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.
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.
Top Comments
What is so wrong with eating plenty of organic vegies, meat and eggs from well treated animals and a few nuts? The world is sicker than it's ever been and the paleo diet is helping a lot of people in massive ways. Pete Evans is just a messenger, one of many.
So, one TV chef is annoyed that another TV chef is promoting a different way to eat than him? What makes one more of an expert than the other? Nothing.