Recently the celebrity chef has raised eyebrows by declaring himself anti-fluoride, linking autism to the Government’s official healthy eating guidelines, urging us to swap coffee for bone broth and questioning childhood vaccination programs.
Despite repeated attempts to arrange an interview with the Channel 7My Kitchen Ruleshost, Pete refused to participate in our story (despite simultaneously challenging journalists to “do some investigative journalism” into the Paleo diet).
Here are the questions we emailed to his publicist, as requested, but we were later informed he did not wish to answer:
+ What particular health issues prompted you to try going Paleo in the first place? And what impact did it have on these ailments?
+ What inspired you to publicly promote Paleo and challenge organisations like the Heart Foundation (I’ve also written about concerns over its tick program in the past) and DAA?
+ How did you feel when Paleo got listed among the worst diets by a couple of organisations? And why do you think it happened?
+ You have a lot of fans but there are critics too. Why did you block people who questioned Paleo from your Facebook page?
+ Do you believe Paleo is healthier and suitable for everyone? Would you recommend it to people with medical conditions like Type 1 diabetes, eating disorders, epilepsy, paediatric failure to thrive or post heart-surgery?
+ Did you make a submission during the public consultation period of the recent review of Australia’s dietary guidelines? If so, what happened? If not, why not?
+ Can you explain the link you suggested between the current dietary guidelines and conditions like autism, mental illness and dementia?
+ Is the government is knowingly promoting unhealthy foods to the general public because of the significant financial influence of big food corporations?
+ Aside from personal testimonials, is there quality evidence-based research showing the benefits of Paleo? Why is it better than the Mediterranean diet, for example?
+ What do you think of the recent pooled/meta-analyses of the many studies examining the correlation between food and chronic disease that concluded wholegrains are beneficial in preventing disease? Also the findings that red/processed meat increased risk and dairy was neutral? (published in the journal Nutrition Reviews)
+ Why shouldn’t we eat cooked legumes? And dairy for people who are able to digest it?
+ What do you think about vaccination? Would you like to see any changes to the childhood immunisation register? If so, what kind of changes?
+ Why should we filter fluoride out of our water?
+ Given “food is medicine”, do pharmaceuticals have a role in keeping us healthy in modern life or should we avoid them?
+ What are your goals for the future role of Paleo in Australia?
