"So you're like, Paleo?"

A realistic conversation I've had with various people:

Well-meaning person: “So, you don’t eat wheat? Do you have that disease where you’re allergic to gluten?”

Me: “No, I don’t have any diseases that I know of.”

WMP: “Oh…are your kids allergic to gluten? Is that why you eat this way?”

Me: “No, no one in my family is allergic to gluten that I know of.”

WMP: “I don’t understand. You just choose to eat gluten free?”

Me: “Yes and no. I don’t specifically eat gluten-free. I choose not to eat certain grains and various other foods that my body reacts poorly to.”

WMP: “No grains? That’s like that Paleo diet, right? The one where people lose a lot of weight?”

Me: “Paleo is different. Paleo is strictly no grains with other restrictions as well. I do not restrict myself to have certain foods as to follow a certain diet. I simply eat foods that I like and if they don’t make me feel good, I choose to eat less of them. In the case of wheat, it has such a severe adverse reaction to my body that I choose not to eat it at all. The reactions I get from eating wheat are not worth the minutes of wonderful bread taste in my mouth. Though I do miss bread every day, I have learned to live without it.”

WMP: “So, you’re not gluten-free and you’re not paleo. What are you then?”

Me: “I’m human.”