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Years ago I had an acquaintance who was always trying to get me on her latest diet du jour. Forget the fact that I was slim and she was heavy. Forget the fact that I was healthy and she was not. No matter how I approached it, she was sure that she knew the cure to all things and I knew nothing.

And the “cure” changed every few months, depending on what she was hyping at the time. She swore she had the best supplements every time.

Once when I had a cold, she harped on me to try her latest cure. I just needed to “detoxify,” she said.

Later that month we she was the one sniffling and sneezing and wheezing, I asked her why her magical potions hadn't cure her. Her response? “They did! This isn't a cold, my body is just on a cleanse!”

Whatever.

I've notices that when I read about almost any diet plan, the upsell is pricey bodybuilding supplements. You can lose weight with the plan, but “optimal results” will only come if you spend more, every month, for the rest of your life.

One season in college, I worked the training table, meaning I was one of the cafeteria workers who fed the football team enormous quantities of far-better-than-your-average-college-student food. While the rest of ate ramen noodles, the football team snacked on prime rib.

They have their own men, their own trainers, their own regimen. Sports nutrition is monitored more than advanced academics. The allocation of resources aside, does it really make that much difference?

All the hype aside, I tend to think that common sense tells us just about everything we need to know about health and nutrition. Generally speaking, veggies are good, donuts are bad. Water is good, soda is bad. Sure, monumental breakthroughs in physiology do come along. But the four food groups/food pyramid/my plate has changed enough times in my life to know that the body is complex and varied enough that there's a lot of guess work involved.

Rather than ride the latest fad, use some discernment to decide how to be healthy…and then take action.

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.