Product Description

The literary debut of the funniest and most incisive new voice to come along since Michael Moore-and the acclaimed director of the film phenomenon of the year.

Can man live on fast food alone? Morgan Spurlock tried to do just that. For thirty days, he ate nothing but three "squares" a day from McDonald's as part of an investigation into the effects of fast food on American health. The resulting documentary won him resounding applause and a worldwide release that broke box-office records. Audiences were captivated by Spurlock's experiment, during which he gained twenty-five pounds, his blood pressure skyrocketed, and his libido all but disappeared.

But this story goes far beyond Spurlock's good-humored "Mc-Sickness." He traveled across the country-into schools, hospitals, and people's homes -to investigate school lunch programs, the marketing of fast food, and the declining emphasis on health and physical education. He looks at why fast food is so tasty, cheap, and ultimately seductive, and what Americans can do to turn the rising tide of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes that have accompanied its ever-growing popularity. He interviewed experts in twenty U.S. cities-from surgeon generals and kids to lawmakers and marketing gurus-who share their research, opinions, and "gut feelings" on our ever-expanding girth and what we can all do to offset a health crisis of supersized proportions.

In this groundbreaking, hilarious book, "benevolent muckraker" Morgan Spurlock debuts a wry investigative voice that will appeal to anyone interested in the health of our country, our children, and ourselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #231163 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Fact-packed and funny, this offshoot of Spurlock's Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me serves both as a substitute for and addition to the movie. Spurlock spent a month not exercising and eating nothing but food from McDonald's, filming his declining health and ballooning size. It was a terrific premise for a movie; the book provides even more of its backstory and outtakes. Spurlock describes America's obesity epidemic, its relation to the fast food industry, the industry's cozy relations to U.S. government agencies and how the problem is spreading worldwide. He details the long-term and often fatal (albeit well-known) health hazards of the high-fat, high-sugar, factory-farmed fast food diet combined with the sedentary lifestyle prevalent among Americans. The statistics, while grim, aren't as compelling as Spurlock's often humorous descriptions of his own gradual disintegration into exhaustion, mood swings, liver deterioration and high blood pressure as his month progresses. Spurlock's wisecracks make the statistic-laden information easily digestible and possibly useful as a classroom text. He includes inspiring examples of schools that provide healthy, local (even student-grown) food in their cafeterias, and offers lists of resources for parents and educators wanting to make changes in their own communities. Spurlock is surprisingly optimistic about the future, and his book is a powerful tool in his rip-roaring campaign to turn around America's love-hate relationship with fast food. Agent, Elyse Cheney Literary. (May 19)

From AudioFile
If you've read FAST FOOD NATION or FATLAND, or if you've seen Morgan Spurlock's documentary, SUPERSIZE ME--in which Spurlock spent one month living on McDonald's food--you may wonder what can be added to the vilification of the U.S. fast-food industry. Surprisingly, DON'T EAT THIS DOOK is packed with plenty of fresh health and nutrition facts. (Do American grandparents REALLY exercise more than their grandkids?) Unlike Spurlock's popular documentary--a merger of muckraking and performance art--his audiobook focuses on a more specific point: Corporate forces have compromised our desires, our freedom of choice, and our ability to make objective decisions. With his hint of a Kentucky accent, Spurlock is a homespun and invigorating reader. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Spurlock, whose film documentary Super Size Me, earned an Oscar nomination and substantial media attention earlier this year, expands into a book his polemic against fast food in general and McDonald's in particular. He rails against America's ubiquitous burger outlets, holding them uniquely responsible for the country's obesity crisis and fretting that these corporations' overseas successes have spread worldwide the least seemly fruits of U.S. economic and agricultural success. With insight, he links Americans' expanding girth to consumers' demand for larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles, such as SUVs. He cites research demonstrating that fats are bad for people, sugar is bad for people, meat is bad for people, and advertising's seductions multiply these health perils exponentially. This is territory already well explored and thoroughly mapped in Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (2002) and Nestle's Food Politics (2003). Spurlock's ingenuous persona and his bumptious spiritedness added immeasurably to the film's charm and provided both entertainment and plausibility despite his sweeping generalizations and shaky conclusions. In print, this gee-whiz approach makes him come across as a lightweight, overshadowing and undermining whatever serious purpose he intended and whatever valid charges he might have brought against today's fast-food behemoths; however, the popularity of his documentary will spur demand for his book. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

This book changed the way I eat
This is a good introduction into the investigation of what we eat. It pretty much describes the tip of the iceberg of the food industry's dark side. I have since changed my eating habits dramatically.
It's a great book and a really quick read. If this book is your introduction into the horror's of fast food-get it. However if you have been following this for sometime, you won't find anything new and the books 2004 copyright does make the info a bit dated. Overall though, I highly recommend it.

Disturbing.....
I've read Fast Food Nation and seen the Super Size Me movie - this book is a great follow-up. Well written and gives a lot of insight into the movie.

It's pretty gross what they do to our food.....

Funny and informative companion to "Super Size Me"
We're probably all familiar with Morgan Spurlock and the 30-day, all MacDonald's diet he went on in 2003. The idea was to publicize the health effects of America fast food life style and it was a smash. Spurlock practically destroyed his liver and circulatory system in the process, but he made his point. Don't Eat This Book" makes many of the same points that the movie did -- that the fast food industry sells us a high-fat, high-sugar and high-sodium diet; that it works hard to hook kids via toys, bright colors and animation; that its claims about the nutritive value of its products is fallacious; and that the industry is now exporting this harmful diet around the world.

Spurlock uses humor and an aw-shucks persona to deliver hard messages. Type II diabetes is becoming an epidemic in America, especially among kids. We are being relentlessly targeted by ads to buy food that is bad for us, and in super-enormous portions. And that there are alternatives -- eating local, organic food and gathering for dinner at home -- that make the food experience more satisfying and healthful. What was new in "Don't eat this book" was Spurlock's post-production experiences with the fast food industry. By direct attacks (press briefings and passing out flyers in movie theaters) and more subtle attacks using media outlets beholden to their corporate advertisers, MacDonald's tried to paint Spurlock as the bad guy for a creating a stunt that did not match the way their customers actually consume fast food. In the end, Spurlock wins the battle, but it appears that fast food is still winning the war. What will determine the contest is whether ordinary Americans will be persuaded by Spurlock, or just follow convenience to (if Spurlock is to be believed) the fast food yellow rainbow and an early grave.