Chapter I<br >WARNING: THE GOOD LIFE<br >CAN BE DANGEROUS TO<br >YOUR HEALTH<br >If you are an average American， you are committing a very slow form of<br >suicide. It is called "nutritional roulette，" and it is a much more dangerous<br >game than Russian Roulette， because all the chambers except one are loaded.<br > Even though the United States has the best that modern science， medicine， and<br >technology have to offer， it is very difficult to find your way to proper diet and<br >physical fitness amid junk foods， high-fat "gourmet" dinners， chemical addi-<br > tives， fad diets， and the sedentary life style.<br > Malnutrition in this country has reached alarming proportions -- and it is<br > not just the poor who are suffering; it is also the affluent， who have the money<br >to buy whatever foods they want and the time to get the proper exercise， but<br >who choose instead an inadequate diet and a daily routine that encourages<br >physical deterioration.<br > "Malnutrition" does not mean simply "insufficient food." It refers<br >specifically to the lack of nutrients in the diet and to an improper and in-<br >adequate balance to keep the body functioning. Starvation is not the only form<br >of malnutrition. You can be 20 pounds overweight and yet not have the nu-<br >trients your body needs to do its job of upkeep.<br > It has been estimated that six out of every ten people in the United States<br >over the age of twenty-five are overweight. Of those six， three are "overfat，"<br >which means that fat tissue has infiltrated the muscular tissue and the tissues of<br >the vital organs. This condition is not always easy to recognize just by looking<br >at a person. Someone may be only 10 percent overweight， while being 20<br >percent overfat because of inactivity. For example， a man who should weigh<br >150 might weigh 165 and look presentable; however， he could be 20 percent<br >overfat and endangering his health. Unfortunately， most people do not worry<br >about their diet as long as they maintain a good appearance; they are less<br >concerned with their health than with how they look.<br > It is interesting to consider how "prime" meat is produced and to compare<br >that process with what we are doing to ourselves. Prime beef is obtained by<br >confining cattle in small pens to keep them from getting exercise and by<br >force-feeding them with a rich high-calorie diet， so that- after they are<br >slaughtered and sold as prime meat -- every cut is laced with a fine webbing of<br >fat. If you are overweight， and if you are considerably less active than you<br >ought to be， picture a nice juicy， fat-filled steak as you see it in the supermar-<br >ket. That is how your own muscles may look if you are the typical American.<br >What you cannot see are the fat deposits under the skin and surrounding the<br >