The Dangers of a Microwave and How to Live Without One

 

I have been microwave free for 10 years. It’s hard to believe it has been that long. And guess what? I can honestly say I don’t miss it for a second.

In this article I want to tell you why I think you should ditch your microwave. But I also want to give you some very valuable tips on how to live without one. I want to help you make the transition smooth and as easy as can be. Once you go without a microwave you will find out how easy it really is. Some people tell me they could never live without a microwave, but all I say is go cold turkey for 1-2 weeks and you will quickly realize that you really can do it!

Rewind a few years to when I met my husband. One of the first things he told me (he knew I was into natural health, who doesn’t know that about me?) was that his family doesn’t have a microwave in their house. They have NEVER had a microwave in their house, and their house is older than my husband is. I guess the story goes like this: my father-in-law had the job of buying appliances. He didn’t like the idea of a microwave “waving” your food to cook and neither did my mother-in-law. So he came home with all of the appliances but a microwave. I thought that was one of the coolest things ever. And I guess I was one of the first ones to respond to the story with a “bool” instead of “that’s weird”. Microwaves were popular in the early 80’s, they still are. So that was definitely going against the grain at that time. So transitioning into married life sans a microwave was pretty simple.

The Dangers of Microwaves

There are some definite researched facts that show that microwaves are not good for our health. It’s not my opinion, but well researched information.

1. Russia has banned the use of microwaves from 1976-1987

Russia started to study microwaves after World War II and studied them for the next 20 years. They performed research on their biological effects and after finding the out the results the banned them. Russia performed studies showing that carcinogens (cancer causing agents) are formed when microwaving foods.  Vegetables, fats and especially meats form all different carcinogens.

2. Microwaves severely decrease the nutritional content of foods

Foods that you microwave decrease 60-90 percent in nutritional value. With the already depleted nutrients in our soil, we can’t afford to decrease our nutrients even more. We need to protect every single nutrient our food has, so opting for another way to cook and re-heat our foods is very important!

Microwaving also severely decreases Vitamin B12 in the foods you are cooking.

It also destroys the antibodies and bacteria fighters in breast milk. So NEVER heat breast milk (or any milk) for a baby in the microwave. The best is to use a glass bottle and heat it slowly in warm water.

3. Plants die from being watered with microwaved water

This fact was found out through a high school science project where the child wanted to see how plants grew with boiled water vs. microwaved water. The plants were identical and after 9 days the plant given microwaved water was completely dead and the one from the boiled water was thriving. Doesn’t that say something about the health of microwaves? If a plant can die in 9 days from microwaved water, I feel like we need to ask ourselves what will a lifetime full of microwaved foods do to the health of our bodies?

How to live without a Microwave

Once you cut out using a microwave you will definitely notice a better taste in all of your food. The microwave changes the taste of the food because of the radiation to the food. You will crave the real taste of foods and notice that microwaved re-heated foods have a funny taste.

To start, you are going to need some re-heating tools. I recommend:

A Tea Kettle

 

 

 

 

A Small stainless Steel, Ceramic or Cast Iron Skillet for the stovetop

 

 

 

 Small Baking Sheet for Oven Reheating in the Oven or Toaster Oven. I like stoneware because it gets very hot and heats evenly.

 

 

 

 

 

You can also purchase a toaster oven, which is like a mini-oven for baking and reheating food. We own one and love it. It works great if you don’t want to heat up an entire oven for leftovers or for heating up single servings. Ours is used daily or multiple times a day. You won’t miss a microwave with a toaster oven. 

When I first started to go without a microwave I needed to get used to eating some foods cold. Not everything I eat needed to he heated up. I also realized that to reheat foods quicker on the stovetop or oven I sometimes need to cut the food up or break it up before heating. For example, If you are reheating a large piece of lasagna, it’s going to take 20 minutes to reheat it in the oven. If you cut it into pieces you can reheat it in 7-10 minutes. That’s only about 5 minutes more than in a microwave, which isn’t much more time.

Cutting out the use of a microwave is a very important step in living a healthier lifestyle. My challenge to you is cut out using a microwave for 1-2 weeks. Go cold turkey so you can really get used to re-heating things on the stove or oven. PS. Food will taste so much better too. 

Let me know how you do!

Resources

http://bodyecology.com/articles/microwave_dangers.php#.UXSJRKV3abt

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-dangers-of-microwave-radiation-cannot-be-ignored/24342

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/18/microwave-hazards.aspx

http://www.litalee.com/documents/Microwaves%20And%20Microwave%20Ovens.pdf