ELEPHANT JOURNAL– A convenience “cooking” method that was invented by the Nazis, refined by the notorious company Raytheon and banned by Russia in the 70’s, the microwave has no place in my kitchen.

Some are still convinced that these radiation boxes are safe, nuke hot meals with efficiency and have no side-effects. Really? There are some scary facts that prove otherwise. If these don’t provoke you to adopt slower cooking methods, not sure what will.

1. Remember the lawsuit that involved a hospital warming blood in a microwave prior to a blood transfusion, resulting in the death of a womyn prior to a hip surgery?

2. Research has proven that heating breast milk or baby formula in a microwave destroys vital vitamins and nutrients.

3. Heating prepared meats in a microwave sufficiently for human consumption created:

* d-Nitrosodiethanolamine (a well-known cancer-causing agent)

* Destabilization of active protein biomolecular compounds

* Creation of a binding effect to radioactivity in the atmosphere

* Creation of cancer-causing agents within protein-hydrosylate compounds in milk and cereal grains;

4. Microwave emissions also caused alteration in the catabolic (breakdown) behavior of glucoside – and galactoside – elements within frozen fruits when thawed in this way;

5. Microwaves altered catabolic behavior of plant-alkaloids when raw, cooked or frozen vegetables were exposed for even very short periods;

Continue reading about 10 Reasons to Ditch the Microwave.

© Elephant Journal, 2010

Photo by flickr user Robert Couse-Baker