Ditch Your Microwave!

A years ago as a young bride I was heating a seed filled “boo boo” pad in the microwave and it had a small explosion. Needless to say after that the unit was toast and the tiny apartment we were currently living in had an odd smell for a few days. At this point I was not very “green” and my motivation for not replacing the microwave was monetary...just not worth it! Fast forward a few years and I have been transformed to a green guru. Now my reasons for a microwave free kitchen are more grounded in fact. So here is the deal on microwaves,

The food molecules are transformed

Heating from the inside out. My favorite example is the burrito. The middle heats up faster then the outside so to the touch it appears to be uncooked and in need of more time. Then you bite into the beast and the middle is boiling lava hot, ouch! This process was enough for me to stay away from the unit but then I found that the process of microwaving food causes certain carcinogens. It shifts around the molecules causing the food to become unrecognizable by your body and / or toxic. In fact, in 1976 the Soviet Union banned the use of microwave ovens! (healthscience.com)

Not good for baby

Mothers are told in parenting classes, by seasoned mommies and by breastfeeding literature that breastmilk cannot be heated in the microwave. Have you ever wondered why? Why would it be okay for me to heat cows milk and drink it but I shouldn’t heat up human milk? It is because the process destroys important properties of the milk. On top of that it is recommended that formula should also not be microwaved,
“Microwaving baby formulas converted certain trans-amino acids into their synthetic cis-isomers. Synthetic isomers, whether cis-amino acids or trans-fatty acids, are not biologically active. Further, one of the amino acids, L-proline, was converted to its d-isomer, which is known to be neurotoxic (poisonous to the nervous system) and nephrotoxic (poisonous to the kidneys). It's bad enough that many babies are not nursed, but now they are given fake milk (baby formula) made even more toxic via microwaving." - Dr. Lita Lee of Hawaii

It changes your blood

This is truly creepy, here is what happened. “In 1991, there was a lawsuit in Oklahoma concerning the hospital use of a microwave oven to warm blood needed in a transfusion. The case involved a hip surgery patient, Norma Levitt, who died from a simple blood transfusion. It seems the nurse had warmed the blood in a microwave oven. This tragedy makes it very apparent that there's much more to "heating" with microwaves than we've been led to believe. Blood for transfusions is routinely warmed, but not in microwave ovens. In the case of Mrs. Levitt, the microwaving altered the blood and it killed her.” - Robert O. Becker's The Body Electric, and in Ellen Sugarman's book, Warning, the Electricity Around You May Be Hazardous to Your Health.


What’s a Green Guru To Do?

Get rid of the microwave! I have happily lived with out one for about 7 years. Yes, it does take a little longer to cook foods but if you have a working oven, a nice toaster, a convection oven and several pots then you will learn quickly how to deal. I have found that food just plain tastes better when it is heated in the conventional oven. So here is the dirty truth about that magical heating box in your kitchen, do with it what you may.

Resources

http://www.health-science.com/microwave_hazards.html
Robert O. Becker's The Body Electric, and in Ellen Sugarman's book, Warning, the Electricity Around You May Be Hazardous to Your Health.