With obesity rates in this country at an all time high, the food industry has responded. Many eating establishments have added healthier options to their menus, including smaller portions and a selection of lower calorie foods. However, one fast food chain has gone as far as promoting their menu items as “diet food.”

Taco Bell’s newest ads feature a customer who states she lost 54 pounds over two years by choosing options from their Fresco menu, which offers seven different items with nine grams of fat or less. While lower in fat than some of the other options on the menu, these items are far from healthy and offer little, if any, nutritional value. The advertisement, like many other claims that promote weight loss without sacrifice or much effort, is riddled with disclaimers, stating the results aren’t typical, the menu items are not a low calorie food and that the spokeswoman made “other sensible choices.”

Advertisements like these continue to send the wrong message when it comes to dieting and weight loss. Rather than promote the eating of a balanced diet or exercise, these misleading claims may play in to many peoples desire for quick results without making the necessary lifestyle changes, as well as possibly appeal to those with busy lives by offering a fast, convenient meal. Healthy eating involves more than just cutting calories. It involves eating a balanced, nutritional diet, which is something that probably won’t happen with a daily trip to the drive-thru.