Balls Deep podcast: Interview with celebrity chef Pete Evans

CELEBRITY chef Pete Evans is no stranger to controversy. Now, the father-of-two reveals why his daughters started therapy at 12 months old.

HE’S no stranger to controversy, especially when it comes to his lifestyle, diet and parenting methods.

Celebrity chef and paleo advocate Pete Evans has been slammed previously by peak medical bodies, criticising some of his work and advice around diet and alternative medicines as “irresponsible”.

This article is based on extracts from the Balls Deep podcast series, a production by news.com.au. For the full episode with celebrity chef and paleo advocate, Pete Evans, listen to the podcast below. You can subscribe to Balls Deep on iTunes.

But the father-of-two says he has no shame around the lifestyle he chooses to live, especially when it comes to how he raises his two daughters Chilli, 13, and Indii, 10.

“I have no guilt whatsoever about the lifestyle that I choose to live,” he said in an interview with news.com.au podcast Balls Deep — a series of interviews with men talking about the topics they don’t normally discuss.

Pete Evans with his daughters Chilli and Indii.

The 44-year-old, who is married to former model Nicola Robinson, explained that part of his holistic “journey” has been doing Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET) for the past 20 years.

According to Innovative Medicine the therapy technique is psycho-emotional and is based on the foundations of stress-related responses, and has included his eldest daughter in sessions since she was just 12 months old.

“It’s something I do with the kids from time to time ever since they were basically one-year-old,” he explained.

“It’s just like taking your car in to get serviced,” he explained of the sessions. “Some people, like myself, like to take our minds or brains in to get emotional work and releasing done to help navigate this world that we live in.

Pete Evans has spoken of the therapy his daughters have shared with him.

“In my journey as a human being … I have experienced many different forms of nourishment for the body, mind and spirit. I’ve never seen a psychiatrist or a psychologist [because] I see different types of people in that emotional space.

“It’s helped me a great deal and helped different members of my family, and I’ve seen the results these people have so why would I not want to include my children?

“Some people might look at that in different light, but I would say don’t knock it until you try it.”

MORE: Listen to the Balls Deep podcast with Peter Stefanovic on marriage, family and fame.

Pete Evans with his daughter Chilli on a recent surfing holiday together. Picture: Pete Evans/Instagram

According to Innovative Medicine, Neuro-Emotional Technique does not hope to “cure” a patient, but rather work in conjunction with other medical therapies to remove psycho emotional blocks that may aid in the ability of the body to repair itself naturally.

Evans said his daughter started the technique at an early age as she was born with a tumour, and was admitted to hospital as a baby for treatment. He says the use of the therapy enabled her to “get in a state of healing”.

“Psychiatry and psychology is proven that it doesn’t really work that much,” he said. “The amount of people that are prescribed antidepressants these days as a get out of jail free card … without looking at the body and mind holistically … is causing so many issues.”

Pete Evans with his daughters Chilli and Indii, and his wife Nicola Robinson.

Evans said he keeps up the therapy sessions with his daughters every few months, and criticised some other forms of modern medicine as “missing the mark”.

“Most forms of modern therapy like psychiatrists and psychologists sort of miss the mark on understanding how to deal with a human being,” he said. “Very much like how modern doctors have no idea about how the human bodywork in relation to nutrition. I’m not saying all, but most.

“I find this sort of work that I am talking about [NET] is a great tool for them [daughters] to discover their own unique self. It gives them an understanding of how their mind and bodywork.”

Listen to Pete Evans full interview now on Balls Deep or download it on iTunes.