don’t nuke your food

I really despise microwaves. I really always have. Even as a child, I would comment that the microwave would “make the food taste weird.” And of course, it most certainly does “make the food taste weird.” Aside from that, Microwaves really aren’t needed at all. There is a variety of ways to reheat foods that are safer, more effective and don’t mess with you or your food. Like for example, an oven! I know, what a novel idea.

But still, tons of people continue to use microwaves. My parents, my grandparents, college kids: the appeal of microwaveable convenience shall not be underestimated. We won’t even have one in our home at all.

Microwaves Destroy Food’s Nutrient Profile

Hey, most people using a microwave aren’t heating up apples. I get it. But still, whatever you are eating, probably has some form of nutrition in it. Or at least, did….until you blasted it in the microwave. Due to the dielectric heating of microwaves, food that started out with a semblance of nutrition, is left as empty density. The microwave literally zaps all the nutrition out of your food. That’s scary, folks.

Microwaves Heating Plastic Covered Foods Means Carcinogens

Want to make your microwave experience even worse? Heat up something covered in plastic. Toxic chemicals such as BPA, polyethylene terpthalate (PET), benzene, toluene, and xylene are all just the beginning of the ensemble of toxic terror your food will experience when you choose to go this route. I mean really, folks, does it even sound like a good idea to microwave plastic covered meals? The list of wrongs here is actually endless.

Microwaves Change Your Blood

A Swiss clinical study determined that blood in people who consume microwaved milk and vegetables changes. Seriously, that’s awful.

Dr. Hertel concluded that microwave cooking changed the nutrients in the food, and that changes took place in the blood that could cause negative health effects.

Hertel’s conclusions were that microwaving food resulted in:

•Increased cholesterol levels

•Decreased numbers of leukocytes (white blood cells), which can suggest poisoning

•Decreased numbers of red blood cells

•Production of radiolytic compounds

•Decreased hemoglobin levels, which could indicate anemia

I don’t know about you, but anything changing the profile of my blood is something I pretty much will pass on.

The Russians Have Tons Of Microwave Research Experience. They Hate Them.

20 years of Russian research (and German studies as far back as 1942 Berlin) make a strong argument against the safety of microwave cooking.

Their findings led the Russian government to issue an international warning about possible biological and environmental damage associated with the use of microwave ovens and other similar frequency electronic devices (e.g. mobile phones). (source)

It Destroys Breast Milk

Breast milk fights the good fight against bacteria. Unless of course, you choose to microwave it. And guess what? Lots of intensive care nurseries use microwaves to heat up frozen human breast milk. A study conducted on the radiation from microwaves on human breast milk showed that the anti-bacterial composition of human breast milk is almost fully negated.

In intensive care nurseries it has become common practice to use microwave thawing of frozen human milk for more rapid accessibility. Twenty-two freshly frozen human milk samples were tested for lysozyme activity, total IgA, and specific secretory IgA to Escherichia coli serotypes 01, 04, and 06. The samples were heated by microwave for 30 seconds at a low- or high-power setting and then reanalyzed. One-mL aliquots of 10 additional human milk samples were microwaved at low (20 degrees C to 25 degrees C), medium (60 degrees C to 70 degrees C), and high (greater than or equal to 98 degrees C) setting before the addition to each of 1 mL of diluted E coli suspension. E coli growth was determined after 3 1/2 hours of incubation at 37 degrees C. Microwaving at high temperatures (72 degrees C to 98 degrees C) caused a marked decrease in activity of all the tested antiinfective factors. E coli growth at greater than or equal to 98 degrees C was 18 times that of control human milk. Microwaving at low temperatures (20 degrees C to 53 degrees C) had no significant effect on total IgA, specific IgA to E coli serotypes 01 and 04, but did significantly decrease lysozyme and specific IgA to E coli serotype 06. Even at 20 degrees C to 25 degrees C, E coli growth was five times that of control human milk. Microwaving appears to be contraindicated at high temperatures, and questions regarding its safety exist even at low temperatures.