In our busy lives, convenience shouldn't be underrated, especially when it comes to food. The fact that microwave ovens greatly reduce the amount of time from freezer or fridge to table is huge, which is part of what makes them so popular. Why is it then, that more and more people are giving up the speed and convenience of microwave cooking and joining the 'slow food' movement?
Here are a few things they may know that motivate them to give up convenience in favor of the old, slow way of preparing foods:
Microwave ovens cook food by exposing it to microwave radiation - a form of radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic energy. When food absorbs this energy, it causes the water molecules within it to rotate, a movement which causes friction between the molecules. This produces a rapid rise in temperature, thus cooking the food.
In this process however, the food is not just cooked. In fact, research demonstrates that the molecules of the food itself are changed, with the result that some nutrients become inert while others actually become carcinogenic. This is especially the case if you make the mistake of cooking the food in plastic or covered by plastic wrap, because the carcinogenic toxins in the plastic can leach into the food during cooking.
Then, there's the fact that although various governments have established guidelines for 'safe' exposure to microwaves, this does NOT mean that exposure to microwaves is actually not harmful. For example, the independent organization Powerwatch reports that,
"Even when the microwave oven is working correctly, the microwave levels within the kitchen are likely to be significantly higher than those from any nearby cellular phone base-stations. Remember also that microwaves will travel through walls if the microwave oven is against an inside wall."
If you stand a foot away from a microwave oven while it's on, you can be exposed to more than 400
milliGauss of microwave radiation. Only 4 milliGauss has been linked to
leukemia. But that's not all.
A study reported by Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University found evidence that microwave radiation negatively affects the heart at levels that are far below the reported 'safe' levels defined by governmental regulations in the U.S. and Canada:
"This is the first study that documents immediate and dramatic changes in both heart rate and heart rate variability caused by an approved device that generates microwaves at levels well below (0.3 percent) federal guidelines in both Canada and the United States."
In fact, microwaves are actually used in the field of gene altering technology to weaken cell membranes. As Dr. Joseph Mercola points out, "scientists use microwaves to actually break cells apart. Impaired cells then become easy prey for viruses, fungi and other microorganisms. Another term for these athermic effects is the "microwave effect," so if you don't want the molecules in your food to become changed, if you don't want living food to become dead, if you don't want your heart to be negatively affected, you might like to join the Russians. They conducted significant research on microwaves starting immediately after World War II. Their findings caused them to ban microwave ovens as far back as 1976.
Maybe that slow food movement is on to something after all!
Portions of this article were excerpted from the Natural Female Hormone Care series of lessons. For more information, and to secure your own copy of a 200+ self questionnaire to assess your own female hormonal state, go to http://www.NaturalFemaleHormoneCare.com.
By Pamela Levin
