Over the past several years, Tom Brady has become notorious for an unusual and highly specific diet that has not only become the lifeblood for how he trains, but has actually become a profitable little side hustle.

Brady has a new book coming out, "The TB12 Method,"that is already a bestseller. (See the cover art here.) That's in addition to his $200 cookbook that is routinely sold out and his TB12 delivery meal service. It feels like this all sort of popped up very recently, but Brady actually revealed in an interview with Willie McGinest on NFL Network that he started to head in this direction well over a decade ago.

And, in fact, it was apparently McGinest who approached Brady before the 2004 season, with Brady already a two-time Super Bowl champion, and told him that if he didn't change his diet and training regimen, he would struggle to stay healthy throughout his career.

"I love playing and I think all of the work that I've been able to do has really set me up for this. I've been working hard for a long time. Because of you," Brady told McGinest. "When I was out here in 2004 and couldn't go through a training camp practice without being hurt. You said, 'Listen, this is what you've got to do, you've got to go work with Alex [Guerrero]. You've got to start preventing these injuries, because it's no good if you're sitting on the sideline.' From that day, my elbow hasn't hurt, my shoulder hasn't hurt.

"And you just incorporate those continuing treatments with the right diet, the right nutrition, you keep doing it. That's what I love talking about, because I love football and I want to keep doing it for a long time."

Brady has long said that he wants to play until he's 45 years old. It sure does feel like an impossible feat, but he is already 40 and he is playing at a high level, having just completed an MVP-caliber season (if he had played all 16 games he might have won it) that culminated in the greatest Super Bowl comeback ever and another Super Bowl MVP award.

It's something that apparently has been in the works for a long time. It would be easy to assume that around the age of 35 Brady started to change his diet and incorporate new and different technology, dietary habits and exercise activities into his day-to-day routine. But it turns out it actually happened way back in 2004, when Brady was just a young (well, 27, but still) quarterback who was already feeling the wear and tear of the NFL growing on his body.

Now Brady feels better than he did a decade ago, and has shown no signs of slowing down as he gets older.

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Tom Brady reveals exactly when he decided to change his diet and exercise habits - CBSSports.com