Many hours in grad school, hours worked at two new jobs, books read, journals thoroughly combed and researched, papers written, presentations given, late nights, early mornings, and hours away from my family later: too many to count - I’m happily resurfacing here. Cheers. Fall semester is history, I finished a lovely J-term vacay, and spring semester has budded. Always best under pressure, I’ll call last fall my best semester. Ever. Lessons were learned, and only one spring semester course was registered for and is being attended. Afterall, not every semester can be the best semester ever. I promised a microwave full circle a loooong time ago. Like the carousel in a microwave, round we go.
First, does anything that’s been microwaved ever even taste good? (Ok, microwave popcorn is nostalgiac for me too. If you haven’t gotten behind the crazy stir popper yet, where have you been?) Microwaves are a convenience, and bad robots, for my fellow conflicted LOST audience . They were banned in Russia in 1976. I remember while pregnant, visiting one of many disappointing doc’s for “prenatal checkups”, being reminded not to stand in front of a microwave while it ran. Hmm, is it a good idea to ever stand in front of one, pregnant or not? There are reasons not to microwave breast milk, well beyond “hot spots” in a wee one’s milk. So many reasons that I’ve had to filter PAGES from this post.
My personal conflict with microwaves occurs when I am away from home for my 10-11 hour work days. When it’s January in Minnesota, and a balmy -10 degrees F out, it’s not unreasonable to desire a warm lunch, is it? OSHA, when will you approve lil’ toaster ovens at work? Well, cold lunches should be dominating.
In Russia, microwave ovens were banned in 1976 because of their negative health consequences and many studies were conducted on their use. One short-term study found significant and disturbing changes in the blood of individuals consuming microwaved milk and vegetables (1). In Dr. Lita Lee’s book, Health Effects of Microwave Radiation – Microwave Ovens, and in the March and September 1991 issues of Earthletter, she stated that every microwave oven leaks electro-magnetic radiation, harms food, and converts substances cooked in it to dangerous organ-toxic and carcinogenic products (1).
In the spirit of compiling – what I aim to do on this site – here are some of the combined findings on microwaving food (1):
1. Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term – permanent – brain damage by “shorting out” electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].
2. The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3. Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4. The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.
5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food are reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.
6. The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.
7. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.
8. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.
9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.
10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.
11. Microwaved blood has killed a patient in a transfusion.
Bottom Line. Microwaves 1) have cancer-causing effects, 2) decrease food value, 3) cause biological effects of exposure.
(1) Global Healing Center
Educate-Yourself
Teachable Moment Here
Experiment: Take 4 dried beans, put 2 each in 2 small baggies with small paper towel square to absorb water. Water the beans in Baggie One with standard drinking water. Water the beans in Baggie Two with microwaved water. Which beans sprout and grow? Which do not?
Trust Fall compliments of The Onion
Become BFF with a toaster oven. Bond with your tiny sauce pans, perhaps via trust falls. Heat up leftovers, melt butter, heat water, and cook on your stove top or in your toaster oven. A microwave isn’t even Freecycle worthy.
In this time when Big Food and Pharma are making mega profits, I'm acknowledging a broken system with options a parent can count on. While the information super highway puts infinite resources at our fingertips, navigating that maze leaves my head spinning. I created Spilled Ingredients as a sieve for all of us busy, real folks and parents.
We barely use ours and only with glass definately never with bottles, but it’s a good reminder thanks!
I was curious about some of the things you mentioned in this post, mainly the microwaved blood statement and about the plants. You might be interested in this snopes article that touches on both of these topics and seems to suggest that the claims made here are false: http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp
Jack recently posted..Property Rites
Jack, it’s definitely interesting. I’ve seen that Snopes article and have heard both conclusions from curious planters. My seeds in the microwaved water never germinated, but who knows if it was pure coincidence or not… my go at it wasn’t exactly scientific. Maybe the experiment is plant specific? Now I don’t have a microwave to put them to the test. It’s a great debate.. still, I would rather harvest and eat a plant, veggie or fruit that came from water not microwaved. I think we’re years out from more conclusive studies on what the microwave actually affects. The toaster oven “fires” that we sometimes start aren’t ideal either :/. It’s all a bit of a crap shoot, eh.