Which Is More Dangerous: Sticking Your Finger In An Outlet or Cooking Your Food With A Microwave?
By admin
Yes, the microwave. That magical appliance that has a spot in an estimated 90% of American kitchens and is glorified for it’s ability to pump out cooked meals extremely fast.
I was always amazed how the directions on the back of frozen burritos said cook in an oven for close to 20 minutes, but if you choose the microwave it only takes 1.5 minutes!
And isn’t that a staple in our lives? We want fast weight loss, fast money, and fast food! Did you know that some restaurants use just a microwave to prepare all the “yummy” foods on their menu?
Time for a quick walk down memory lane…
I still remember my parent’s first microwave.
They received it as a gift from my grandparents when I was born to help my mom heat up bottles. Okay, so clearly I don’t remember getting it, but we kept it until I was a sophomore in college! So there! I guess my grandparents got their money’s worth!
I can’t help but say… they just don’t make things like they used to! Show me a microwave today that will last 20 years. But that’s a post for another day.
For now I will stick to the topic: the safety of microwaves!
Let me start by saying that I am in that group of 90% of Americans. It’s black and silver, hangs magically above my stove top and can heat up a great batch of oatmeal in 65 seconds flat each morning! What can I say… I too like instant gratification (especially at 5:00 am)
But this isn’t about my personal thoughts on the microwave, it’s based off of research that I have read through and studied.
Even though I use a microwave it doesn’t mean that I am proud of it (I feel as if we should be sitting in an off-white room with plastic chairs listening to each person as they stand up to announce: Hi, My name is Taylor and I am a microwave owner…”
What is a microwave?
Of course you know what a microwave is, but do you really?
It was an accidental finding actually. An engineer (Mr. Percy Spencer) was hard at work and realized that microwaves, which he had been working with, could heat up food quickly. His first test was melting chocolate, then on to eggs and popcorn.
Microwaves are a form of radiation, I won’t get all technical by throwing out words like non-ionizing (ugh thoughts of college physics just popped in my head), but that just means they can’t directly break apart atoms.
Because of where the waves fall on the infrared spectum they aren’t thought to damage DNA (like UV), but still because of their heating affect there are strict rules on the power output for consumer microwaves. The heating affect comes from interactions between molecules (getting all excited!)… again not wanting to get all science and fancy by using words like polarity.
Now that that’s out of the way let’s talk safety…
For a SPLIT second this thought may have crossed my mind… for a dramatic photo opt.
Then I came to my senses and realized the mess I would be cleaning up. So I decided to pass, sorry.
Are plastics really harmful to heat up in the microwave?
A study performed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did a study to find if plastics labeled as “microwave safe” really were. What they found was that they weren’t.
Even the “safe” plastic containers were found to release toxic doses of Bisphenol-A… the levels were high enough to fall in the category where scientist say can cause neurological and developmental issues in lab animal.
Here’s something else I found in my research: the government doesn’t regulate things being “microwave safe” so any old company can toss that label on their products!
What has BPA (Bisphenol-A)?
- Frozen food trays
- Microwavable soup containers
- Several tub-a-ware containers (marked No. &)
- Several microwaveable baby food containers
Let’s just say I have started to use a lot more glass in our house. In fact, for heating my my oatmeal and such, I use mason jars. I also use mason jars to store my grains and loose items in my pantry instead of tub-a-ware.
I might be getting carried away with my new love of mason jars…
I am replacing all of my plastic containers with glass jars. Plus, I love the way it looks.
Is it okay to cook meat in the microwave?
I am going to say no! Microwaves are notorious for unevening cooking. So even though it feels hot on the outside, the inside might still be completely raw. I know you’ve tried to cook a burrito before, only to cut into it take a bite and realize the middle is still frozen.
Perfect example.
What About A Foods Nutrient Content?
We’ve all heard it… that microwaving can break apart a food and lower it’s nutritional profile making it less healthy. As a health food freak, this is the question that people as me about all the time. My answer?
Who knows?
Any type of heating can break apart a foods natural make-up. Baking, grilling, and boiling can all decrease the vitamins and minerals we get from food. That’s why raw food people eat the crazy diet they do.
But here’s some hard evidence I did find:
According to a study published in Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Dr Fumio Watanabe of Japan’s Women’s University discovered that when milk is microwaved for 6 or more minutes, the vitamin B12 content was decreased by 30-40%. After 1 minute the milk reached a boiling point and the B12 began to be inactivated. He also found that with conventional stove top heating it took 25 minutes to see this sort of vitamin b inactivation. Interesting?
Resources:
http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1998/153-07/15307-16.pdf
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/microwave-radiation-ovens-460709
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