Life in the Fast Food Lane

With the typical fast food menu still loaded with items that will eventually make your arteries look like rush hour on the L.A. freeway, health-conscious shoppers have to know what's what before they place their order (no attendant says "that'll be $1.99, please, and...bless me, Oprah!, 30 grams of fat"). Forget Mad Cow disease, avoiding plain old arteriosclerosis (literally: "Big Mac Attack") should be incentive enough to just say no to hamburgers. Using a simple framing device of a teacher chatting with college students in a library, Life in the Fast Food Lane names names (and calories and fat grams) as it points out nutritional wrong turns on many fast food menus, from the cholesterol-laden burgers to the deep-fried (and high fat) chicken sandwiches. Viewers will learn how to make good choices from both the main selections (say, grilled chicken or a junior burger), as well as smart salad choices (go easy on those toppings). A handy nutritional chart is included with the video which provides at-a-glance nutritional breakdowns of popular items at McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, and others. A little pricey for nutritional advice, this is nevertheless a well-focused and detailed guide to eating healthy at fast food joints. Recommended. Aud: E, I, J, H, P. (R. Pitman)