I think we need a new diet: The iconic Taco Bell dog, pic­tured above, rep­re­sented an old brand iden­tity for the fast-food chain which as recently adopted a “Healthy Alternative” in the Drive-thru Diet. Photo Courtesy MCT

Jumping on the national band­wagon to pro­mote healthy eat­ing, the fast food restau­rant Taco Bell is pro­mot­ing a new “Drive-Thru Diet.”

The menu, which fea­tures seven items with less than nine grams of fat, is being backed by the franchise’s new spokes­woman Christine Dougherty, who lost 54 pounds by fol­low­ing the plan.

Fast food estab­lish­ments claim­ing that their food is healthy is noth­ing new, and this cam­paign by Taco Bell is as decep­tive as it is enchanting.

No mat­ter the estab­lish­ment, one can eat fast food and still lose weight. What is not being so avidly adver­tised by the fast food giant is that Dougherty also made a con­scious effort to reduce her over­all calo­rie intake to 1,250 daily to drop the pounds.

Despite what it is that one is eat­ing, so long as one intakes fewer calo­ries (a unit describ­ing the energy con­tained in a given food item) and expends more energy, they will lose weight.

Eating 1,250 calories-worth of ched­dar cheese per day and hit­ting the gym will result in weight loss. Though, one may find them­selves vitamin-deficient and with sky-high cho­les­terol lev­els (see the “Atkins Diet” for more on that problem).

However, I think it is disin­gen­u­ous for any fast food estab­lish­ment, espe­cially one that includes 1,000-calorie Volcano Nachos on its menu, to pro­mote the idea that they care about their cus­tomers’ health.

The fact of the mat­ter is that a busi­ness will adver­tise itself in any way that it can to appeal to more peo­ple. Since its con­sumers are cur­rently keen on the idea of being able to lose weight while still indulging in con­ve­nience food, Taco Bell is try­ing to cap­i­tal­ize on this sit­u­a­tion with the “Drive-Thru Diet.”

Even if one arrives at the drive-thru with the best of inten­tions, such as get­ting one grilled-steak soft taco for 160 calo­ries, it is easy to be mis­led into think­ing some of the other food items are equally as health­ful, like the Fiesta Taco Salad for a whop­ping 770 calories.

The new “Drive-Thru Diet” by Taco Bell is just another way that this com­pany is try­ing to line its pock­ets. If the fran­chise were truly con­cerned for its cus­tomers’ health, most of its menu items would come with a warn­ing sticker and a jump rope.

“Caution, Volcano Nachos con­tain 95 per­cent of the FDA-recommended fat intake for a per­son on a 2,000 calo­rie diet. Side effects of Volcano Nachos include increased risk of heart attack and increased size of butt.”