Please stop microwaving your food

If possible... get a toaster oven or use the stove or regular oven. A saucepan with a bit a water will heat up your food just fine. Microwaves make your food no better than the plastic container you nuked them in. Food (especially the vitamins and nutrients contained in them that your body needs) are not meant to be heated up that fast and to the degree that microwaves produce.

The nutrients contained food (especially protein) have a certain structure. That structure is essential as it is used for "recognition" by the body's digestive system of what it is and what the body needs to do with it. When you microwave or nuke your food, you are denaturing or abolishing the structure of MOST of the nutrients and your body no longer recognizes it and considers it waste. It doesn't get used and goes in your mouth and out the other end. For some people..this can cause your body to trigger the hunger response in order to get the nutrients is it craving.. even though you may have already eaten.

This basic principle of this can be found in any anatomy and physiology book or H.S science books.

Try this test at home. Buy two identical 1.00 plants. Place them in the same spot in your home with sufficient light. Feed one plant regular tap water and the other microwaved water. The plant fed with microwaved water will be dead by the end of the week. Imagine what you are doing to your body with microwaved food.

And it may be hard for some to completely eliminate using microwaves due to schedule or other reasons but try slowly cutting back and see if you notice a difference in your overall health.

Ok.. I'm off my soapbox. Hope everyone is doing great and have a great Sunday.

Ok this troll post is brought to you by the same fairytale science that brought us bloodletting and creationism . Here are two reputable sites on microwaving food. Use them in good health.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Microwave-cooking-and-nutrition.shtml

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Microwave_Ovens_and_Food_Safety/index.asp

what i want to know is why the bowl or plate or what ever is allways 100* hotter than what is in it??

^^^^This!

Microwaves vibrate the molecules of water within the food, creating energy in the form of heat since their frequencies match. The container does not contain molecules of water.

Wow, alrighty then, I'll just cross "microwave" off my dorm shopping list. Now how the heck am I gonna make popcorn? :sad: But, my bank account thanks you.

Even if this isn't true, I'm still not getting a microwave haha. I just don't think I'll need one!

Food (especially the vitamins and nutrients contained in them that your body needs) are not meant to be heated up that fast and to the degree that microwaves produce.

The nutrients contained food (especially protein) have a certain structure. That structure is essential as it is used for "recognition" by the body's digestive system of what it is and what the body needs to do with it. When you microwave or nuke your food, you are denaturing or abolishing the structure of MOST of the nutrients and your body no longer recognizes it and considers it waste. It doesn't get used and goes in your mouth and out the other end.

If what you said were true then we would all be skinny because all of that microwaved food would just "goes in your mouth and out the other end".

Of course what the OP suggest is hogwash pure and simple. Really, pitiful. Please use your microwave all you wish. It will not starve you. LOL.

Microwaves are new technology when measured by lifetimes. Scientists may have learned a lot about the human body and nutrition, but it is hubris to think we truly understand it's complexity. If we did we would be able to cure, not just treat the myriad of modern diseases that now exist. The OP may or may not be correct, but I think her views are quite prudent, and humans have thrived without microwaves, so you can't argue they are necessary.

Some common place items that used to be considered safe:

Tobacco
Bpa
Hydrogenated vegetable oil (trans fats)
Asbestos
Cocaine (dentists and coca-cola)
Radioactive paint
X-rays (without protective covering)
Opium

If you cook all your food in the microwave then I give it to you. Microwave is great for heating liquids, but if you somehow believe anything that comes from the microwave tastes good then good luck.

Great... so we moved from bro-science to hippy-science.
How long before we give in and just use real science?

Microwaves are fine. People are stupid.
I use my microwave at least 3 times a day. It works great. The food tastes great. It even uses less energy than the stove. For the record, a number of foods actually taste better microwaved than baked.

In closing: Please microwave your food, otherwise idiots will think they have succeeded in spreading their misinformation.

In which chapter in my A&P textbook will I find this information? Because I certainly did not find any information in my A&P Course 1 or my class on Basic Nutrition I just finished taking.

In a basic A&p book.. You can look up the effects of varying degrees of temperature on the 4 protein structures on a cellular level. Try looking up dangerous fever situations.
In a chemistry book.. you can look up the amount of energy produced by microwaves versus radiant heat energy.

The reason I stated those possible sources than I guess peer reviewed sources because it is most available to get your hands on that is credible. (like I still have my a&P book and chemistry book from college)

OK. So, to try to do this in the nicest and least "bashing" way possible:

1. The OP *is* correct in saying that heat denatures proteins, and that denaturation changes the structure of proteins in a way that makes them nonfunctional.

2. This argument is not relevant when you get into the digestive system, because the major function of the hydrochloric acid and pepsinogen/pepsin in your stomach is to denature proteins so that your small intestine has an easier time breaking them down and absorbing them.

The bottom line: protein denaturation in your body's cells would be a bad thing (this is why you can die of hyperthermia), but protein denaturation in your food is a normal thing that is going to happen regardless of how you cook your food (you MUST break down proteins into their component amino acids in order to absorb them into your blood stream so your body can use them; you DO NOT absorb "whole" proteins, this is simply how your digestive system works). On the plus side, cooking food can kill dangerous bacteria, and it's feasible that starting the process of protein denaturation helps your body break down those proteins and absorb them without having to work so hard.


I'm stating these facts from memory, based on my 10+ years of experience as a scientist (including a BS and a PhD in neuroscience and 8 years working in biochemistry and molecular biology labs where I did a great deal of protein manipulation) and biology professor, but you can also find information about protein denaturation in your digestive system in the following biology textbooks:

Goodenough J and McGuire B. (2011). Biology of Humans. 4th ed. - Chapter 15: The Digestive System. pp.290-293
Reece JB, et al. (2011). Campbell Biology, 9th ed. - Chapter 41: Animal Nutrition. pp.885-888

I think the Doc won. Thanks for the detailed lesson. Now I know more than I ever wanted to know about my digestion system. Grin.

I think you guys are getting a bit too serious - it's a microwave - not a political argument.

Oh, I do agree with one poster - there is no way I'm going to cook a wonderfully good steak in the microwave. Ick!

Also, the one setting that truly sucks is that defrost mode. If you slap meat in there - gross! You end up with weird stuff. I don't know about you but there's something truly awful than chicken which has weird white spots or hard meat because it's been slightly cooked. Totally gross. My steak will remain on the grill. Frankly - if it were up to me - all my food would be on the grill. I don't know if it's healthy or not but darn is it tasty!

Monica

For what it's worth, I totally agree with you - meat cooked in the microwave is gross, and only happens in my house if there is no other option (reheating leftovers is the only exception). I think the only thing we routinely cook in the microwave are those steamer packs of rice and/or vegetables, or reheating leftovers. Occasionally hot cocoa goes in there, but only if I'm feeling too lazy or it would be too loud to use the milk steamer on my cappuccino machine.

Edited to fix a typo :-)

I don't have a cooker, it broke and I can't currently afford a new one, (I have to move house and need to save a deposit), so my microwave combi oven is all I have. I have no problem with Nukeing my food and will keep doing so happily.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/health/17real.html
oh wait
that's right, shorter cooking times in microwaves means you
RETAIN more micronutrients!
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1453972&show=abstract

Thank you for that. I was going to call BS, but I didn't have any articles handy, and I definitely didn't have any in mind that proved the opposite.

I microwave almost all of the food that I eat warm, because I don't have time to heat everything any other way. Breakfast is baked oatmeal "muffins" that I bake and freeze and a banana, lunch is raw fruits and veggies and mixed nuts, but for dinner I cook a big batch of rice and beans every week and nuke them every night. It's the only way I can maintain a healthy diet with my schedule. Even if what the OP said was true, I'd still use the microwave, because my only other option is eating the majority of my food cold.

Great... so we moved from bro-science to hippy-science.
How long before we give in and just use real science?

Microwaves are fine. People are stupid.
I use my microwave at least 3 times a day. It works great. The food tastes great. It even uses less energy than the stove. For the record, a number of foods actually taste better microwaved than baked.

In closing: Please microwave your food, otherwise idiots will think they have succeeded in spreading their misinformation.

The use of the word Bro Science is becoming extremely gay.

The use of the word gay is becoming extremely Bro Sciencey.

I will microwave water in a cup for hot tea. I set it for 3 minutes and it's nice and hot.

Careful, if you're part plant that could be fatal!

When you are microwaving water you are likely breaking down these minerals, which is why the plant dies.

What a crock of GARBAGE. What are the minerals "breaking down" to? Is Calcium becoming say Magnesium and Oxygen? If you could actually transmute elements with a micowave it would be quite an accomplishment and you would surely have won a Nobel Prize.

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And the value of precious metals would crash. Stick ordinary iodine in the microwave and *poof*, gold!

Microwaves are new technology when measured by lifetimes. Scientists may have learned a lot about the human body and nutrition, but it is hubris to think we truly understand it's complexity. If we did we would be able to cure, not just treat the myriad of modern diseases that now exist. The OP may or may not be correct, but I think her views are quite prudent, and humans have thrived without microwaves, so you can't argue they are necessary.

No, we do not fully understand the complexity of the human body. But microwaves are pretty darn basic and easily understood with a few basic science courses. No one is arguing that microwaves are necessary but rather arguing against the IMprudence of spreading false information. It's like saying spinach gives you cancer-sure, there's a whole lot we don't know about cancer and its causes, but that statement is not backed up by ANYTHING, and I can't say spreading that around would be prudent in any way.