Astrology Nutrition &
Health
by Robert Carl Jansky
Chapter Five
Carbohydrates and
Metabolism
Topics in this Chapter:
The Vital Role of
Glucose
Storage
and Release of Energy
Carbohydrate
Digestion
Fiber
in the Diet
A
Word About Alcohol
In this chapter we examine the important role of
carbohydrates in the nutrition of the body. We discuss how the body cells get
their energy, why they must have energy, and how the digestive process provides
the material to produce this energy. We also discuss the roles of Venus and
Jupiter, Mars and Saturn in producing and using energy and how the body provides
for an energy reserve or stockpile of fuel that can be used when the body is
under stress. All carbohydrates, including sugars and starches, are under the
rulership of Venus.
The Vital Role of Glucose
One
of the primary roles of the digestive process is to provide every body cell with
sufficient amounts of energy to sustain itself and remain alive. Many of the
vital chemical reactions that take place in the cell require energy, which is
derived from the oxidation of the simple sugar, glucose, within the cell.
Glucose is carried to the cell as the end product of carbohydrate metabolism.
There, in the presence of enzymes and oxygen, the glucose is converted into
carbon dioxide, water and energy. The carbon dioxide and water are nonessential
by-products of this reaction; the important product is the heat energy, which is
derived from the glucose.
glucose + oxygen ------->carbon dioxide + water + heat
energy
The oxygen used in this chemical
reaction is brought from the lungs to the cell by the red corpuscles, containing
hemoglobin, in the blood. The hemoglobin and oxygen combine chemically until
enzymes in the cell separate them for us in oxidation. Note the importance of
the cell enzymes in this whole process process.
Glucose
is one of literally hundreds of chemical compounds called carbohydrates or
saccharides. The molecules of all carbohydrates are made up of building blocks
called simple sugars. Carbohydrates may be subdivided into three groups,
namely:
Monosaccharides, like glucose, consist of a
single sugar building block
Disaccharides, like
common table sugar (sucrose) consist of two simple sugarbuilding
blocks.
Polysaccharides, like starch and cellulose,
consist of many simple sugar building blocks joined together in a long
line in daisy-chain fashion.
It appears that the only
carbohydrate of any chemical value to the body is the simple sugar or
monosaccharide called glucose. Therefore, one of the major goals of the
digestive process is to extract the glucose from the various carbohydrates that
we ingest every day.
Diet watchers count their
calories, but what is a calorie? It is a measurement of heat energy and is
equivalent to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one liter
of water one degree Centigrade or nearly two degrees Fahrenheit. For every gram
of glucose that the body oxidizes, 3074 calories of heat are produced, enough to
raise the temperature of a liter of water about 6½ degrees F. When more glucose
is produced than the body needs for its immediate requirements, the glucose is
stored in various forms in the body – the most obvious form being fat. A proper
diet should include sufficient energy foods to meet the body’s needs, plus a
slight excess for storage purposes. Thus, when you count calories, you are
actually measuring the amount of energy that your body is receiving through the
process of digestion.
Storage and Release of
Energy
The demand for energy varies with
the amount of activity being carried on by the body. Therefore it is essential
that there be some means for storing or stockpiling energy to meet demand during
peak periods of activity or stress. The first means of stockpiling is to
temporarily convert glucose back to polysaccharide or starch form. Both animals
and plants do this.
The reverse of the body’s glucose
oxidation process takes place in the leaves of every plant in photosynthesis, in
which carbon dioxide from the air is combined with water from the Earth to form
glucose, which is stored by the plant as starch. Photosynthesis takes place only
in sunlight and thus is a chemical process for storing up solar energy. But the
plant uses energy at night also, and thus the starch is the plant’s glucose
reserve source.
The human body does something similar.
It stores excess glucose in the form of animal starch, called glycogen, in the
liver and muscle tissue. But there is a limit to the amount of glycogen the body
can produce and store – about 500 milligrams. After that, the extra glucose is
converted to fat. Glycogen is ruled by Jupiter, as is
fat.
Unlike plants, which remain stationary, animals
move about and thus experience more stressful situations and crises, when added
glucose energy is required very suddenly. When such an emergency occurs, the
body signals the need for added energy by releasing the hormone adrenalin
(ruled by Mars) into the bloodstream. Adrenalin quickly breaks down the glycogen
molecules into glucose, providing added energy to deal with the emergency
situation.
Shortly after eating a meal, the body is
flooded with far more glucose than it could use, were it not for the liver and
muscle, where the excess glucose is stored as glycogen. Later, between meals, as
the supply of glucose in the bloodstream is slowly used up, another hormone
called cortin (also Mars ruled) triggers the slow conversion of glycogen back
into glucose.
glycogen + cortin = glucose (proceeds slowly)
glycogen + adrenalin =
glucose (proceeds rapidly)
One symptom of
lowered blood sugar level is sleepiness or tiredness. Another is hunger. Tired
automobile drivers are urged to stop for a cup of strong coffee, which contains
the drug caffeine, in order to stay awake at the wheel. Caffeine, ruled by
Neptune, is similar in chemical nature and structure to adrenalin, and when it
gets into the bloodstream, it tricks the body into converting glycogen back into
glucose in much the same way that adrenalin does. Thus, the driver wakes up
again and becomes more alert for a brief time.
glycogen + caffeine = glucose (proceeds
rapidly)
This is why caffeine is considered to
be a stimulant. It stimulates the release of glucose, raising the blood sugar
level temporarily, which is why some people find it difficult to sleep at night
after drinking coffee. The strength of the caffeine effect depends upon how
sensitive Neptune is in your chart. For example, a person with Neptune in an
angular house is more sensitive to this effect than a person whose Neptune is
cadent. But it is those with Neptune in succedent houses and fixed signs who
generally cannot sleep, because the caffeine effect is fixed and therefore more
rpolonged.
The conversion of glucose and glycogen for
temporary storage and later release as needed is promoted by the hormone
insulin. Diabetics, whose bodies do not produce enough insulin, lack the ability
to properly store glucose as glycogen. Because glucose is converted to glycogen,
the blood sugar level goes way above normal, until the kidneys, in trying to
protect the body from sugar crystallization in the blood, start to excrete sugar
as glucose in the urine.
The opposite of diabetes,
hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, is apparently much more common, according to
Carlton Fredericks and other nutritionists. In this condition the body produces
too much insulin, to the point that so much glucose is stored as a
glycogen that there is not enough glucose in the bloodstream to maintain normal
body function. The person feels persistently tired and listless from lack of
sufficient energy for normal body processes. If early research findings are
confirmed, hypoglycemia may well be a root cause of such problems as asthma,
alcoholism, rheumatic heart disease, varicose veins and a variety of other
conditions whose exact cause is not completely understood. It is interesting to
note that asthmatics rarely have diabetes, and that if they do contract it, the
symptoms of asthma seem to magically
disappear!
Glycogen, ruled by Jupiter, is the end
product of a reaction that starts with Venus-ruled glucose. Thus we can say that
the sugar storage process is a Venus-Jupiter function, with Jupiter representing
the end product. The burning or destruction of glucose is ruled by Mars, and the
end product of its destruction, carbon dioxide, is ruled by
Saturn.
This illustrates a very important principle of
nutritional astrology, that Venus and Jupiter together represent the building-up
or growth processes. Mars and Saturn together represent the destructive or aging
processes. When you reach the late twenties, these Mars-Saturn processes become
dominant, and the body begins to slowly break down as aging proceeds. Thus the
goal of proper nutrition is to retard the Mars-Saturn aging effect as long as
possible. Venus triggers the growth process, the result of which is Jupiter.
That is why Jupiter represents growth in traditional astrological symbolism.
Mars triggers the aging process, and Saturn, the “grim reaper,” represents the
end product – breakdown. This also explains why the Venus-Jupiter ruled vitamins
and minerals become so important in your later years. Persons with an afflicted
Saturn or Mars require larger amounts of these vitamins and minerals in their
diet than the average person.
Now you can readily see
how Jupiter, representing too much of a good thing, is so involved in obesity.
Jupiter rules fat, the product of too much Venus activity or sugar intake. Also
this is why fat people tend to retain too much fluid in their body – the Moon
rules body fluids, and Jupiter is exalted in Cancer. And those with Sagittarius
rising (Jupiter-ruled persons) tend to be taller than people with other rising
signs.
On the other hand, Saturn is exalted in Libra,
indicating that a ”well-balanced” diet is the best defense against Saturn’s
aging process. Mars is exalted in Capricorn, which is Saturn’s sign. When Mars
is in this sign, it is kept under control, and the aging process proceeds more
slowly. People with Mars in Capricorn or Saturn in Libra often look younger than
they are.
Carbohydrate Digestion
We are
now ready to see how the body chemically derives glucose from the carbohydrates
in the diet and how this process is influenced by natal planetary positions. Let
us take as our example a slice of bread, a food rich in carbohydrates. Before
wheat is milled, the starch in the kernels is enclosed in microscopic sacs or
casings composed of cellulose. Although cellulose is a carbohydrate, it is
indigestible by human beings. (Paper and wood fiber are cellulose, and if the
body could digest cellulose, the paper on which this page is printed would be
digestible.) Milling removes the cellulose casings, making the wheat starch more
digestible, but it also removes valuable vitamins and minerals that are in the
casings.
As a general rule, the longer the chain of
glucose molecules within the starch molecule, the harder the starch is to
digest. Thus we do certain things to the starch molecule to shorten its length.
Heat shortens the molecules, so we bake our bread. Toasting the bread carries
this process further, by breaking the starch molecule down into a brown compound
called dextran. Dextran is the crust on a loaf of bread and the golden-brown
coating on toast. It too is a polysaccharide, but its chain length is greatly
shortened, making it much more digestible. That is why a sick person is often
given toast.
Carbohydrate digestion begins with food
preparation, as do all digestive processes, sometimes long before we eat the
food. This explains why we prepare certain foods in special ways before eating
it.
When you take a bite of your slice of bread,
enzymes in the saliva as you chew begin to chop the long-chain carbohydrate
molecule down into smaller molecules of maltose, a disaccharide. The longer you
chew each mouthful, the more carbohydrate is broken down. Note also that the
longer you chew the bread, the sweeter it tastes, because maltose, which is
Venus-ruled, is a sugar.
After the bread is swallowed,
it enters the stomach, where hydrochloric acid in the digestive juices quickly
completes the breakdown process. The remaining starch and maltose are broken
down further into glucose, ready for immediate digestion. Athletes often eat
foods rich in dextrose (another name for glucose) just before a game, because
this gives them plenty of reserve energy that does not have to be digested. The
dextrose in a candy bar provides this vital energy. Table sugar, which is
sucrose, a disaccharide, is also readily digestible, because it contains a
glucose molecule. But if this energy source is not rapidly used up in vigorous
bodily exercise, it gets stored first as glycogen and hen as fat. This explains
why a high-carbohydrate diet is used for weight gain and why the intake of
carbohydrates must be carefully controlled in order to lose
weight.
For the average person, 60 grams of
carbohydrate a day is sufficient to maintain body weight; 30 grams of
carbohydrate will result in the loss of about one pound per day. The
low-carbohydrate diet that is becoming popular is based on this principle.
Starving people usually have a diet of less than 30 grams of carbohydrate per
day, a strict regimen that is not recommended. On the other hand, every added
pound of fat adds about three miles of capillaries to the blood vascular system.
Pumping blood through these capillaries naturally places added strain on the
heart, which is why overweight people tend to have higher blood pressure and are
in greater danger of injury to the heart and blood
circulation.
During Jupiter transits of your first
house, which represents the physical body as a whole, the tendency is to overeat
and thus gain weight. This occurs about once every twelve years, and it is an
important time to watch your diet carefully. On the other hand, a Saturn transit
of the first house is an ideal time to lose weight, since Saturn restricts gain
during the two or three years it takes to transit this house.
Fibers in the Diet
No
discussion of carbohydrates would be complete without mentioning the need for
fiber, or cellulose, in the daily diet, even though fiber has no recognized
traditional value! The human body cannot digest cellulose, even though ti has
the same basic chemical formula as starch – with one important exception. If we
could magnify a cellulose molecule and a starch molecule, we would see that they
are mirror images of each other. The body recognizes the difference, and it has
no enzymes that can break down the cellulose molecule. Certain animals, such as
cows, can break down cellulose, as can termites, which live on wood, also
largely cellulose.
The astrological ruler for cellulose
has never been clearly established, but I believe that it is Jupiter since, like
fat and glycogen, it is the end product of carbohydrate metabolism in plants.
Cellulose is strictly a plant product.
Scientists and
nutritionists prefix the letters “d-“ and “l-“ to the names of chemicals that
have this mirror-image property. Besides the carbohydrates, the molecules of
amino acids and many vitamins also have this property. In almost all cases,
human enzymes recognize and use the d-form but cannot do anything with the
l-form. Compounds manufactured synthetically are a mixture of both forms and
thus labeled “dl-.” In buying vitamins, you should check he formula very
carefully, because the body can utilize only the “d-“ form; all of the “l-“ form
passes through the digestive tract unused. Louis Pasteur is credited with this
discovery.
Most of what we refer to as fiber or
roughage is cellulose, and “l-“ form carbohydrate, and the average American diet
tends to be low in roughage. The idea that roughage is necessary in the diet
used to be considered an old wives’ tale, but a mounting body of evidence now
suggests that fiber can be an important defense against rectal and intestinal
cancer and a host of related problems in the intestinal tract. After lung
cancer, cancer of the rectum and colon are the most common forms of cancer today
in the United States. During 1977 they will strike nearly 100,000 Americans
(slightly more than 4 per 10,000 population), and nearly half will die as a
result. Yet in underdeveloped countries, where people eat mostly the cheaper
forms of carbohydrates, which are relatively unrefined and thus high in fiber,
the incidence of this form of cancer is slightly less than 4 per 100,000
population. Also these people rarely become
obese.
People whose diet is high in fiber (between 20
and 25 grams daily) also have a very low rate of appendicitis. The function of
fiber is that it helps food pass through the intestine more quickly. Certain
bacteria in the intestine, which is a veritable treasure-trove of bacteria, both
helpful and harmful, act on the bile salts to form compounds that are known as
carcinogens (substances that cause cancer). The longer it takes material to
travel through the intestinal tract, the more time these carcinogens have to
work their sabotage. Insufficient fiber in the diet also may be major cause of
constipation, intestinal growths called polyps and even heart disease, because
on increased cholesterol levels in the blood.
Foods
high in fiber include whole-wheat bread, unrefined flour, broccoli. Brussels,
sprouts, cauliflower, beets, carrots, potato skins and most leafy vegetables.
The richest source is bran, which is part of wheat germ. Bran flour, now
available in any health-food store, is excellent for breading meats and
vegetables before cooking, and when mixed with seasoning, it is a great flavor
enhancer. Breakfast cereals that have the word bran in their name are usually
high fiber content, which is often indicated on the box. If you use cereals to
increase your daily fiber intake, however, avoid the presweetened brands and
sweeten your cereal with honey instead of sugar. Honey is much more healthful,
because it contains other nutritious substances in addition to
sugar.
A Word About Alcohol
We usually
think of alcohol as rather volatile liquid that burns when lighted and has a
characteristic odor. Wood alcohol (methyl alcohol) and grain alcohol (ethyl
alcohol) are typical examples. The chemist, however, knows that most alcohols
are not liquid at all, but white crystalline solids. Although sugar is a form of
alcohol, its molecule is much more complex than that of grain alcohol. Sorry
about that, all of you teetotalers who put sugar in your tea or coffee. You can
became just addicted to sugar as to alcohol, especially if Venus (sugar) is
closely conjunct the Moon (your habit patterns) in natal chart or if you have a
Moon-Venus sextile or trine. Have you noticed that most of the “cures” for
alcoholism involve substituting sweets for alcohol and that eating a large
amount of sugar kills your desire alcohol? You are merely substituting one kind
of alcohol for another!
The interesting thing about
ethyl alcohol, which is the alcoholic constituent of all intoxicating drinks, is
that the body will use it as an energy supply in preference to glucose. As far
as we know, glucose can be absorbed only through the walls of the small
intestine, but ethyl alcohol is absorbed right through the stomach walls before
it even gets to the small. Ethyl alcohol needs no digestion at all; the body
takes it in quickly as it is. And what is even more important, the cells burn
the alcohol just like glucose.
The problem, in part,
stems from the fact that excess alcohol destroys these fibers and thus the
sensory functions, resulting in impaired motor never
responses.
Thanks to Mother Nature and thousands of
years of evolution, during which man naturally digested vegetable material in
various state of fermentation, which produces grain alcohol, the body developed
a natural defense against abnormal amounts of this “poison.” A special liver
enzyme, ethylase, has the sole and specific function of converting ethyl alcohol
into carbon dioxide and water before it can injure the body. The material from
which the body constructs ethylase is thiamine or vitamin B-1, which is a
valuable constituent of all common hangover remedies. Normally, the body
contains enough ethylase to convert about one shot of alcohol per hour into
carbon dioxide and water without any deleterious effects – that is, drunkenness.
More rapid consumption of alcohol overpowers this enzyme, and the normal signs
of drunkenness begin to appear as the alcohol affects the motor nerve
responses.
As one might expect, ethyl alcohol is ruled
by Neptune. Alcohol is deceptive because the body cannot distinguish between
glucose and ethyl alcohol when it is present in excessive quantity. Only the
liver, co-ruled by Neptune (the body's’defensive processes), can detect the
difference and convert this poison to inoffensive
by-products.
For methyl alcohol, the body has no
defensive enzymes. Ingesting any quantity of wood alcohol quickly results in the
denaturing of the body protein and rapid death.
As
astrologers, let us recognize in symbolic terms the results of alcohol
ingestion. Neptune substances such as alcohol deceive the body into unnatural
responses. When someone rationalizes that he or she is a moderate drinker, one
must ask, “How moderate? How much alcohol is consumed per hour? More than one
ounce? Two ounces? Five?” When someone says that Scotch is less intoxicating (or
fattening) than bourbon or beer, the question that must be asked is: “Why is it
necessary to drink alcohol in the first place?” To supply energy that is not
being supplied from natural glucose sources? To escape from the frustrations of
life?
Many astrologers are interested in the problems
that lead to excessive alcohol consumption and alcoholism based upon the
symbolism of the natal horoscope. However, one can certainly assume that Venus,
representing sugar metabolism; Neptune, because alcohol is a sugar substitute
and a deceiver of the metabolism; and the Moon, our habit patterns, must be
involved in the problems of alcohol.
In this chapter I
have tried to explain what carbohydrates and sugars are. We have seen that the
digestive process must reduce carbohydrate molecules to glucose, which is the
fuel that each cell uses in all the other chemical reactions that keep the cell
alive. The process of breaking down the complex carbohydrates is ruled by Mars
and Saturn (analysis). The body stores glucose for times when it needs extra
energy. The storage of glucose, first as glycogen (animal starch), with the
excess stored as fat, is a Venus-Jupiter (synthesis)
process.
Each step of the breaking-down and building-up
process is controlled by body enzymes or hormones. When an enzyme or hormone,
for example, insulin, is lacking or in insufficient supply, normal metabolism of
sugar is disrupted, and a disease condition results: in this case, diabetes. On
the other hand, too much of a hormone can also result in a chemical imbalance
and disease; too much insulin causes hypoglycemia.
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