Mamamia Team Monday 5 November 2012 1:48pm

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Have you activated your nuts lately? This is the question plaguing millions of Australians today after celebrity chef Pete Evans disclosed to a newspaper what he eats on a typical day.

Here it is:

My day: On a plate.

Well. Where to begin? Social media immediately – and wittily – exploded with a frenzy of speculation about how exactly one Activates an Almond, with the hashtags #ActivatedAlmonds and #ActivateTheAlmonds trending last night.

Here are some of our favourite tweets, including a shock confession from MM editor Mia Freedman:

@Mia Freedman #activatedalmonds

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In the regular Sunday Life magazine feature, nutritionist Joanna McMillan poured water (and a wee bit of scorn) on Pete Evan’s nuts. Here was her response:

Joanna McMillan. Unimpressed.

For the more curious, Australian natural health magazine Wellbeing, defines an activated nut as “a nut that has been soaked and sprouted to release its enzyme inhibitors”.

So in plain English, these are nuts that are soaked and dried for 12-24 hours in order to get rid of those things that slow down your digestion.

UPDATE: After 24hrs of social media frenzy (#activatedalmonds was trending #1 in Australia until late Monday afternoon when it was replaced by #melbournecup), Pete Evans defended himself. From The Australian:

This morning Evans was provoked into responding on his Facebook page, invoking German Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in his defence: “All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as being self-evident.”

“I’m occasionally ridiculed because I choose to eat a nutrient dense diet, and I find it so bizarre as to why people sometimes find my food choice’s so offensive?” he wrote.

“All I know is that I’m well aware of the consequences of eating ‘dead’ food, and also I’m a father, and I take that privilege very seriously, so for me striving for optimum health whenever I can so that I can be a responsible role model for my daughters, and still be able to surf right up until the end, is the obvious choice for me.”

Perhaps when you’re a health conscious chef this is how you actually eat? And perhaps we are all guilty of getting caught up in slightly-ridiculous food fads (see above: Mia’s shocking nut-choice revelation).

Or perhaps Pete could join the Bondi Hipsters? (Click here to watch the hilarious video.)

Are your almonds activated? And what other weird health or food fads have you tried? What’s the most absurd?

Em Rusciano, host of radio show Mamamia Today, shared her own version of “Day on a Plate” with us. Listen below: