'Don't Eat This Book'

(CBS)  Morgan Spurlock had a simple idea for a documentary. What would happen if someone ate McDonald's, and only McDonald's for 30 days straight? By the end, he had gained 25 pounds, added 65 points to his cholesterol count and developed other health problems.

Now he's taking on the state of nutrition for all Americans in his new book, "Don't Eat This Book."

Spurlock notes that for his book, he took a few McDonald's meals and compared the nutritional value, which is available to the public, and went and tested the food in a lab.

"What you find out is the nutrition information they provide you isn't up to par," he tells The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "The french fries had third more fat, third more calories. Almost twice as much sodium as they say. That's incredible when you compare how much more sodium is in this french fry. Chicken McNuggets, third more fat and calories. If you use this as a baseline or if you're relying on this to be quality information, you won't get the truth."

He also put some fries in a covered jar to see if they'd rot.

"Over about two months, ten-week period, the french fries stayed exactly the same," he says. "There was a guy I met while doing the book who in the last 13 years has had McDonald's food on a shelf in his apparent. For3 years none of this food has decomposed."

So his message to readers is to take time to eat well and take care of your health.

He says, "In the United States our power is our money. Use that power to make smart choices."

Read an excerpt from Chapter One:

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page »