I can’t really cook. I’ll just combine a nut or seed (whole or as a butter) with a fruit and call it a meal. A banana sliced and spread with nut/seed/legume butter with added seeds and/or dried fruit and cinnamon is quite filling. Avocado mixed with whatever (just discovered pineapple works nicely) makes a filling topping for crackers or a spread for sandwiches or taco shells or any kind of chip (I’m partial to bean&rice chips). Ground flax seed is a tasty addition if I have it. Hummus can be bought ready made for sandwiches, crackers, or scooped as a side dish although it’s not hard for even me to make. Tofu makes delightful dips when blended with oil, lemon juice, and whatever herbs and spices and other dip ingredients that you like, or it can be mashed and used in eggless egg salad. Garbanzo beans are nice mashed up for a tuna-free tuna salad. My old standby peanut butter sandwich can be improved with real fruit slices (banana, strawberry, apple, pear for instance) instead of my favorite pickles. I have been known to use beans instead of meat in Hamburger Helper (don’t judge). Grains are easy to find ready made as bread or crackers if you don’t want to make your own, but millet doesn’t take any longer to make than white rice and is quite tasty with Fordhook lima beans (the best ones, baby limas can’t compare) and garlic. I get quinoa ready made for convenience, but you don’t absolutely need quinoa. It’s just nice hot or cold. Pasta of all sorts is an easy base, just load it up with cooked and raw veggies and/or beans. Peanuts are really nice tossed into grain/veggie concoctions, either while cooking or after. Raw mushrooms or cucumbers can be sliced as a nice side dish, although I tend to eat them all up while preparing the rest. Big pieces of bell peppers (I like red and orange best) are tasty on the side also or in sandwiches instead of tomato (have to limit tomatoes, alas). Beans in various forms (mashed or whole) can be used in sandwich fillings or as a side dish, straight from the can after a rinse. They can get added to a big bowl of greens and whatever other raw veg is available, too. A baked sweet potato with some oil makes a nice breakfast and I bake several at once for the freezer, mashed in small bowls to pop in the microwave. Baked potatoes make a nice base for veggies or beans. Grapes or banana slices actually make nice sides for savory concoctions. Etc., etc., etc.
Honestly, eating carnivore is far more time consuming both in prep and cleanup because meat is messy. I eat a lot more variety with a lot less work when eating mainly vegan than when my carnivore mother was feeding me in my childhood. She mainly just used ground hamburger meat anyway since it was cheap and versatile. But so are beans.
I totally do that raw vegan dessert, too!
I call it “eating fruit”.
LOL, came here to say this! “That’s an awfully exotic name for the age-old practice of eating fruit after a meal…” Unless she means slurping up vegan brownie batter by the spoonfult?
🙂 Good one!
lol, yup, pretty much!
but with most things, you can slap a fancy name on it and jack up the price and most (dumb) celebs will fight over it.
Beat me to it, lol. Ok, throw some coconut flakes on sliced fruit and call it dessert.
I make a kickass raw vegan chocolate cake.
We eat plant based about 60% of the time at my house. Of course, I can’t live without the occasional hamburger or steak or real pepperoni or sausage on my pizza. We do eat dairy, though. I love my cheese.
Bless their little stomachs but I don’t think I could eat like that and be a happy person.As I am writing there is some baked zitti being served on my table (yes I will be there soon 😀 ) and just the smell of it is making me weep tears of joy.Man,I love food.I would not give it up for the flattest belly in the world.I am naturally very skinny tho so there isnt much to give up but still…
I think it’s possible to follow their diet if a chef (which they appear to have) makes the food for you.
I don’t think it’s hard to actually eat like this — I think it’s the food prep and taking the time to do it that’s hard. But if a chef were doing this for me, sure I’d eat like this to maintain my 100 million dollar fortune. Maybe they’re worth more than that, I’m not sure…
doesn’t sound so bad.
but until Lurch speaks out against his “friend” Drumpf, they can both go kick rocks.
Because disagreeing with you politically means that a person is bad or stupid?
no, that’s not what I said.
Drumpf is a disgrace. not because he’s a republican, but because he’s a bigot, a misogynist, a xenophobe, a bully, a liar, has no knowledge of how government works, is a danger to the safety/security of the US (and freedom of the press) and is not fit to hold the highest office in the country.
Brady has come out in support of his Drumpf’s presidential bid and has not said word one against the racist and misogynistic crap that he spews.
and yes, “some of my best friends are republicans”, but they aren’t supporting Drumpf and have said, in no uncertain terms, what they think of him. disagree with me politically, but don’t be a bigot, and don’t support a bigot.
Hurray for doofus!
People who do not believe in the inherent value of every human being are ignorant and especially harmful in positions of power. AND I think Drumpf is stupid and not a good person.
“Brady has come out in support of his Drumpf’s presidential bid…” Brady DOESN’T support Trump.
“And has not said word one against the racist and misogynistic crap that he spews.” What? He DOESN’T have to say anything about it.
sorry, “what”, but he does. I suggest you google “tom brady donald trump supporter” and see how many hits you get.
here’s but one…
http://www.gq.com/story/tom-brady-donald-trump-support
but I found a whole host of others that said the same thing.
and no, he doesn’t HAVE to say anything, but by staying silent, the assumption is that he agrees with what Drumpf is saying. and until he DOES say something, he can, as I said, kick rocks.
Sorry, but he DOESN’T! You don’t understand it? I read his interviews.
Oh, but Google said… So it must be true, right?
this makes me sad as I tend to treat myself to a sweet treat daily and love all things carbs…but good for them! If I had better discipline, I would go down their route of healthy eating.
It’s like they’re trying really hard to focus on a strict diet so they can avoid dealing with each other.
I eat similarly (minus beans except chickpeas, because I could eat those straight out of the can and be done with them in five minutes!), but I wish I had a personal chef. It ddoesn’t make me feel more connected to the planet, lol.
I love chickpeas, too! So good. And I honestly would eat like them if I had the means. It’s the kind of stuff I crave but usually don’t have the time to make for me and my family on a regular basis. I think it would be great, and being on that program doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy fries are a pizza once in a while. I can’t believe they don’t indulge in comfort food sometimes.
You can roast chickpeas as a crunchy food or buy them ready-made roasted and spiced up… Green peas can be found that way also, especially in Indian snackies.
Jwoolman, yes, yum. I’m not a fan of the store bought versions because I think they’re too greasy but I roast them at home in the oven. Edamame beans, too, with just a bit of sea salt. I could probably eat a pound at one sitting!
As for pakora, I wanted to make some Indian things for a book club meeting and I found a recipe for cauliflower ones. Really tasty.
I bet they do, they just don’t want to ruin the illusion. I think it’s easy if it’s just you. If I were trying to feed a family that way, I would probably have a hard time.
I’m gluten-free and have a long list of legit food sensitivities, so a fast food burger and fries are off the menu for me… but I won’t say I don’t dream 😉
EDIT: @Jwoolman, I love roasted chickpeas! I roast my own with coconut oil. I haven’t done that in a long time. You’ve given me an idea for tomorrow.
Any good recipes to roast those chickpeas? I have some in my pantry and now you all have made me hungry. 🙂
Chick peas! All the chick peas!
God help me, but I adore pakora of any kind.
How is it the same food, day after day? There are vegan/raw options in tons of different types of cuisine – mediterranean, asian, Caribbean, mexican, brazilian, palestinian….the list goes on and on, and I’m sure they hired a top notch professional chef specifically for variety – not just a basic salad for 3 meals per day. I get that there will always be criticism of people who are militant about their diet, but I don’t think the idea that they eat the same thing all day every day is accurate. Also – the more time you invest in eating a certain way, the less you crave the foods you have eliminated. I don’t at all see why they should be criticized for what sounds like a very balanced and well thought-out approach to nutrition and what works for them as a family.
Exactly! It just happens that in the last week I cooked Filipino, Thai, and Indian vegetarian dishes. It ends up feeling like a lot of variety in terms of spices and flavors. I never think I eliminate stuff. Still, if these two precious beings prefer eating the same salad every day, that’s fine too.
I am a vegetarian and eat similarly to them and don’t miss anything from before. I eat plenty of delicious vegan food and desserts that aren’t just fruit. Cookies and cakes etc. I don’t eat much sugar and don’t miss it. I love fresh foods and drink fresh juices everyday. It started from a health issue and is now a lifestyle.
Like you said there are so many choices and loads of spices and herbs to make very tasty food.
Not to be nit-picky (well, yes, to be nit-picky), but you are getting plenty of sugar in some form in those cookies and cakes you mention. Unless you are using stevia or xylitol.
Anyhoo, fresh is best, and everyone should eat more plants.
I use unfiltered apple juice and things like stevia and fructose. When I do smoothies I use coconut water as a base and avoid sugar.
But I know what you mean about sugar. It’s everywhere and I caught myself eating these vegan peanut butter cookies at a bakery and then finding out they had loads of cane juice. And agree plants are great!
Fructose is a sugar.
Exactly. I eat dishes that my meat and dairy eating friends have never heard of but some of them think I live on lettuce with beans. While they live on white bread with cheese…
Plus there are skatillions of different varieties of beans, all tasting different. They could afford all of them, not being restricted to the canned beans in the grocery store since someone else can cook them up for them. Likewise for greens, fruits, and veg. There is so much variety out there. If they eat nuts and seeds -another source of great variety.
They are so painfully good looking! And so painfully smug!
Also, I need a Lindor chocolate bunny right now, and some “raw, vegan” strawberries.
Really? I find them both painfully odd looking and don’t get why people think they’re so gorgeous. Giselle looks like a bird to me and Brady looks like Frankenstein slightly less monsterish younger brother.
I find them to be like the “two-face” woman from Seinfeld. sometimes I think they’re really good-looking, and other times I’m like “egad, what do people see in them?!”
I couldn’t agree more with that comment about Manzelle, I never got her appeal. Plus, she seems is as insufferable as Goopy. Blech.
As for Brady, he has his moments. I think his hair can add or detract from his appearance. I find him to be far prettier than her.
He’s a big dude, doesn’t he ever get hungry?
I, too, was wondering how he manages to intake enough calories on a mostly raw vegan diet to be a pro athlete with significant muscle mass. I mean, I know it’s possible, but I would love to see a breakdown of how much he eats and what he eats.
Vegan is not equal to low calorie.
Not really hard. I know vegans who are extremely active and consume 120-150 grams of protein per day. (In contrast, recommended minimum is 40 grams for my weight and couch potato activity level). Loads of plant foods are high enough in protein and calories if you just eat enough of them.
They’re not vegetarian. The article says they eat “lean meat (mostly fish).” Fish isn’t meat, but the point is, they clearly do eat animal-based proteins, in which case we can see where he gets the sustenance he needs for his work.
It says they don’t eat dairy, and they eat “vegan desserts,” but if they eat eggs, fish, fowl, and lean red meat, they can get plenty of protein.
Fish is meat. it’s not a vegetable.
Oh good grief. Of course fish is meat.
Tom advertises for UnReal Candy so the kids probably do get chocolate but as a special treat
There is raw chocolate, the real chocolate not mixed with cow’s secretions and fat. You can make a lot of thing with it. And really, I don’t think these kids are hurting that badly… http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/2013/03/blueberry-strawberry-banana-ice-cream.html
Cow’s secretions-how classy
Their kids do eat Easter candy. Last year Tom posted a video of their kids on an Easter egg hunt and their son was excited to find chocolate in his basket. Same for Halloween.
Yep, there are dark chocolate options too that don’t include refined sugar or any of the other things on their “don’t” list.
“did you know that Gisele and Tom also have a home in Costa Rica, and that they have another personal chef at the Costa Rican home?”
As far as I know, it’s Gisele’s house that she had prior to Brady. But, what do I know about gossip?
Honestly you haven’t lived until you’ve had a raw cheesecake. Raw desserts are fantastic. And I eat like they do most of the time already so I don’t see this as much of a story.
How do you make yours? I’ve tried to make raw cheesecake before and it never comes out quite right. I do make an insanely good raspberry cheesecake sweetened with only ripe raspberries in the summer.
Anyway I agree. When I tell people about my diet they look at me like I have six heads. For me it’s not like I never have unhealthy food, it’s just that I try to make that a small part of my diet and not a daily thing. I suspect they do the same. I’d be even better if I had personal chefs to do it all for me. I doubt they or their children feel super deprived.
Most of them are nut based “cream”. Soaked cashews were used in the raw course I took a few years ago.
My children don’t feel deprived at all. I make it fun and they like going to farmers markets and helping pick the fruits and veggies and help prepare simple things. Because it’s what they know veggies are normal for them.
But if they are invited to a party or something social I don’t restrict because I think it is more important to have fun and join their friends. It’s not like they have allergies or anything.
What’s wrong with peppers, mushrooms, and eggplant??
I could be wrong, Bettyrose, but I believe they are in the “nightshade” family, and I believe I read once that some people avoid them because they are not “anti-inflammatory”. Sometimes people with chronic health issues, or athletes, or people who are really into anti-aging avoid foods from this family.
they are nightshades, which are believed to cause inflammation and a lot of people with autoimmune disorders eliminate them from their diet.
Mushrooms are fungi, and not plants. Not sure exactly why they would be avoided aside from personal preference, but as for the eggplant and peppers they are nightshades and can contribute to inflammation. Not an issue for most people but for a professional athlete and/or someone more sensitive to them it would be.
Portabellos and shiitakes are recommended as a substitute for eggplant for those who are sensitive, so I don’t think they are avoiding them for the “nightshade” reason.
Mushrooms also have very good amounts of potassium and vitamin D. And are so yummy roasted, who could say no?
Thanks for all the responses! I eat a mostly plant based diet and have trouble with certain raw vegetables. But throw them in a pan with some garlic & olive oil, eggplant and mushrooms make up for any “meatier” foods you’ve given up. But if they cause inflammation, fair enough. Avoid them. But in terms of health benefits, flavor, and environmentally conscious eating, I can’t imagine giving them up. Especially if one has already eliminated processed foods and dairy. You gotta get some pleasure out of eating, amirite?
Acc. to the January article only Tom avoids them.
Makes me want to go stuff several Reese’s eggs down my piehole!
OMG are those peanut butter easter eggs?!?!
why cant we get them in the UK *sobs*
Lol, I went to get some veggie sticks after I read this article. Wish I had some reesies.
I’ll see you Reese’s peanut butter egg and raise you a half a bag of Cadbury mini eggs.
Can you imagine the day when the children are old enough to have some agency and wind up trying candy? The betrayal they’ll feel that they were kept away for so long!
I’ll bet they’ve had treats. But your comment reminded me of the first time my son tried Oreos when he was almost three. His eyes were so big as he scarfed the whole little bag of mini-cookies, so funny. Also funny is he’s 16 now and super health conscious. He hasn’t had an Oreo or pizza or fries in about 2 years. He says he’s happy eating healthy but I sometimes wonder if he doesn’t miss the occasional treat.
I doubt it. If their kids are being taught healthy eating habits from an early age, they probably aren’t going to enjoy the crap that most people eat. I gave up sugar some time back, and the one time I ‘cheated’ and had something containing sugar it made me gag. It tasted absolutely horrible. That is probably how they would react to sugar and other unhealthy “foods.”
It’s true. Your tastes change and crave fresh foods because honestly they have more flavor.
It reminds me of a friend who never let her children have any sugar, processed food or anything “bad” and we found her son scarfing down some Doritos he found in the gutter by their house. I think moderation works better than complete denial, though I also think SamiHami is right that your palette adjusts to things – I quit eating so much salt and now I find so many things too salty.
Ugh. Google pics of vegan desserts and tell me doritos look better.
My favorite vegan desert is sugar/salt free peanut butter with mashed banana sprinkled with Stevia powder. It’s not “raw” by certain standards, but it is creamy and satisfying. Especially paired with a nice Cabernet.
someone upthread said that Tom posted a shot of one of the kids getting chocolate in his Easter basket last year, so I think they’re no strangers to candy.
There are vegan versions of virtually any junk food you want… Tasty, too. They can afford to have someone else make everything to order. It’s only in relatively recent times that salt and sugar have been so readily available that it’s assumed a child is deprived without Oreos or Doritos.
Oreos make the 90% vegan cut, though. They don’t contain animal products other than bone char in the refined sugar. They’re total crap to be putting in your body, however. (Same for girl scout cookies)
Except for dairy (butter makes life worth living), I eat very similarly. No refined sugar, very little flour, no MSG, etc. It’s not a boring diet at all, and with a little planning it’s an inexpensive one too. I use herbs and spices liberally, which makes all the difference between a bland dish and a delicious meal. There’s dessert in this house, because duh, dessert is awesome, but I use sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, blackstrap molasses, and coconut sugar. I don’t find their diet that strange. More restrictive than I would practice, and having private chefs would certainly would make it easier to implement, but not really all that bizarre.
Not to me either but I don’t use butter. Vegan options have come a long way in the past few years and I don’t find myself deprived at all.
If you allow yourself olive oil and sea salt, it’s pretty easy to give up butter. Seriously, fry a piece of bread in olive oil and sea salt and see if that doesn’t rock your world. Sprinkle in cinnamon for added mind blowing.
ETA: Sorry Magnoliarose, I didn’t mean to reply directly to you.
No problem Bettyrose. I love olive oil too. Fries in olive oil and sea salt are yummy. Sweet potato and regular potatoes but I prefer Yukon Gold.
“(butter makes life worth living)”
Agreed. Especially Kerrygold butter. If you haven’t tried it, you should–it is delicious! One thing though-sugar is sugar regardless of its source. Stevia is a better choice health wise.
One of my favorite simple dessert recipes is to whip up some heavy whipping cream then add Stevia and a teaspoon or so of peanut butter. It’s a quickie peanut butter mousse! And soooo good…
Not surprising. she’s def. had eye work.
Raw vegan desserts!!! that sounds exciting! 😛
Well I know whose house I wouldn’t visit on Easter Sunday. Honey baked ham, potato salad, asparagus, deviled eggs and the list goes on. I will be pleased and content when I break up the fight between my kids who gets the head of the lamb cake. To be fair to these lovely people, I will put out a tray of veggies and dip and shrimp cocktail, would they consume that? Here comes Peter Cotton Tail chomping on a carrot stick, counting the chews so he doesn’t gain an ounce of that God forbidden fat. Ai yi yi
Ding dong! I’m coming to your house. 💐
GNAT: In my family it’s always been our motto, the more the merrier…..so dinner is at 3pm. Why this time I do not know, but is another of those traditions that one of my sisters would say oh “it’s just not the same” darest we change the time! Twins, we’re all nuts!!!
My family eats holiday dinners in the middle of the afternoon, too. I guess it’s so you don’t eat too late? Or too early?
You obviously have never eaten the totally vegan Purely Decadent line of frozen desserts by So Delicious, based on either soy milk or coconut milk…
Nope. I’m not a big sweet eater. I hate milk period, particularly soy and coconut but have a sister who won’t drink any other kind of milk but coconut. I eat healthy foods, but am not a fanatic about it. I was taught that anything done in moderation is fine and it works for me. Except for some of those college weekends when the bartender overserved me, and clearly that wasn’t my fault. 🙂
Aw they sound so precious don’t they? I wonder what Tommy’s family thinks of Gisele. From what I heard they are down to Earth, staunch Bay Area traditional Catholics.
They sound? I can’t hear it. It’s an interview with their chef!
His family loves her. By the way… Her parents are Catholic…
I have always gotten the feeling that if he is away from her and out of the range of her watchdogs, he stuffs his face with pizza and beer and a cigar or two.
Don’t knock the raw vegan desserts until you’ve tried them, seriously people do amazing things with fruit, nuts and dates. There’s a million recipes out there, but check out these photos for a quick sampling. http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/raw-desserts-a-great-choice/
I saw those photos and I’m like a cat in front of a tuna can right now.
Thanks for the link. I always look for more recipes.
It just seems so odd to me that people are critical of a couple that eat a healthy diet and are teaching their children to do the same. What in the world is wrong with eating the way they do? We don’t need sugar, msg, caffeine etc in our diets; in fact those things are very bad for our health and shouldn’t be a part of our diets to begin with. Some people have posted that it’s okay “in moderation.” I disagree with that. If it’s bad for your health then why would you even want to eat it at all? There are so many good healthy foods out there and it is not at all restrictive or boring. Being healthy doesn’t mean eating nothing but carrot sticks. I’m eating extremely healthfully and as a result have lost a ton of weight, reversed my type 2 diabetes, gained more energy and actually have much more variety in my meals than ever before (when I would just get prepackaged frankenfoods).
The average person consumes 150 pounds of sugar per year–compared to 7 ½ pounds on average in 1700. And there is a rampant obesity epidemic in the US now, plus an incredible increase in type 2 diabetes, even among children. There is a clear correlation there. So people eat more sugar, get diabetes (which leads to other health problems) and then expect medicine to take care of their health issues rather than simply cutting out sugar.
I think it’s fine if some people would rather eat processed, chemical laden unhealthy foods that are detrimental to their health-that’s a personal choice. I just don’t understand why they criticize others that choose not to. It makes no sense to me.
150 pounds of sugar? 😳
Yup, and a lot of it people don’t even realize it. Since I’ve cut out sugar I’ve started reading labels very carefully. They put it in everything! Even things you can’t imagine that they would. I think it’s because sugar is addictive; so if they put it in there without you knowing, you’ll come back and buy their product again in order to feed the addiction. It’s insidious. It really is.
Because talking this much about what they eat comes across as smug and judgmental.
I don’t see where they are judging anyone else. They eat the way they eat. If they get asked about it should they lie and say they live on beer and cheetos so that people feel better about their own habits?
Gnat, the average American eats (or drinks) between a quarter and half a pound of sugar EVERY DAY. I’m not sure whether the figures count both refined and fruit sugar or whether only adults are included. Probably yes on both accounts. Given the sugar could be addictive, I agree with Sami, sugar is too socially acceptable, especially when we’re talking about children.
Honestly, I don’t get it either. If life isn’t complete without some sort of over processed snack, then that’s a sad statement indeed.
I don’t get the hate either. Both of them have jobs that depend on their bodies so it makes sense they would be strict. They aren’t telling anyone else what to do. People are curious about celebrities and their food choices especially slender fit ones.
If you stay completely away from added salt and sugar, in a very short time you lose any craving for it. Even the smell of sugar in the bakery department can nauseated me a bit if I’ve been sugar-free for a few days for any reason.
The identification of treats with sugary foods is cultural. There is a cute series of YouTube videos with an 8 year old half-Canadian, half-Japanese girl showing some things about life in Japan. In one of them, she was showing a typical Japanese breakfast. She used the word “yummy” a lot (her favorite English word, it seems) as she scarfed down a rather large breakfast with miso soup with tofu chunks, a bowl of rice, pickled plums, etc. Many American kids would be expecting sugary cereal with extra sugar, pancakes with lots of syrup, etc. plus cookies or glazed pies in their lunch box plus more sugar after school. Our culture is on sugar overload, but kids in other lower-sugar cultures don’t feel at all deprived.
I’m so tired of those rich, smug, uptight people on fad diets, with psychosomatic problems and weight obsessions they try to solve with food regimens.
I hope they’re happy with the way they live, but I feel a little sorry for them when I think they never have any butter or tomatoes. Money and all, I still wouldn’t switch places with them.
I have a twin sister who is a college professor and one of her classes is required for students majoring in nutrition and they feel diet alone will prevent all disease and illnesses,sigh. Then again I’ve met quite a few adults who feel such moral superiority because they eat a diet different than the majority of other people-they brag and look down their noses but to be honest its not different from being snobby over their jobs,homes,cars,designer clothes,etc. We should all be thankful we have food to eat and can choose from a variety of foods unlike every other citizen of the world.
Diet alone won’t prevent *all* diseases, but it can prevent a lot of diseases. Obesity is directly linked to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, degenerative diseases, GI diseases and more. So yes, one’s diet directly affects their health and well being.
I remember seeing a special on the Discovery channel once about the changing diet of people in China. In most of China there were certain types of cancer that were completely unheard of. But, as the cities started getting fast food places and more “convenience” foods available, the instances of certain types of cancer exploded. They even created a large map that showed the areas where the cancers were occurring, and in every single case it happened in the areas that had introduced these frankenfoods to their communities. Diet really does make a huge, huge difference in our health. I’d rather be healthy and stay healthy than have to go through treatments for a disease that could have been prevented by proper nutrition.
It’s not a fad diet. It’s a lifestyle. I bet they are happy with the way they live, but you don’t sound very happy.
They never have any butter or tomatoes? No. Only Tom avoids it.
Amaria – yes!
Eating healthfully is not a fad diet.
As someone who has never liked either of them if its something they can live with and isn’t harmful to their kids more power to them. I’m not sure I could do it at once maybe over time. I think if I ate like this it would be a shock to the system.
When it comes to diets etc I think a lot of it is conditioned which is why I don’t think their kids will feel “deprived” because they are probably going to be conditioned to diet like this.
I bet they eat all sorts of crap when over their friends’ houses, or at least they will when they get old enough to rebel a bit.
Some raw vegan desserts actually taste amazing, but they’re freaking expensive. Raw is just heated to a lower temperature, and you can get normal-tasting cakes and everything.
What’s the problem, here? They basically have fruit for dessert, this isn’t weird. Do people even need desserts every day anyway? I sure don’t, I’m a grown up and desserts are for special occasions.
My ex-roommate is a raw vegan chef (coincidentally in Costa Rica right now) and you’d be amazed at some of the desserts he can make. His blueberry not-cheese cheesecake is insanely good. It’s also so nutrient-dense that a single cubic inch of it will fill you up, as it’s basically nuts, blueberries, and agave.
Raw foods can be much more sophisticated than simple salads. There are some great books out there to show you some techniques and options, and there’s a new movement where people eat vegan one day a week…the idea is, for every seven people doing that, they basically add up to one full time vegan, so it’s better for the planet too.
When I lived in an ecovillage I ate basically vegan, although not raw (in Canada in the winter? Are you kidding?) and I have to say after three months of that I was thriving. Got back to “civilization” started eating beer and burgers again, and immediately felt the difference. Not that I’m ever giving up beer and burgers, but I do know that’s one major reason why I don’t always feel my best.
Two people who make their living based on the physical condition of their bodies….did you all really think that they ate like the rest of us???? Why are we criticizing them? They do what it takes to look/perform that way.
I’m sorry but this habit of making fun of people who are attempting to eat healthy is so ridiculous considering the number of food related illnesses we westerners have. not to mention the amount of food we are wasting at the detriment of the rest of the world. How about show a little humility? The raw vegan diet is an amazing diet… and very close to what animals eat in the wild. We are the only ones who put cooked sludge into your bodies. If you have ever witnessed the joy of boundless energy, good health and pure bliss that you do on a vegan diet you wouldn’t be so easily tempted by something as toxic and cruel as a chocolate easter egg. Consider the harm your dietary choices do to your health, the planet and the animals before you dismiss someone else’s choices. Time to act like a grown up and learn something for a change..