Top Chef Finalist Eric Adjepong on the Controversial Keto Diet: "It's Smart"

The Keto diet is not only the buzziest diet du jour — but it's the most controversial, too. A wide range of celebrities have weighed in with impassioned opinions on both sides of the debate: TODAY's Al Roker has become one of Keto's more outspoken advocates, defending it fiercely against attacks from vocal opponents such as Jillian Michaels, who called it "a bad idea."

In the Bravo sphere, Andy Cohen has said he's against Keto, as has The Real Housewives of Orange County's Tamra Judge who said she got sick from it. The Dubrow Diet author Dr. Terry Dubrow plainly called it "really dumb."

So what does a Bravo's Top Chef finalist make of all this? Eric Adjepong, who was among Season 16's top three along with Sara Bradley and the competition's ultimate winner Kelsey Barnard Clark, told us his thoughts when we caught up with him on the red carpet for an Emmys panel featuring Top Chef as well as Project Runway. Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons, as well as the full group of Season 16's five finalists were also in attendance at the April 16 event.

What does he make of Keto? "I think it’s smart," Chef Eric told us. "I think everything is good in moderation," he told us.

And Keto can be an especially good thing if it triggers mindful eating where mindfulness hadn't existed before. "If you really look into the things that you’re eating and putting in your body, I think you can really make some smart decisions with the diets that are out there," he told The Feast.

"You can have any sort of diet that can be really good or bad for you," he said, noting that a range of diets can be good "if you really study up and know exactly what you’re looking for."

And it's when people really educate themselves that they can see favorable results from a multiplicity of eating styles. Chef Eric says the main thing is to, "know your [target] end result, exactly what you want: you want to cut weight, you want to gain weight, increase certain carbohydrates or proteins or whatever the case is."

Ultimately, he said, it's about, "getting into the nitty gritty as far as the research and then actually behind the practice." And if you do all that and feel seriously committed to Keto in the end? Well then, "I think it's smart," he said.

Here's what else celebrities have said about Keto — on both sides of the debate: