I am wise because I helped my mother lower her blood pressure and my dad probably thinks that I imbued magnesium with magical feel-good powers (I just gave him citrate which actually gets absorbed).

So I'm a wizard, and wizards are geeks but they also get to use awesome magic.

I have a history with eating disorders so my credibility is sort of shot in the family circle. They probably see my interest in paleo eating as another manifestation of my obsession with food, but they indulge me, because hey - "at least she's eating." Honestly, if the roles were reversed I probably wouldn't take me seriously until I'd stuck with it for a year or two, or until some measurable health benefits showed up. So far I've only been at this a few months.

That said - I have got them using coconut oil, and interested in the idea of grass-fed meat. As I told my Mom last week: "It's not just that you are what you eat; you are what you eat ate."

Smug bastard who has lost a lot of weight, but is certain to die from "cholesterol".

Squares-ville, but it is all good. Long time friends and family are cool with it, and I am seldom noticed in social food settings as the odd man out. I mask my "paleo-strictness" with an easy-going attitude.

Rebel - I don't eat the cake.

My relatives think I am crazy, and for some odd reason they think I am vegan just because I eat vegetables. They have seen me eat pounds of meat in one sitting countless of times but they seem to overlook the meat and see the veggies. You don't know how much times I have been given fake eggs, soy meat, and a bunch of other crap because they think I am that kinda of healthy, you know, the ones afraid of fat and cholesterol. They also think I am weird because one: I don't eat tortillas, a big no-no for a Mexican; two I don't eat beans, another big no-no for a Mexican, and three because I eat weird vegetables. You could imagine how much awkward stares I get at parties. Their motto is, your going to die anyway, so why bother.

I've convinced my brother, who has - along with his wife - jumped on the paleo/primal bandwagon whole-heartedly. Our sisters, on the other hand, think we're nuts (especially the RN). My husband and I have also convinced a couple of our (diabetic) employees that this is the way they should be eating and I've become their own personal Health and Nutrition Guru. The rest of them, though, think we're nuts.

So, neither a rebel nor a square - just off my rocker, apparently.

I'm a total square. I used to sing "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound" with my posse, but now I just get "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" sung at me.

My family views me as a total orthorexic square. But I prefer Jedi-In-Training ;)

My family first thought I was some sort of fanatic, finally has ended up accepting what I do when I came up with super results on my lipids test. I am not sure though how much of my arguments they agree with, and how much they accept just to avoid arguing with me...

My wife thinks I'm ok (lucky me), and she is paleo too, as are the little boys. But the rest of the family reacts kind of strange: they find me strange, but they are proud of me (us) as well...

A few weeks ago, a Belgian scientific magazine (a bit like scientific american) had an article on both barefoot running and paleo-diets. My father immediately noticed it, and sent it to me. Proud that his son has been doing things like this for three years, and now it catching on in mainstream (although very, very slowly over here).

I've never been a rebel, just for being contrarian, but if I have good reasons to do or be otherwise that most, I just don't care what people think. I run and hike barefoot. I say no to cake. I lick my plate.

No, the latter is not entirely true, at least, I don't do it while eating out. I just do it at home.

I am totally a NUTRITION GEEK to everyone in my life. My family always comes to me with weird questions, the girls at the gym ask me stuff after asking the trainer, just to check on him. Guys at work appear at my desk and ask me stuff about food.

Even if my ideas are rebellious, it's just seen as a manifestation of my complete and total nerdiness in regards to food and weight loss.

A little bit of both. The boring rebel perhaps. Or someone who has to take health serious because it's the field he's going into. I'm pretty good about coming to family events prepared and not making a big fuss about what I can and can not eat? "Want a beer?" "Nah. Do you have any wine?" rather than "Wish I could but I don't do gluten." They all know. I don't bring it up unless prodded directly. And when conversation dies, it always manages to come up. My mother has an autoimmune disease and I've begged her to take gluten out of her diet for just a month and see if things go better. Not happening yet.

I find that most people can't understand it. They all have no problem excepting vegans but I'm the weird one. So I guess I'm kinda perceived as a rebel..... but in a bad way. I'm kinda tired of people telling me gluten is not bad for you. A lot of them think if you just don't drink soda and work out all the time.... that's healthy. Or eat tons of soy.

I have two social circles - the paleo/fitness circle and the hillbilly/4h/country folk circle. I'm just a normal person in the first circle and probably a "hippy" in the second circle. Most of my family, including a large extended family probably think I'm a bit of a fanatic. It doesn't really matter what they think, but it's nice to know that I've affected a few to try and change their eating habits. :-)

I think most of my coworkers view me as a square as all they hear when I say "I'm avoiding wheat" is "No bread." Lunch often ends up at some type of deli and, when I am tired of the salads, I get a sandwich or a wrap of some sort without the bread/tortilla. Even the people taking the order pause for a second, lol.

I'm pretty sure my husband doesn't know what to think as I used to give him the hunks of steak that had fat on them...now I devour them wholeheartedly! He must feel left out. 8)

Pretty much everyone is saying "what does your doctor say?" I haven't told him. I'm sure he'd think I'm crazy. My vegan sister thinks I'm killing myself, it's The China Syndrome vs. Paleo, impossible to agree with each other, the only exception being that we both eat a lot of plants.

Seems like a lot of people think of this as totally fringe (which I guess it is?) and nutty.
"It's that caveman diet,"they say. As for the nerd stuff, I'm still trying to understand it before I start talking to other people about it.

I'm a square peg in a world of round holes in pretty much every aspect of my life, I think my family is just use to my idiosnycrasies. They think I'm a nut and all ... but we all have our quirks, some more than others. XD Won't stop me from bein' paleo though.

I've always been the weird one, I think, in my family. However, something about my diet simply makes sense and my family is taking heed.

When I first went GF, I shared my findings with my sister and she took to it right away. She's lost something like eighty pounds and is in the process of transforming herself in celebration of her thirtieth birthday and is thrilled with the results. She's actually very close to being Paleo, since she recently dropped dairy as she discovered it makes her sick.

Recently, I spoke to my mum about the research I've found and how it might help her, and she's agreed to attempt a gluten free diet. I called her tonight and she seems pleased with the progress she's made, and I'm delighted that she took the time to listen to me and seriously consider what I was saying. She asked many questions and took notes, and told me she'll call me after her next grocery haul to cross-reference it with me. Because my mother is trying it, my kid brother has also agreed to try GF to see if it helps him any. He, too, has many questions and is impressed with the research I've linked him to.

The fact that they listened to me and regarded my feelings as important when I conversed with them, and trust in me and my judgment enough to emulate my diet, makes me feel very loved and accepted. I'm very proud of them for having an open mind and taking charge of their health. My family is pretty awesome. :)

I'm not full-on paleo, more in a process of dietary evolution, as it were. And I think I would only get to the point of something like lacto-paleo. (Unless I turn out to have a milk protein allergy or just cannot lose all my excess weight with it in my diet, I am NOT giving up dairy.) But my family's not one that I can really talk with intelligently about this. There are all sorts of intelligence levels in the bunch but there's more than one way to be smart, you know? A while back I had to explain to my father, the former U.S. Navy senior chief petty officer, what kidneys do. Going into diet minutiae would go right over his head.

A shame, too. He could stand to benefit from it. Several of them could.

I do have a bit of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) so I am seen as an obsessive bitch Natzi (the german blood) for sure. also as: paranoid..an exetremist. Even my dentist this morning insisted that Flouride (toxic?) is very good, a diet needs to contain a bit of everything and he has never heard of remineralization of teeth

But I still added before leaving: I believe otherwise

I don't think doctors of any type like to be contradicted by we non-doctors. (bitches or not)

Didn't think dairy or coffee were paleo.