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Microwaving...just like the good old cavemen


laurelpardee

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So, caveman didn't microwave up yesterday's gumbo for a quick lunch--obviously. And I'm not saying I want to give up my coffee maker or vitamix or anything. But I am wondering about any health impact that bombaring my meat/ sweet potato/ etc... with radiation might have.What is the point of paying for grass fed beef if I just made it into toxic mush in my microwave? It just ain't natural. Does anyone have thoughts or findings to share?

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There are plenty of fearful reports of microwave dangers published on the internet, but nothing that convinces me. This note from Wikipedia is a good summary of the evidence: "Several studies have shown that if properly used, microwave cooking does not change the nutrient content of foods to a larger extent than conventional heating, and that there is a tendency towards greater retention of many micronutrients with microwaving, probably due to the shorter preparation time."

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Hi Laurel, I agree cavemen didn't have microwaves but, as you point out, they didn't have other things we regard as pretty essential today. I'm with you on the coffe maker and Vitamix and no way am I doing without a refrigerator especially in the summer :)

I read loads of anti-microwave articles including the seedling one - you plant two identical seeds in 2 identical pots of earth, water one with microwaved water and one with water boiled on the stove, the microwaved one is not supposed to thrive *prooving* how bad microwaves are for us. However this has been thoroughly debunked both online and by several friends i know who've actually tried it out.

There was a time when microwaved food would never pass my lips but there was also a time when meat or cooked food would never pass my lips - it had to be raw and green and.....yeuch :wacko: I still don't microwave food very often but that's because I'm a rotten microwave cook, I don't like how my food turns out taste or texture wise, it always seems overdone round the edges but that's just me. I'd say use microwave ovens if you like 'em or avoid if you don't.

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To add to Tom's good post...a microwave does not use radiation. It uses something close to radio waves. The waves jiggle the moisture that is in the food and that movement causes heat to build up.

Yeah, they are called microwaves. ;) I'm teasing of course, but I do have two degrees in this field. The frequency used for microwaves is called 'micro' because of physical size of the wavelength (micrometers is size). The waves essentially cause the components of the water molecules to vibrate (by electromagnetic field changes) and therefore, generate heat. It's a physical reaction...not a chemical one. The holes in the metal screen in your microwave oven door/window are smaller than the wavelength, so the waves cannot pass outside of the oven. It's a pretty cool technology at it's core. It is radiation, but it's no more dangerous than your smart phone, your TV remote or your wifi internet connection. Even sunlight is radiation and we need that to survive, so radiation is not necessarily a bad thing.

With the exception of cooking food in plastic (never, ever do that!), I don't see how microwaving food could be any different for the food than cooking it with any other means.

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