Breastfeeding moms know that we should never heat up breast milk in the microwave.  It can kill off the immunity building and nutritious value that we have created for our babies.  Of course, I told the person who was helping take care of my children that over and over again.  Wasn't I shocked when one day I see her heating up a bottle in the microwave as I arrived home early!  And in a plastic bottle no less!  My only solution:  out it went. 

It was an odd day indeed when we removed our microwave, just to the garage, just in case, and it never made it back.  (Of course the babysitter/nanny got removed too but she didn't get the garage just in case step.)  How will we heat up the food?  We looked at our stove and oven, new kitchen tools that were just there as placeholders, I remembered they could do it, slower, yes, but could it taste better and be better for our health?  After some research and cooking and tasting, the resounding answer was indeed they could!  We haven't looked back on our experience of dumping the microwave and now can't imagine life with one.  Can you imagine your life without it?  And why might you want to consider that?

So there you are, cooking broccoli in the microwave.  Everyone sits down for dinner but instead of enjoying a nice meal, you are repeating yourself over and over again to your child to eat the broccoli, but she won't.  You finally get her to take a bite and feel such a sense of accomplishment.  After all, she got some nutritional value and tried a new food, right?  Actually, microwaved foods are practically null in nutrition!  (A recent study found that microwaved broccoli lost 97% of it's healthful antioxidants!)  All that harping on her for nothing! 

Ever wonder why your food tastes plastic?  Maybe it is!  When using a microwave, you must use glass or plastic to cook, and most people opt for plastic.  Heating and cooking foods in plastic enables harmful chemicals from the plastic to leach into the food.  And I've seen friends grab bags of vegetables from the freezer and stick the whole thing in the microwave even though the very bag says not to do that!  So now you're eating no nutrition with a side helping of harmful chemicals from the plastic!  But it's convenient, that's for sure.  We have to wonder if the convenience today is worth the risk tomorrow:  risk of decreased health, risk of disease.  To me, the answer is clear, no.

Microwaves destroy the nutritional value while creating potentially harmful compounds.  It's the way they work, from the inside out instead of the outside in as regular cooking would do.  The waves are violent and destructive.  The very nature of the food being microwaved is changed.  Eating these foods, in turn, causes changes in our body and our blood.

The following is taken from Mercola:

Just What Is Wrong With Your Microwave?

If you are familiar with homeopathy you will instantly realize the problem. Microwaves heat your food by causing it to resonate at very high frequencies. While this can effectively heat your food it also causes a change in the chemical structure of the food that can lead to health problems.

Heating food can cause problems by itself but when you heat it with microwaves you have the additional problem of the creation of negative homeopathic frequencies that further devitalize your food. This is one of the explanations for the following observations:

	A study published in the November 2003 issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli "zapped" in the microwave with a little water lost up to 97 percent of the beneficial antioxidant chemicals it contains. By comparison, steamed broccoli lost 11 percent or fewer of its antioxidants.
	When microwaving, carcinogenic toxins could be leached from your plastic and paper plates or covers and mix with your food.
	The temperature of microwaved food can become extremely hot, at temperatures high enough to cause burns or steam buildup that could explode -- this is especially risky with baby bottles. Plus, microwaving can break down the essential disease-fighting ability of breast milk to protect your baby.
	A 1991 lawsuit involving a woman who had hip surgery and died because the blood used in her blood transfusion was warmed in a microwave. Blood is routinely warmed before transfusions, but not by microwave. The microwave altered the blood and it killed the woman.

If You Knew More About Your Microwave -- You Would Get Rid of It

Are you among the millions of people everyday exchanging your health for the convenience of microwave ovens?  Before you use your microwave one more time, you might want to consider some facts.

The Nazis are credited with inventing the first microwaves. Known first as radiomissors, they were used for preparation of meals on a mass scale during the invasion of Russia -- thus eliminating the logistical problem of cooking fuels. After the war, the Russians had retrieved some of these microwave ovens and conducted thorough research on their biological effects. So alarmed by what they learned, the Russians banned microwave ovens in 1976.

By far the most compelling evidence supporting the dangers of microwaves comes from a highly regarded study done by Dr. Hans Hertel, a Swiss food scientist, who concluded that microwave cooking significantly altered food's nutrients -- so significantly that participants' blood changes suggested deterioration.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Hertel's study was met with great resistance from those with much to lose. After a gag order by a Swiss trade organization was removed, his study was finally published in 1992. Dr. Hertel's startling findings showed that microwave cooking resulted in:

	Increased cholesterol levels
	More leukocytes, or white blood cells, which can suggest poisoning
	Decreased numbers of red blood cells
	Production of radiolytic compounds (compounds unknown in nature)
	Decreased hemoglobin levels, which could indicate anemic tendencies

• The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking, Anthony Wayne & Lawrence Newell on Mercola
• The Proven Dangers of Microwaves, Nexus Magazine on Mercola
• Radiation Ovens:  The Proven Dangers of Microwaves, HealthNews
• Does Plastic in Microwave Pose Health Problems?, Wall Street Journal
• Microwave Cooking is Killing You!, Health Wealth & Happiness