Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Kitchen helper.......?

I remember it clearly - my family was preparing to move from our home of 7 years.  My dad had taken a new position in another town and we were saying our good-byes.  As a thank you gift, a group from church went together and purchased for our family our 1st microwave.  (the year was 1982)  In a family that had 5 permanent children and 19 foster children, I believe they thought my mom could use some help with the food preparation.
The Microwave -a funny invention - something that will cook our food faster and heat our water quicker.  There were many a hotdog cooked in our microwaves and my brother was known to cook just about any kind of meat in 2 minutes or less.  A childhood memory I could really do without.   I am sure somewhere along the way I took a science class that discussed how a microwave works, what was never discussed is what actually occurs to food in the quick heat process.  If you are in love with your microwave and can't see life without it stop reading now.

The following is a summary of the Russian investigations published by the Atlantis Raising Educational Center in Portland, Oregon. Carcinogens were formed in virtually all foods tested.  No test food was subjected to more microwaving than necessary to accomplish the purpose, i.e., cooking, thawing, or heating to insure sanitary ingestion. Here's a summary of some of the results:
  • Microwaving prepared meats sufficiently to insure sanitary ingestion caused formation of d-Nitrosodienthanolamines, a well-known carcinogen.
  • Microwaving milk and cereal grains converted some of their amino acids into carcinogens.
  • Thawing frozen fruits converted their glucoside and galactoside containing fractions into carcinogenic substances.
  • Extremely short exposure of raw, cooked or frozen vegetables converted their plant alkaloids into carcinogens.
  • Carcinogenic free radicals were formed in microwaved plants, especially root vegetables.
  • Decrease in nutritional value
Russian researchers also reported a marked acceleration of structural degradation leading to a decreased food value of 60 to 90% in all foods tested. Among the changes observed were:
  • Deceased bio-availability of vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics factors in all food tested.
  • Various kinds of damaged to many plant substances, such as alkaloids, glucosides, galactosides and nitrilosides.
  • The degradation of nucleo-proteins in meats.
In Robert O. Becker's book, The Body Electric, he described Russian research on the health effects of microwave radiation, which they called "microwave sickness." On page 314, Becker states:
"It's [Microwave sickness] first signs are low blood pressure and slow pulse. The later and most common manifestations are chronic excitation of the sympathetic nervous system [stress syndrome] and high blood pressure. This phase also often includes headache, dizziness, eye pain, sleeplessness, irritability, anxiety, stomach pain, nervous tension, inability to concentrate, hair loss, plus an increased incidence of appendicitis, cataracts, reproductive problems, and cancer. The chronic symptoms are eventually succeeded by crisis of adrenal exhaustion and ischemic heart disease [the blockage of coronary arteries and heart attacks]."
According to Dr. Lee, changes are observed in the blood chemistries and the rates of certain diseases among consumers of microwaved foods. The symptoms above can easily be caused by the observations shown below. The following is a sample of these changes:
  • Lymphatic disorders were observed, leading to decreased ability to prevent certain types of cancers.
  • An increased rate of cancer cell formation was observed in the blood.
  • Increased rates of stomach and intestinal cancers were observed.
  • Higher rates of digestive disorders and a gradual breakdown of the systems of elimination were observed.
Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven:
From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:
1). Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].
2). The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3). Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4). The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.
5). Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.
6). The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.
7). Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.
8). The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.
9). Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.
10). Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.
end of article

In the fast paced, I need it now society, we have become accustomed to the quick fix.  Walk through any grocery store aisle and most items are packaged and designed for a quick, "wholesome" meal.  We need to question a little stronger what wholesome looks like and what we are actually ingesting.

If you google microwave cooking you will receive this information and then many other sites that will completely disagree.  My instincts tell me that local farming, fresh whole foods and traditional farming and cooking methods are best for health.  I know that we are all really busy and that sometimes we just don't have the time.  Recently, we have begun using our toaster oven (a favorite heating source during the Texas summers) and the stove top.  I have found that the time it takes to heat or reheat food in this manner seldom is longer than the microwave.  In addition, the food does taste better.

As we strive towards the goal of better health I may have to rid myself of some technologies I thought were helping me and rediscover that a little extra time may go a long way in aiding my family's long-term  health.  

1 comment:

  1. Confirms what us food prudes have long suspected...thank you for posting!

    ReplyDelete

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