Don’t Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America
by Morgan Spurlock
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.
