I have a tricky time talking to people who subscribe to fad diets. I don&#x27;t want to discourage people from caring about their health. The fact that they have gone from eating whatever to trying to control their diet is a positive step and I want to encourage them for doing that in the first place.<p>But then there&#x27;s garbage crap like paleo and &quot;cleanses&quot; that are ridiculous and can be actively harmful. So how do you tell someone their diet is stupid while not insulting them for caring about their diet? Mostly I settle for trying to give them well-written articles by scientists and nutritionists to read, but at the end of the day, I&#x27;m not their main source of information and good information gets drowned out in the hours spent on Pinterest.<p>It gets even trickier with diets like gluten-free. The vast majority of people on gluten-free diets do not have any gluten allergy. But, as you said, cutting down carbs would vastly improve the health of most Americans. So, cutting out gluten also cuts down on carbs which leads to a healthy outcome, even though there is actually no reason for them to cut down on gluten itself.<p>So their reason for cutting down on carbs is wrong, but the final effect is good. Is this misconception worth correcting? Can I tell them they don&#x27;t actually have an allergy and it&#x27;s OK to have a bagel or a beer if it fits their calorie requirements? Would that be defeating the ultimate goal of improving their health?<p>In the end, mostly I just butt out. Let people do whatever they feel is best to their bodies and I&#x27;ll continue to do so to mine: &quot;eat food; not too much; mostly plants.&quot;