Going Primal - Annoyances and Funny Stuff! page

[Iron Fireling]

To me, the Primal lifestyle seems pretty logical (when you read the science behind it, and consider what Grok and his kin would have naturally eaten on a daily basis), but geez as soon as you tell people you're cutting out grains and sugars, so many just freak out and assume you're on some weird and stupid diet .

My friend was actually quite annoyed with me when I firmly told her that NO I can't have coffee with her anymore (it needs to be SWEET for me to enjoy it), and NO I can't have crackers, or bread, or... In fact, she took it almost as a personal affront (but overall she's quite understanding so mostly got over it... although did tell me several times that I should have WAITED until a more opportune moment to go all hardcore).

Anyways, she took me out to lunch yesterday (she had a voucher for a restaurant in town and wanted to go there). Of course, there's virtually nothing on the menu that's really primal friendly (except for some really expensive steak, which I wasn't gonna make her pay for - her voucher covered maybe half the overall cost). However, there was pasta with a seafood sauce. The seafood sauce sounded okay! Maybe not perfect... but okay... no grains or sugar anyway!

So, I agree... it'd be fine without the pasta! So my friend goes up to order, and asks for a plate of pasta sauce for me . They girl at the counter looks a bit confused and asks if maybe I want rice, my friend says no. Now, I'm not sure how she explained the situation, but I'm pretty sure she must have said I was "on a diet" because a couple of minutes later the chef comes out and says, "well the sauce has cream in it, so is that okay?". I nod, yep, cream is okay. A minute or so passes, and the girl from the counter comes out and ALSO asks me if the cream is okay. Yes, I agree, the cream is fine. The looks these people gave me! You could see they were thinking, "WTH? She can't eat pasta but she can eat CREAM?!"

Then there's my oldest son who's doing a course for overweight kids. Yesterday they explained healthy eating . They used a pie chart which basically divided up all the important "food groups"... the largest, of course, being grains. Now, I'd pretty much told my son to IGNORE the nutrition advice that says "grains are good and fats are bad" but not to COMMENT on it. Of course, he's a complete smarta**, and HAD to comment on it and say how grains are bad and shouldn't be there at all . And meanwhile, everyone's talking about how we should be providing our kids with plenty of skim milk...

On the drive home, I told my son I'd be making him read some primal friendly nutrition, so he'd REALLY get it! (Yes, I've told him that grains and carb based foods are what's probably causing his weight issue, since he doesn't have access to much junk food, and never has... but I haven't shown him the science behind it, and I really think he'd benefit from it). Unfortunately, he still questions why there are so many thin people who seem to be able to eat "regular" food to their heart's content, while he can't.

But yeah... I do hate being the annoying person who refuses to eat "normal" food. Most people aren't ready to hear or learn about the truth, as they've been fed full of all the BS about how the majority of our diets should be wholegrain etc. People start freak out when they find out you're dumping "AN ENTIRE FOOD GROUP!" and some claim you even have some sort of eating disorder... I'm thinking I should just tell people I'm gluten intolerant? But even if I do... they'll just point me in the direction of "gluten free pasta and bread"... yep... no thanks. I wish people would sort of just... accept my decision and shut up!

[Goldie]

Iron, I just tell people that the grains make me feel rotten when I eat them--which is true. If they question me further and seem to understand celiac disease (which I don't have), I just say that I'm "sensitive" to grains. Then if they try to question me further, I just do the wide-eyed shocked innocent "Oh, I really don't think you want to hear about my intestinal problems (make yucky face here)..." and that usually shuts them up!

If they seem more interested than condemning, I start slowly with the indoctrination!

[GuineaPigQueen]

Before going primal I stayed away from gluten, dairy, and soy. I would just say I'm lactose/gluten intolerant. Some people do like to argue needlessly at one's lifestyle. Some just like to remind you that you're "wrong".

Going out can definitely be a challenge. Before my husband started adopting my eating habits I had to put some food items in my purse while we were out and about. That way he could eat what he wanted and so could I!