OK. The Great MicroWave Debate

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If they were dangerous I would already be dead..

Growing up my birth mother cooked practically everything, from casseroles to soups to cupcakes to eggs to hamburger helper to convenience foods in a huge 1984 GE microwave.

I don't think there was a single meal in her home that didnt involve the microwave. She even used it to make grilled cheese. In fact, most of the meals were cooked completely in the microwave, possibly being popped in The oven toward the end just to brown.

If microwaved food was as dangerous as they claim, there is no way I would have made it to 29 years of age in generally good health.
 
Not arguing with you, only the statement

My only problem with microwaves is that they destroy most vitamins in food, including A, all the B's and C.

Hosepuckey.

Scientist, real credentialed individuals that research this disagree.

“Phenolic compound contents in edible parts of broccoli inflorescences after domestic cooking“, added water to the vegetables during microwaving. In essence, they were boiled using the microwave, so the results were more similar to boiling vegetables. Other studies looking at microwaving without added water demonstrate minimal nutrient loss. The advantage of microwaving is shorter cooking time – just don’t add water to your vegetables before putting them in the microwave.

Science Based Medicine article:

www.sciencebasedmedicine.org

Microwaves and Nutrition

Science-based medicine is a concept that is larger than the analysis of any specific topic. It is, essentially, an approach to answering health and medical questions, one that involves careful and tho
www.sciencebasedmedicine.org
 
Early 1980 I bought a Whirlpool Mark Series 7800 that had every bell and whistle you could think of. I tried actually cooking some recipes from the cookbook that came with it but they tasted like crap. I still use it pretty much on a daily basis to reheat leftovers and occasional defrosting. Before there was actual microwave popcorn, I got this bright idea to try making some in a pyrex dish. Not a good idea after all, the pyrex exploded but fortunately did not hurt the microwave.
 
It's funny how many of my friends who are concerned about being wasteful and with anything seem to feel like it's not natural to cook with microwaves and they don't want to own or use a microwave oven (my sister is among them and she even runs away if I use my Radarange while she's there but she has her iPhone and iPad with her almost 24/7 and she uses them a lot!).

 

 When I tell them that cooking with any appliance that produces heat from gas, wood or electricity (which is fine for me too) uses a lot more energy and does more damage to the environment (and themselves) than they could ever get from a Microwave oven. 

 

Strangely, the same people might enjoy burning wood in a fireplace and they'd probably enjoy cooking on a wood stove if they could figure how to make it work...

 

To those who are afraid of microwave ovens, I say:

Imagine what would happen if microwave cooking was banned all over the world. Think about all the electricity (that's produced with nuclear power, coal, oil and all other polluting activities) that would be required to make the extra energy needed just for cooking/reheating food that's currently done in microwave ovens... 

But they certainly know better and as long as others use their microwave ovens to cook their food, they don't mind!
 
Another long-standing "Urban Legend"

There has been more valid research done on the effects of heating food with a mw oven than the so-called studies that arrived at banning the use of mw ovens due to the harm they do to food and oneself. Some of those anti-microwave studies weren't published, either. Microwave cooking is often better, as it reduces the cooking time that food is heated. We never had a microwave, so all food was cooked in steel pots and pans over an electric coil. My mom cooked her food, to the point where I used to say, "got any vitamins left?" Meat and vegetables were always exceptionally done, as my dad was afraid he might die if it wasn't cooked enough - not kidding!

Over-cooking your food on the stove or oven is worse than using a microwave, sometimes. At least the cooking period is reduced. Apparently, the reduced or missing vitamins and minerals that went down the drain in the water used to cook our vegetables, didn't hasten my dad's longevity. He lived a normal, healthy life up to the age of 91(still driving a car and getting around easily). He died at age 92...congestive heart failure. My mom had less luck, but lived a healthy life, never in the hospital for anything, until she passed at age 83 from dementia. My parents always had a balance of good friends, family, regular sleep, moderation or abstinence from smoking and alcohol, three modest meals a day and didn't live the fast-paced, high-stress job lifestyles. Food in the summer included market fresh from the farmers, but my mom didn't buy pesticide free, organic only, etc. food as we try to do today. Your body is far more sensitive to stress and lack of balance than vitamin/mineral loss from over-cooking food. At least, in my observances of my family and others like them, that's my conclusion.

It's not the MW that's going to kill you, it's today's lifestyle that will affect your health more and possibly contribute to health problems. So, enjoy your microwave...I'd be alot more concerned about the other things, including the ones mentioned by others before me in this thread, and maintaining a healthy diet, sleep pattern, social structure, and good friend/family arrangement.

I read the articles of opposing views - thanks. Here's another I thought covered all the bases.

 
As far as I'm concerned it's natural selection hard at work. Pick a cancer, any cancer and compare incidence rates around the world:

Worldwide cancer incidence statistics

The latest worldwide cancer incidence statistics for the UK for Health Professionals. See data for cancer type, trends over time, prevalence and more.
www.cancerresearchuk.org www.cancerresearchuk.org
 
Aaaand the personal swipes begin.

If it makes you feel better to believe it's entirely coincidental that every cancer map except one corresponds precisely to prevalence of processed food diets and microwave oven use around the world, I won't confuse you with further facts. Bottom line with our bodies: garbage in, garbage out.

Just to restate I own and regularly use a microwave oven, I'm not against them, just against their being pawned off as a healthy alternative to actual cooking of food.

[this post was last edited: 9/18/2014-18:07]
 
Cancers...

Unfortunately, it seems just about anything and everything can cause it:

~ Too little sleep
~ Too much sleep
~ Poor diet/Diet of Excess
~ Too little exercise
~ Too much sun (Or too little...)
~ Too much alcohol
~ Too little alcohol
~ Too little tea/coffee
~ Too much tea/coffee
The list goes on, and on and on... It seems that being born comes with a 100% chance of suffering, and death.
As they say, "Don't drink, don't smoke, eat healthy, exercise and still die."

When our Panasonic Microwave died in 2012, it wasn't replaced. Not so much because of health concerns, but because our kitchen is so small, we recouped lots of valuable space by just not buying another. Besides, Induction Cooking is the most efficient means to cook, so heating something up on the stove isn't exactly difficult (nor is it going to really heat up the house in summer!)

My opinion - Used correctly, I doubt the Microwave is going to be hurting anyone, anytime soon. If you are using it to heat up jawbreakers, or overcook your food, then yes, you ARE asking for trouble, and perhaps you deserve to get it...
If we instead prefer to refer to the same time of RF that is used in Mobil Phone towers... There is another debate completely. I know of several building built beneath one of those towers, and the majority of women that have ever worked there have contracted Breast Cancers (3/5 in one, plus both shopowners in the other). Chance? Well, with figures like that... It makes you wonder!
 
There was a time when I had two in my kitchen for about 15 years.  Many times both would be working.  Since my range only has one 8": burner, many times I'd use one of the MWs for simmering sauces, soups, ...  I found cooking lasagna on med. or med. lo power yielded as good, if not better results of slow, long extended microwaving.  Just followed cookbook directions.  To this day, I still make a carrot ring casserole in mine.  I use it a lot like Paul.  All cooking I do is regular or doubled recipes.  I freeze individual portions and defrost/reheat.  I have a huge fear of forgetting food that was cooked and forgotten about or getting sick from food that may be in fridge for more than 2 days.  So everyth8ing is quickly frozen after cooking in big batches.  I pretty much have difficulty cooking a recipe that only serves 4 or 6.  Seems like a waste of time cooking.  Visiting friends this summer, it was a real stretch to do just that--ordinary size meals.  And I prefer the really big models (2.0 cu ft. and larger) so that I can slowly and easily defrost economy size packags of chicken or other meats.  About the only thing I use full power for is vegetables.  Everything else is lower power.  Kind of like using my dryer too.  Low or medium heat, never high heat since having front loaders.  Just call me slow, steady, deliberate in many ways. 
 
Hey, the tin foil could be the answer. 

If you are afraid of being infertal, just wrap your nads in Reynold's wrap.  

 

There is a lot of research about the increase in cancers, gluten sensitivities, etc that are not linked to the grains so much but the chemicals that are used on them.  Glyophostae (Round-Up) known during the Viet-Nam era as Agent Orange is the link they are looking at.  

 

My step-dad, a non-smoker, lifelong farmer died of Stomach/Esophagus cancer.  A cancer that has a 1-200,000 occurance.  Five farmers or their wives within a five mile radius of where we lived came down with the same cancers.  This was a town of 105.  Doctors said at that time, 1988, "Farm Chemicals".

 

We didn't own a microwave at that time BTW. 

 

 

 
 
Anybody notice the excess energy it takes to cook a TV dinner resistively makes it taste substantially better than the pinch-a-watt microwave? There are things the microwave does well and things it does poorly. Kinda like any cooking method. Real damn hard to make boiled egg with charcoal.

Cooking breaks down food. That's a third of why we do it. The other 2/3rds are it tastes better hot and it kills bacteria.

Why do frozen entrees fare poorly in the nuke? Because it burns the periphery in the time it takes to heat the core. Besides boiling water for tea, I use the m-w most on power 3 or 4. There are several things it does very well on high. Among which, scrambled eggs, meatloaf, and hamburger (in a browning skillet). It will even make fudge, but don't turn your back on it.

Packaged food m-w instructions are for speed and convenience, not flavor or nutrition. There simply is not a kitchen machine that can make up for, pardon the expression, ignorance.

Somehow I managed to eat half my life without a microwave. But having (the same) one since 1982 I would NOT want to give it up.
 
I've not had a microwave for about four or five years now. The GE I had was about four years old when it blew up.

I missed it for about a month, but after that it was just like I didn't even know they existed. I found I liked the outcome of the food better using a regular oven. If I'm having a box dinner like Stouffer's or such, I just heat the oven, stick the food in, and go do something else while it's cooking. I find I enjoy the food more after I've waited a little while for it.

The ONLY time I've missed it was when I wanted to defrost frozen liquid egg product. Now I just plan ahead, and put the container in the refrigerator the day before, or thaw it in cool water.
 
"I found I liked the outcome of the food better using a regular oven. "

That's because microwave ovens do not cook food, they simply heat it. Or in other words try getting a nice flavorful crust on a steak cooked in a microwave. Won't happen without a separate attachment, and even then it's nothing compared to proper stovetop grilling. Ditto grilled veggies etc.
 

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