Pete ''Activated Almonds'' Evans is not afraid of cooking up a little controversy for his cause.
His cause, he says, is to change the future of how we eat.
"I am looking at forming a working relationship with some like-minded Australian dietitians to help implement the changes necessary to our current system," he said in a recent Facebook post.
It is a crusade he has chosen to undertake because he believes we have been misled.
In a conversation where the My Kitchen Rules judge is in equal parts defensive and passionate, he expresses his frustration with the media who, as he sees it, "always gets it wrong".
He is talking about the presentation of the paleo diet - his approach for "obtaining optimal health". But he is also talking about the fact that the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) is used as an authority in nutrition reporting.
In the same Facebook post, which he says has been viewed 500,000 times, he wrote:
"No wonder the public is confused. Each and every time an article comes out about health and nutrition in this country, the journalists always feel the need to get a spokesperson from the Dietitians Association of Australia to add in their position.
"Here is a list of the the major partners of the Dietitians Association of Australia ... Cambells [sic], Arnotts, Nestle, Unilever."
Of the post, which had close to 5,000 likes and 1,300 shares and comments, he now says: "I got 200 emails from DAA [members] frustrated with the organisational standards [but] spokespeople from the DAA shut it down because it goes against their principles. Those principles are flawed."
Those principles include the recommendation to eat from all five food groups. "There is no scientific evidence that that is necessarily the case from a human evolution stand point," he says.
I question this statement, pointing out that the newly revised dietary guidelines were based on the review of more than 55,000 research papers.
"There seems to be a lot of large companies with vested interests," he counters. There is a growing scepticism, he continues, of government health bodies, because "we're getting sicker as a nation. Look at the statistics of our nation and other nations".
In reaction to this, he believes the public is embracing diets such as paleo and becoming more aware that "perhaps there's a better way of getting our information about obtaining optimal health".
A chef since he was 19, Evans' health journey took a turn when his daughter Chilli was born nine years ago.
"My daughter was born with problems," he explains, without elaborating. "I realised I wasn't valuing my health over everything else. I looked at the bigger picture and wondered how this has been caused ... potentially because of the choices we made as parents."
He has since all but given up alcohol and promotes the paleo way with passion.
"It is literally the most natural dietary approach on earth and the one likeliest to support natural health," says Evans, who has a new show called the Paleo Way starting on Channel 7 in summer.
There are many bastardised versions on the market, Evans says. Ones, for instance that, "promote every manner of processed carb substitutes, protein powders and paleo-labelled foods that are barely any better than any other processed food. Let’s face it: an organic, gluten-free brownie made with all natural sugars is still junk food''.
Instead, the "advanced" paleo way, as he calls it, advocates minimal starches and sugars, moderate protein, abundant greens, nuts, seeds, eggs (if tolerated) and "as much dietary natural fat as is needed to satisfy the appetite and support the healthiest brain and nervous system".
He says: "The diet totally avoids grains, legumes, conventional dairy products, feedlot meats, non-organic produce, GMOs and processed foods."
He has been teased relentlessly by the public for his ''hipster'' foodie choices, such as activated almonds.
But, he rejects suggestions his diet is unnecessarily extreme.
"Define extreme," he fires. "I don't think it's extreme in any sense of the word. It comes down to values and what you prioritise most."
Prioritising the health of himself and his family has paid off. "I'm the healthiest I've ever been," says Evans, 41. "My daughter is too."
As for such a diet being prohibitively expensive for the majority of the public, he doesn't believe it has to be.
How it can be done on a budget is a topic he says he will tackle in his upcoming Paleo Way tour, a series of talks with US paleo proponent and best selling author of Primal Body, Pimal Mind, Nora Gedgaudas.
He concedes current methods of farming do not help make fresh, organic, sustainable produce affordable.
"How do we set it up in future so that the most nutrient-dense food is subsidised?" asks Evans.
And although Evans can be prickly when it comes to his passions and certainly controversial, he is well-intentioned.
His is a "30 to 40-year goal" and, like Jamie Oliver, he hopes to create generational change.
"What I'm doing now is for generations to come," says Evans, who uses himself as his "own guinea pig" and suggests we do the same, rather than take his word for gospel.
"This is a long-term project to create change. I like to present it so people have a think about it and maybe go 'Why don't I do a bit a bit of research for myself'?"
