At the other extreme of the axis is the homosexual who assumes a masculine identification. He is driven to gratify his sexual need in a homosexual fashion because he is too frightened of women to perform heterosexually, but, notwithstanding, he rejects violently any representation of himself as feminine.

Superior carbohydrates are supplied by root vegetables, whole-grain breads and cereals, and fresh fruits and juices. Though all starch is easily changed into sugar in the intestine, this conversion is sufficiently gradual that sugar is released slowly and can thus give a sustained energy pickup. Refined sugar over stimulates the production of insulin and alkaline digestive juices, interferes with the absorption of proteins, calcium, and many other minerals, and retards the growth of valuable intestinal bacteria; hence it should be used sparingly and only to increase palatability.

If sufficient calories are not obtained, body protein and/ or the proteins supplied in foods are used for calories. When the calorie needs are high, ,such foods as bananas, dried fruits, baked yams, cooked whole-grain cereals, root vegetables, and a variety of breadstuffs made of nutritious ingredients can be emphasized. Frozen undiluted fruit juices served over yogurt as a sundae or added to milk drinks can supply natural sugar as well as other nutrients in concentrated form.

All varieties of animals kept on vitamin-E-deficient diets develop muscular dystrophy provided they can live long enough. Human muscular dystrophy and atrophy appear to be identical to this experimentally produced illness. In both the laboratory and the human disease the oxygen requirement is tremendously increased; many enzymes and coenzymes needed for normal muscle function are markedly reduced; and muscles throughout the body become injured and weakened as the essential fatty acids forming structural parts of muscle cells are destroyed. Numerous nutrients leak out of the damaged cells, and eventually the muscles are largely replaced by scar tissue. The muscles split longitudinally, which, incidentally, makes one wonder if vitamin-E deficiency plays a causative role in hernia, especially in babies known to be woefully deficient in this vitamin.

For months or years before muscular dystrophy can be diagnosed, amino acids and a substance known as creatine are lost in the urine, both showing that muscles are breaking down. If vitamin E is given at this time, before the disease has progressed too far, the destruction of muscle tissue stops completely, as shown by cessation of creatine excretion. In animals--and probably humans--the disease is produced much more rapidly if the diet is deficient in protein and/or vitamins A or B6 as well as vitamin E, but even then the dystrophy can still be corrected by vitamin E alone.

Overweight persons maintained alternately on 800-calorie diets supplying mostly oil or carbohydrate lost far more on the diet containing oil and spontaneously used an average of 400 extra calories daily. Hospital patients given different diets having the same number of calories also lost the most weight while receiving one containing oil, found it easiest to adhere to, and did not regain their lost weight as long as the oil was continued. Persons reducing without oil regained their weight most rapidly, whereas individuals whose diets contained oil continued to lose. In one investigation, overweight patients were merely asked to use oils instead of other fats and to limit their intake of starches and sugars; of their own choice they ate an average of 600 calories less than usual per day and all lost weight. When food has been marked with radioactive carbon and given in several diets containing the same number of calories, the least fat was stored on the diet containing oil but little carbohydrate. Patients who lost nothing on a 500 calorie diet of carbohydrate did lose when allowed 2,600 calories daily supplied by protein and fat of which part was oil. Numerous other studies have produced similar results. Yet as important as oils are, only a small amount is needed daily.

Physicians are realizing that not everyone should be urged to reduce. Superficial emotional problems which prompt people to overeat can result from inadequate diets, but obesity is often an unconscious defense mechanism for individuals who have had severe emotional deprivations early in life. Regardless of how much they may hate being overweight, they are healthier because of it. When these persons force themselves to reduce, they often have emotional breakdowns, suffer from such marked depression that they develop suicidal tendencies, are overcome with guilt, disgust, and self-hatred at "being weak and gluttonous," and become addicted to alcohol, cigarettes, and coffee. If possible, such people should forget about reducing and merely strive to build health. They are usually cheerful, witty, intelligent individuals who make worth-while contributions to society.

Persons suffering from atherosclerosis often have a particularly high intake of refined sugar which, if not burned, is quickly converted into saturated fat. Animals fed sugar instead of starch develop high blood cholesterol; and the essential fatty acids in their blood and tissues decrease far more than when starch is fed. The blood cholesterol of healthy volunteers fell when they ate unrefined starches, but substituting sugar caused their blood fats and cholesterol to increase markedly. In the United States the consumption of such foods as potatoes, dry beans and peas, and whole-grain bread and cereals has unfortunately decreased steadily while the sugar intake has increased and paralleled the rise in atherosclerosis. If we are to combat this disease, natural starches should be appreciated and refined sugar restricted. The more deficient diets become, however, the greater is the craving for both sweets and alcohol.

Articles on weight reduction are featured everywhere. Weird diets and reducing fads have their day or month and disappear. Even the old Hollywood 18-day-diet is being revived. Formerly just the women were interested, but now whole series of articles deal with the weight of men and boys.

Obesity is a disorder of the body's functioning which results in deposits of excess fat throughout the tissues. Doctors take special note of obesity because of the relationship between overweight and disorders of the heart, high blood pressure, diabetes, and joint disturbances.

A careful medical examination ways includes a record of the patient's weight and, particularly, information as to whether he has been gaining or losing weight rapidly. Doctors have tabulations which show the average weight for people according to their age, sex, height, and body build. Some people are tall and thin with light bones and light muscles. Others may be stocky, short, muscular.

Water constitutes about seventy per cent of the body weight. About one fifth of all the water is outside the individual cells. This is found in the blood, the spinal fluid, the lymph and a small amount between the cells. The remainder of the body weight is in solid structures like the bones; most of the minerals of the body are in the bones. Sugars are stored in the body-principally in the liver and muscles-as glycogen.

The road to health does not involve the cultivation of enormous muscles. Innumerable systems of exercise have been exalted as leading to healthfulness. All sorts of extraordinary springs, bicycles, walking machines, dumbbells, and similar apparatus are alleged to lead the user directly into vim, vigor, and vitality, the three objectives of the physical culturist.

Exercise is a means of stimulating the action of the muscles, improving the co-ordination of nerve and muscle, and improving the circulation of the blood. The chief value of exercise is to stimulate the general chemistry and physiology of the body through its effect on the circulation and on elimination. That's why a healthy person feels better after exercise.