Me and the microwave go way back. I remember as a kid my sisters and i would stay up until wee hours of the night creating original "recipes." We even documented each ingredient and its proportion as we went, so that we would always have a way to recreate each "masterpiece," which usually ending up tasting too unbearable to eat. One night we put our slop in a muffin tin, and since we weren't allowed to use the oven, we decided to cook it in the microwave. Did you know that metal and microwaves don't mix? Well, we didn't. After a few minutes we had mini lighting bolts shooting out of the appliance accompanied by smoke, pops, and a screaming mom! Microwave broken. Recipe failure.
So how the heck does a microwave work anyway? Bear with me for a sec because I'm about to get all Bill Nye on you, but first, a DISCLAIMER: I am in no way trying to breed anxiety or create an irrational fear of your kitchen appliances. I am simply saying it would be a good idea to choose your oven or stove top to heat your food.
Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation. It heats your food by tearing water molecules apart and deforming them as they resonate at super high frequencies and eventually turn to steam which heats your food. Since not all areas contain the same amount of water, heating is uneven. Unfortunately that's not all that happens. The actual chemical structure of your food is changed in the process as well! In the book Health Effects of Microwave Radiation, Dr. Lita Lee states that "every microwave oven leaks electro-magnetic radiation, harms food, and converts substances cooked in it to dangerous organ-toxic and carcinogenic products." Even standing a foot away from your microwave while it's in use can expose you to amounts of radiation that have been linked to Leukemia and cataracts. After researching the appliance and finding a long list of harmful consequences due to its use, Russia even BANNED the appliance for a time in 1976!
A study published in The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli heated in the microwave lost up to 97%of it's beneficial antioxidants as opposed to 11% in steamed broccoli. Other studies have shown that the microwaving of grains and milk turned some amino acids into carcinogenic substances. Hundreds of studies have been done that prove without a doubt that produce heated in a microwave loses an enormous amount of its nutritional value that far exceeds any other heating method. I don't know about you, but I am SO not okay with letting my microwave turn my beautiful (and expensive) organic produce into "dead" food!
Not only is our soil deficient which is giving out veggies a rough start, but we are nuking them in the microwave too, killing off whatever is left of their nutrients! We really need to give our greens a break. I hope this encourages you to ditch your microwave, or at least only use it for "emergencies." I'm imagining what I can do with that extra 30 inches of space on my kitchen counter....
So how the heck does a microwave work anyway? Bear with me for a sec because I'm about to get all Bill Nye on you, but first, a DISCLAIMER: I am in no way trying to breed anxiety or create an irrational fear of your kitchen appliances. I am simply saying it would be a good idea to choose your oven or stove top to heat your food.
Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation. It heats your food by tearing water molecules apart and deforming them as they resonate at super high frequencies and eventually turn to steam which heats your food. Since not all areas contain the same amount of water, heating is uneven. Unfortunately that's not all that happens. The actual chemical structure of your food is changed in the process as well! In the book Health Effects of Microwave Radiation, Dr. Lita Lee states that "every microwave oven leaks electro-magnetic radiation, harms food, and converts substances cooked in it to dangerous organ-toxic and carcinogenic products." Even standing a foot away from your microwave while it's in use can expose you to amounts of radiation that have been linked to Leukemia and cataracts. After researching the appliance and finding a long list of harmful consequences due to its use, Russia even BANNED the appliance for a time in 1976!
A study published in The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli heated in the microwave lost up to 97%of it's beneficial antioxidants as opposed to 11% in steamed broccoli. Other studies have shown that the microwaving of grains and milk turned some amino acids into carcinogenic substances. Hundreds of studies have been done that prove without a doubt that produce heated in a microwave loses an enormous amount of its nutritional value that far exceeds any other heating method. I don't know about you, but I am SO not okay with letting my microwave turn my beautiful (and expensive) organic produce into "dead" food!
Not only is our soil deficient which is giving out veggies a rough start, but we are nuking them in the microwave too, killing off whatever is left of their nutrients! We really need to give our greens a break. I hope this encourages you to ditch your microwave, or at least only use it for "emergencies." I'm imagining what I can do with that extra 30 inches of space on my kitchen counter....
Nice post Christina. I agree that microwaves are not for veggies. Its really scary to think of what toxins leak out, especially when you have little ones running around or are pregnant.
ReplyDeleteTotally! The stuff I was reading about what microwaves do to breast milk is crazy!
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