Balance Blog

Another new year, another outrageous new diet claim. This time the culprit is Taco Bell with their “Drive-Thru Diet.” You’ve probably already seen the commercials about Christine who wanted to lose weight but wanted to keep eating fast food. So she turned to the Taco Bell Fresco menu, which offers items ranging from  150 calories to 340 calories and 4 to 8 gms of fat. All in all she was eating about 1,250 calories a day and lost 54 pounds over the last two years.

So of course this has many people asking: Is it possible?

Megan P. Nash, personal trainer at Balance Gym, who also holds an MS in Health Promotion and is a Certified Health Education Specialist, said she “busted out laughing when she saw the commercial the first time. “It was plastered with disclaimers, it’s really just a marketing gimmick. The  Drive-Thru diet doesn’t really offer anything healthy.” As a matter of fact, the first thing you see when visiting the Taco Bell site is this statement: As you know, the Drive-Thru Diet® menu is not a weight-loss program.

Megan explains that it’s all about calorie control. “It’s not a trick, you can eat Ben and Jerry’s everyday as long as you are eating fewer calories,” she explained. ”However, as a health professional, I say avoiding fast food all together is the best option. Of course that’s not always a reality, so if you do find yourself at fast food joint while traveling, check out the children’s menu, which tends to offer somewhat healther menu options.”

The bottom line, says Megan, that yes you will lose weight if your burning more calories than you’re taking in, but nutrition-wise, it’s all about the quality of your food, not just quantity.

And let’s face it, the only way Taco Bell is going to improve your workouts is that it will have you running to the bathroom.