Do You Microwave Your Food ?
Do You Microwave Your Food? You're Zapping Away Nutrients and
Risking
Your
Health
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/290594/

By Dr. Joseph Mercola with Rachael Droege

Sure, the microwave is convenient; what other device allows you to
heat
your
food up in a matter of seconds? And they're so widely used that
you'd
be
hard-pressed to find a gas station or office building without one.
But
there's a reason why I haven't had a microwave in my kitchen for
over
15
years and--much to the distress of my employees--pulled it out of
the
office
over three years ago. This is something that you likely already
intrinsically suspect but don't want to acknowledge due to the
convenience
factor--microwaves are bad for your food, and they're even worse for
you.

There are many concerns with microwave ovens, among them:

* Carcinogenic toxins could be leached from plastic or paper plates
or
covers and mix with your food.

* The food temperature may become extremely hot, at temperatures
high
enough
to cause burns or steam buildup that could explode--this is
especially
problematic for baby bottles, and is one of the reasons why baby
bottles
should never be heated in the microwave (microwaving can also break
down the
disease-fighting ability of breast milk).

* Vegetables and other food lose valuable, cancer-fighting nutrients
when
cooked in the microwave.

* The chemical structure of foods changes when microwaved, with
unknown
consequences.

There have been very few studies done to determine what kinds of
changes
occur in foods that are microwaved, but rest assured the changes are
significant.

Consider the 1991 lawsuit involving a woman who had hip surgery and
died
because the blood used in her blood transfusion was warmed in a
microwave.
Blood is routinely warmed before transfusions, but not by microwave.
The
microwave altered the blood and it killed the woman.

Microwaves also destruct and deform food molecules. A study
published
in the
November 2003 issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and
Agriculture
found that broccoli "zapped" in the microwave with a little water
lost
up to
97 percent of the beneficial antioxidant chemicals it contains. By
comparison, steamed broccoli lost 11 percent or fewer of its
antioxidants.

Besides the loss of nutrients, microwaving forms new compounds
(radiolytic
compounds) that are unknown to humans and nature. It's not yet known
exactly
what these compounds do in the human body. It will likely be a
difficult
thing to sort out, especially when there are previously unknown
compounds
being introduced to humans from a variety of sources such as new food
products (i.e., olestra) and genetically modified foods.

Perhaps the most concrete evidence of the dangers of microwaves
comes
from
Dr. Hans Hertel, a Swiss food scientist, who carried out a small but
high-quality study on the effects of microwaved food on humans. His
conclusions were clear and alarming: microwave cooking significantly
altered
the food's nutrients enough so that changes occurred in the
particpants'
blood--changes that suggested deterioration. The changes included:

* Increased cholesterol levels

* More leukocytes, or white blood cells, which can suggest poisoning

* Decreased numbers of red blood cells

* Production of radiolytic compounds (compounds unknown in nature)

* Decreased hemoglobin levels, which could indicate anemic tendencies

Dr. Hertel and his team published the results in 1992, but a Swiss
trade
organization, the Swiss Association of Dealers for Electro-
apparatuses
for
Households and Industry, had a gag order issued, which prohibited
Dr.
Hertel
from declaring that microwaves were dangerous to health. The gag
order
was
later removed in 1998, after the Swiss court ruled that the gag order
violated the right to freedom of expression. Switzerland was ordered
to
pay
Dr. Hertel compensation as well.

So what can you do to avoid microwaves? Well, my first suggestion is
to
get
rid of it in your home so you won't be tempted to use it. If it's
not
there,
then you can't use it! Then, try consuming a lot of your food raw.
Ideally,
at least one-third of the food in your diet should be raw, since
this
is the
form that will give you the maximum amount of nutrients. A quick and
easy
way to consume a large amount of raw vegetables, which is generally
great
for your health, is by vegetable juicing.

If you do want to cook some food or heat up leftovers, use your oven
or
stove. This may seem time-consuming at first, but you'll soon adjust
and may
actually start to enjoy the natural time it takes to heat up or
prepare
your
food. During this time, you can relax with your family, read, write,
listen
to music or do anything that will help you to slow down and prepare
for
the
meal you're about to enjoy. You may notice that taking more time to
prepare
your food will transcend to other aspects of your life as well, and
you'll
enjoy a slower, more relaxed lifestyle than the majority of those
around you