Give Us This Day Our Daily Burrito Supreme

The New York Times is running a piece on fast food chains' attempts to market themselves as diet-friendly by touting their "healthier" offerings. As the article points out, the "lighter" fare on fast food menus are often still nutritionally disastrous in other ways, but there are nonetheless plenty of folks who want to lose weight without giving up their regular visits to Taco Bell and Dunkin' Donuts.

One such person is Christine Dougherty, who lost 54 pounds over a two-year period while ordering items off the "Fresco" menu at Taco Bell five to eight times per week. (She's now the spokesperson for Taco Bell's "Drive-Thru Diet" campaign.) Why was Dougherty so devoted to Taco Hell? “I don’t like to cook, and I wanted to be realistic without changing my lifestyle too much,” she says.

I've been a lifelong Taco Bell enthusiast, but seriously? If you're truly committed to getting healthy and turning your life around, then a drastic lifestyle change is exactly what's in order. You don't like cooking? Fine. Make yourself a salad or a sandwich. Eat an apple and some yogurt. Grab some almonds and cheese. You don't have to spend much time in the kitchen to eat well, or to eat cheaply. And I'm no diet Nazi; if you feel the occasional need to indulge or cheat, that's fine -- just make sure the food and/or the experience is worth it.

So unless you honestly believe that the chemically-formulated taste of ultra-processed fast food meals are worth the massive sodium intake, STOP EATING AT TACO BELL EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY.