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It’s interesting what people notice sometimes. In my last video blog, I posted a clip of me in the kitchen whipping up some homemade mayonnaise. One of the comments I received by email about the video asked me if I used my microwave, as this appliance features so prominently behind me as I am mixing up the mayo.
Well, I’m here to set the record straight. I NEVER use my microwave for cooking or defrosting my family’s food. And I NEVER even use it to heat up water for a cup of herbal tea (I’ll get to the reasons in a minute).
Why then do I have one in my kitchen, you might ask? For one, my kitchen was built 12 years ago before I really knew of the dangers of cooking food with a microwave and if I pulled it out now, I’d have a big gaping hole in my wall and would have to redo all my kitchen cabinets. Not a project I’m up for at the moment.
Also, when we use a babysitter for evenings out, she sometimes likes to heat up her dinner with it. The first time this happened, you could hear the audible gasps of horror from me and the kids as she turned it on! We were shocked speechless. I declined to lecture her about the dangers of the microwave at the time, however. It didn’t seem appropriate given the circumstances. Maybe another time!
Ok, let me come completely clean. I do occasionally use the microwave to heat up a fabric bag filled with wheat kernels when any of my kids have a tummy ache. Since the bag is used externally only, this is considered a safe usage of this appliance in your home.
Microwave Cooking Dangers
Let me now briefly cover the reasons why you don’t want to use a microwave to cook your food – EVER. First of all, the manner in which the food or water is heated is completely unnatural and not found anywhere in nature. How this most dangerous appliance has received such widespread acceptance throughout the Western world without much research beforehand into the risks is beyond me. I guess it’s kind of like cell phones – folks who use microwaves have unwittingly allowed themselves to be guinea pigs in the interest of science. If being a lab rat is not your thing, then read on.
Unlike conventional heating which warms the food from without to within, microwave ovens heat internally by creating violent friction in the water molecules within the food. The force of the friction deforms the structures of the water molecules and they are literally torn apart. This process is called “structural isomerism”.
This is why even heating a cup of water for tea with a microwave is not a good idea! You may have seen the pictures of two plants – one watered with microwave heated/then cooled water and the other watered with conventionally heated/then cooled water. The difference in growth and robustness between the two plants is astonishing. You can check these pictures out at this link.
Dozens of people have conducted the same experiment on their own with different types of plants with similar results. The plant(s) watered with microwaved water do not thrive and/or die.
With the water molecules significantly impaired in quality, the molecular damage continues to expand to the food particles themselves as the heating continues. What has been discovered so far is that microwave heating has unfavorable effects on fats and proteins causing assimilation issues for the person who consumes the food. Microwaves are powerful enough to rupture the cell walls in the food; there is no doubt that fragile proteins are altered in the process. In addition, Swiss studies have shown that microwave heating causes unfavorable changes in vitamin content and the availability of these nutrients for absorption in the gut.
The radiation from microwave cooking destroys and deforms the food molecules and creates new compounds completely unknown in nature. Irradiation creates the exact same type of compounds in food as does microwaving – radiolytic compounds. With the majority of people seemingly against irradiation of food, why on earth are they then using a microwave at home or choosing to live near a cell phone tower for that matter?
Research on Microwave Cooking
Most troubling is the small, yet tightly controlled study by Dr. Hans Hertel of Switzerland. He discovered abnormal blood profiles in people who ate food cooked in a microwave as compared with people who ate the exact same food heated up conventionally. Dr. Hertel’s study is described in Tom Valentine’s book “Search for Health”. Since this book is pretty difficult to get hold of (last time I checked it out of the libary a few years ago, there was only one copy available in the entire state of FL and I had to wait six weeks for that copy to be couriered to my local library!), here is a link to an extensive description of Dr. Hertel’s study and the results:
Of course, who could forget the tragic story of Norma Levitt who in 1991 died from a blood transfusion during routine hip replacement surgery. The blood used in the transfusion was heated in a microwave, which was not standard practice. Blood is routinely warmed for transfusions, but never in a microwave! Clearly, microwaving the blood altered it into a state that proved to be deadly for Ms. Levitt. Imagine what microwaving your food does! Do you really think eating food heated in this way could be anything but dangerous and, at the very least, unhealthy?
Induction Stoves Cook Very Similarly to Microwave Ovens
Note also that the trend toward induction stoves is very troubling as the radiation produced from these ranges is similar to the risks from microwaves. Check out this article that details induction stove dangers and what you should look for instead to avoid an EMF hazard in your kitchen from inductive cooking.
One additional point to ponder as I close. Be very aware that microwaves are extensively used in the restaurant industry. They are also used almost exclusively in school cafeterias. Nearly every time you eat out, some, if not all, your food has been heated in a microwave. Just another reason for limiting your trips to eat out and spending time in the kitchen preparing your own meals and packing a lunchbox!
So. I am having trouble thinking of things I can give my husband that he will not reheat in the microwave at work. He works overnight so I try to give him a breakfast and a lunch. The lunch is easy because I just stick with salads but breakfast is harder. If I give him a quiche he will heat it up. Same with Oatmeal. And he would tire of having a smoothie every single day. And our grains are limited right now. The flour I do have I have had over a month so it’s probably not good anymore and I am waiting to have enough money to buy the einkorn flour. And if I explain about the microwave to him he will just think I am insane and getting to consumed with this stuff. Do you have any cold breakfast suggestions? Or should I try just giving him a big meal like a brunch?
But toaster ovens also use radiation in the infra red spectrum to heat food. Therefore are they really any safer than microwave ovens?
Also, toaster ovens tend to be American made while most microwave ovens are foreign, mainly Asian. US Big Business has been campaigning against mostly foreign microwave ovens for years, incredibly many “healthy living” websites have been abetting big industry by also campaigning against microwave ovens without realising just who was behind it. Many even thought they were campaigning against Big Business while in fact supporting it.
By taking sides in the microwave vs toaster oven market, you’ve chosen American as opposed to foreign, a good attribute in the Trumpist world of “America First” but not one of principle or truth.
Infrared rays are beneficial and crucial to health in fact. Microwave radiation is most definitely NOT. Infrared waves are simply heat like from a fire or the warmth of the sun which are (near and far) infrared waves. More on the benefits of infrared here: https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/infrared-sauna-review/
We are building a home and the only affordable option for two ovens is for the second oven to be a convection microwave oven. I almost never use a microwave but desperately want a second oven as we have a family of seven. Have you researched the convection microwave ovens? What is your opinion on just using the convection portion of them?Thank you!!
I have a convection oven myself. It isn’t a microwave/convection oven (just a plain countertop convection oven), but I can say that the convection aspect of it is very safe what what I’ve read.
I did not know that it is so dangerous microwave radiation
You’re spreading myths. You can’t create a structural isomer of water. Structural isomers are created when you disassemble a molecule and then reassemble the atoms in a different arrangement. There is only one possible arrangement for H2O, so structural isomers for water are impossible.
All cooking methods will alter proteins and breakdown vitamins. Microwaving may do this worse than some other cooking methods, but only because microwaves get things hotter. Some cooking methods can heat things even more than microwaves. Understand that altering proteins is one of the main points of cooking. It’s what makes cooked meat different from raw meat. Microwaves do NOT create radiolytic compounds. That requires ionizing radiation, which microwaves are not.
Over-heating blood for a transfusion will always cause hemolysis no matter what method is used. It’s important to warm the blood gently to prevent this. Regular microwave ovens are designed to heat quickly, but don’t heat evenly, which makes them unsuitable for this purpose. However, there are now special microwave blood warmers that are designed to heat blood safely.
Throw the microwave completely out of the house and replace it with a large Toaster Oven instead! That will cover the hole in your wall! Microwave ovens are putting off radiation up to 10 feet away WHEN NOT IN USE!!! Any food stored within 10 feet is getting a constant supply of radiation… along with you! To reheat food in a toaster over or conventional oven, set the temperature to 250 degrees. Fix your plate with left overs just as you would for the microwave and put your plate in for 20 minutes. If it comes out of the freezer, heat for 40 minutes. You can also thaw things the same way! A package of hamburger will thaw in about 45 minutes.
I’m going to try to attach a link, that I hope is approved, that I read a few years ago that explains this… The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking – health-science.com/microwave_hazards.html
Somebody needs to take a basic chemistry class!
Thank you all for thoroughly confusing me. I would like to know the credentials that Don and Kiwi-Lan hold to produce their posts. Sarah I appreciate your knowledge but think you truly follow mercola way too much. I used to until his enterprise grew to where he actually believes he knows all about science and conspiracies. The man livea in fear. Perfect love casts out fear. He creates more fear in people than hope in health. I agree with many on this post. You are right on for the most part but not in simply quoting someone else’s study in a book that you yourself cannot truly articulate. Be careful. Blessings.
I was hoping to find some real definitive information on microwaves but am saddened to find again just a few references to one unknown study and Mercola. He is not the end all in health, sorry.
Glass containers are unnatural, as is shipping food in trucks/cars/trains, so many things didn’t exist before humans invented them, but that doesn’t mean you should keep the lights off when the sun goes down.
Please don’t be afraid of energy! Microwave ovens are safe– these anecdotes demonstrate nothing except that people’s active imaginations cause them to see monsters in the dark shadows.