Fast-food companies are suddenly worried about your waistline

It's a new year, and that means die-hard gym rats like myself are putting up with a flood of resolutionists (resolutionistas?) who've decided it's time to lose those extra 20 pounds. (If history is any guide, they'll be out of my way within a month.) But I can't blame them for being influenced by the annual wave of advertising from weight-loss products, fitness clubs and supplements that are nudging, shaming and/or frightening them to get off the couch and check their girth. But there's an unexpected new player in this game now: fast-food chains touting "low-cal" goods. Taco Bell, home to the fourthmeal (the one between dinner and breakfast) has rolled out a Drive-Thru Diet campaign, seemingly without a trace of irony. Dunkin' Donuts is pushing egg-white breakfast sandwiches. And Starbucks is promoting "skinny" lattes. (Subway's Jared is starting to look like the surgeon general by comparison.) For those "heavy users," the loyal backbone of the fast-food industry, it could be time to rejoice. For the rest of us, it's buyer beware.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley