raising godzillas

What's your buy in to your way of eating?

Everybody has a way of eating. It may be something like the standard North American diet, which includes a lot of packaged and fast foods and not a lot of fresh veg, or you may be a raw organic vegan. You may eat whatever you want as long as it's real food, follow a paleo diet, or be a lacto /ovo vegetarian. Your religion may have dietary restrictions (Note: I'm not counting food allergies or intolerance here, as they are not really a matter of choice). And many of us, whatever way we eat, have differing levels of compliance. I call this "buy in".
Let me give you a few examples. I have a friend who is a vegan, but eats eggs from her neighbour's chickens because she can see what they are fed and how they are treated. I have had more than one Jewish friend tell me that "Everything is a Chinese restaurant is kosher, even if it isn't". A former co-worker who was vegetarian would eat meat when she went on missions to Haiti, because their hosts were feeding her out of their poverty and she would not insult them by turning it down. I have been on a semi paleo diet for two months now, but when Mother's Day and Chocolate Sunday at my church co-incided, I got a lovely homemade whoopie pie and ate every bite (with the help of a Benadryl) and I enjoyed it immensely
Since going down the paleo trail, I have of course checked out online communities related to that way of eating. I've seen the whole range of responses to noobs with questions, many of which are sure to just scare them off not just that board, but that way of eating altogether (If you somehow failed to miss this, this is true of everything An example:
Paleo Noob: I want to have some bread occasionally
Reply One : If you're going to have bread, get some really delicious stuff with all real ingredients from local artisan bakers. Make sure it's worth going off the plan!"
Reply 2-5  ALL BREAD IS EVIL WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE IF YOU STILL WANT BREAD!
And so it goes.
One thing I've figured out from reading other posts by different types of responders is- what brought them to eat the way they do? The most rabid ones tend to some  from a place of obesity, diabetes, or other severe health problems, while the more accepting were doing pretty well to begin with, but for some reason eating this way clicked with them ( see how I've gone from the specific to the general here?)
So, what's your way of eating? Why do you eat the way? Why do you make the exceptions you make? I'd love to hear.

posted by gojirama @ 1:30 PM