Celebrity chef 'Fast Ed' Halmagyi has slammed the Paleo diet as a meritless "fad".

Celebrity chef  Ed Halmagyi did not mince words in his column this week, slamming the Paleo diet as nothing more than a “fad” with “absolutely no merit”.

He also described it as “confidence scam” and a “vaudevillian distraction”.

“Just because we’re rich enough in Australia of 2016 to indulge in this kind of silliness does not make us better people, some might suggest it’s quite the opposite,” Halmagyi wrote for News Local.

Halmagyi, perhaps better known by his moniker “Fast Ed”, is known for making simple family-friendly cuisine, so we get the feeling he doesn’t have a whole lot of time for activating his almonds.

Ed cooking up some very un-Paleo pasta. Source: Facebook

"There’s only so much deliberate misdirection I can stand before I need to say something," he says of Australia's thriving "clean eating" industry.

"Yes, eating less processed food is good for you. But that’s it — the sole and singular positive. The rest is nothing more than baloney."

The Better Homes and Gardens presenter then goes on to dissect the diet, one "lie" at a time.

The Paleo diet, short for Paleolithic diet, is based on foods presumed to have been eaten by humans' Paleolithic ancestors and chefs like Pete Evans have made a mint by spruiking it.

Super excited to see that the advanced copies have just arrived of @helenpadarin's and my new book "GUT HEALTH" Will be out in about a month or so on shelves. #foodismedicine #paleo #guthealth

A photo posted by Pete Evans (@chefpeteevans) on Sep 14, 2016 at 8:05pm PDT

Halmagyi disputes its health benefits, pointing out that as Paleolithic humans rarely lived into their 40s, any claims they were somehow healthier are blatantly "not true".

"Most communities lived through extended periods of starvation," he said.

"Also, many bone fragments show signs of atherosclerosis, a degenerative byproduct of excessive meat consumption."

He also labelled the notion that our dietary needs would remain the same for 100,000 years as "pure insanity".

"Humans, plants and animals have all evolved during this time. Palaeolithic humans were unable to digest milk as their bodies did not produce lactase, the enzyme required to metabolise milk sugars. From about 7000 years ago this began to change."

Sorry, Paleo Pete.