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What prejudice about the paleo lifestyle has most shocked you? Has anybody ever pigeonholed you or made blanket assumptions about you or somebody else just because they've heard that you or that person happen to be paleo?

Dish on your horror stories...and whether you did anything to dispel any false stereotypes, confirm any true ones, or just let things slide to avoid an argument.

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17 Answers

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Last night my 14 year old says "mom what are you making for dinner?" I tell him paleo chili - he says "Does that mean you're making it with dinosaur meat?" What a smartass!

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I would have said "Paleo not Mesozoic Era - which is divided into Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods; you're grounded until your science grades improve." – mth Jun 10 2011 at 13:24
haha - You're smarter than I am and he got an A in science...hmm! – HeatherC Jun 10 2011 at 13:53
omg good one, mth! – texasleah Jun 10 2011 at 14:23
Maybe one day soon you can, with a chickenasarus ted.com/talks/… – Vrimj Jun 10 2011 at 14:54
cheeky kid you have there! :) – Thumper Jun 10 2011 at 14:55
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People think we eat nothing but meat. Nevermind I'm eating more vegetables than ever before.

I just get so tired of people thinking we're the abnormal ones. Yeah, you know, cause all that garbage of the SAD is NATURAL.

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yep, people look at my plate, miss the great huge pile of veg, focus on the meat and say, aren't you eating an awful lot of meat these days? – Karen Jun 26 at 14:24
At the same time that they are eating a tiny salad and a pile of fried potatoes. – Karen Jun 26 at 14:25
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"You eat like a caveman? Those guys only lived to be 30, you know."

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Yes. I got this a lot at the beginning. – sherpamelissa Jun 10 2011 at 17:06
I still hear that one too! – HeatherC Jun 10 2011 at 17:12
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The association with fringey and dangerous pseudoscience like the anti-vax movement.

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I feel the same way! In fact, they should triple the amounts of aluminum, themerisol and "chinese hamster ovary cells" amongst other things into ALL vaccines! In fact, I'll spring for the HFCS/aspartame chaser! EPIC FAIL. – L. Peltier Jun 10 2011 at 15:45
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Agreed. I had the pertussis booster last year. Getting it isn't a big deal for me, but it kills babies. Going my part to keep the larger tribe healthy seems like an easy ethical choice. Given the studies I really can't understand people who put herd immunity at risk. – Vrimj Jun 10 2011 at 18:43
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Maybe you should have gotten two boosters! I have NEVER been vaccinated, nor sick in 42 years. My kids aren't vaccinated. You can have theirs. Hell, my dogs aren't even vaccinated. You can have theirs, too! – L. Peltier Jun 10 2011 at 19:05
@L. Peltier I would gladly do so if I could thereby aid herd immunity; in fact I really do wish it could work that way. – Vrimj Jun 10 2011 at 19:25
How do you get kids into school without vaccines these days? I always have to provide proof that my spawn has been properly inoculated from scary nastiness. – HeatherC Jun 11 2011 at 0:52
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Most people I know haven't heard of "paleo" and as such haven't formed any assumptions or stereotypes.

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You've discovered part of my motives in asking; I wanted to see if paleo's already getting well-known enough to foster stereotypes, if any. ;) – familygrokumentarian Jun 10 2011 at 23:36
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I'm tired of seeing that Banksy caveman image.

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I've had people assume it means low carb/atkins. That annoys me. To me it's not about macronutrients, but about nutrient quality.

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I think the idea that normal Paleo people eat raw meat needs to go away.

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I was reading this ridiculous blogger on Mothering.com (I don't even have kids; purely entertainment, haha) and she was going on about how she eats "the Primal Diet" which she described as all raw. I wanted to chime in on the comments, but it was too much work creating an account on Mothering.com... o_O – Jules K Jun 10 2011 at 13:20
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I have read a couple of articles that suggest that the Paleo diet is all about eating rotten ("high") meat. There are interviews with some knuckleheads that talk about how the taste and smell is "not that bad" and then talk up the health benefits. Every other aspect of the Paleo / Primal diet is not mentioned.

It's almost like someone is trying to denounce the diet...

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These paleo people need to go back to their caves. One took my woman, one took my job, and a pack of them ate my dog!

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Most people I know other than hubs don't know about paleo, but one of my friend views it that I'm on a very strict diet. Kinda gives me a cringe a bit cause I don't see Paleo as a "diet"

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I go back and forth on whether I think this is a strict/limited way of eating or not. After a year now, it just feels so natural... – stephthegeek Jun 10 2011 at 19:05
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Just like Vrimj said, people mistake me as a vegan and attack me for it.

Most people don't know what paleo is, but when they see what I eat, they are often disgusted lol! I eat butter, and they tell me I'll get heart attacks, high cholesterol, die... and then when they see I avoid gluten and a lot of other foods, they think I am a picky, elitist doosh.

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Honestly it is one of the things about my lifestyle that people are the least surprised about and have the fewest negative assumptions.

I do think people expect me to be vegan, but as long as I have some bizarre eating habits new acquaintances are happy :)

In other words, it is the rest of my life people find shocking, not what I eat.

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Oooh! Do tell, what else do you do that's shocking?! – sherpamelissa Jun 10 2011 at 17:06
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Well I think it is normal but I am a witch and I live with my boyfriend and his wife :) – Vrimj Jun 10 2011 at 17:07
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Really? Cool! Wiccan paleo is the rarest of breeds. – Kamal Jun 10 2011 at 18:43
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You would think there would be more of a link between people who recreate a modern version of ancient religions and those who recreate a modern version of ancient diets, but that has been my experience as well :) – Vrimj Jun 10 2011 at 19:23
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When I first told my mother about Paleo (and all of the health benefits associated with it), the first thing out of her mouth was, "How much do you weigh now?"

I reported my weight to her, and she seemed satisfied, and remarked, "I just wanted to make sure your diet wasn't making you fat."

Because, you know, our society got obese from eating dead animal flesh.

(In her defense, she doesn't give two hoots about my weight; she was so impressed by Paleo that she wanted to try it. Just, not at the risk of losing her figure.)

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I get tired of people asking me how I can eat, with having to hunt and forage my dinner, even though we all live in a megacity.

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Here's the one assumption that drives me nuts. It's when people act like I never learned the conventional "wisdom" that high-fat diets cause heart attacks, eating red meat causes cancer, etc. If I'm eating so much meat and eggs, I must not know any better, or maybe I just don't care about my health. It doesn't occur to these people that maybe I know something they don't know!

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The 2 most recent for me:

"Oh so you fell for a fad diet"

"You know Dr. Atkins died of a heart attack?"

The proof is in the (lack of) pudding though when I'm way healthier than the rest of my family and friends.

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