microwave Archives

February 27, 2020 By Sunita Arora Leave a Comment

How Your Microwave Could Be Damaging Your Health

How many times have you pulled out food from the fridge and pushed it directly in the microwave? It’s convenient, it’s easy and saves a lot of time. Apart from reheating, microwaves are used for cooking and baking – all without burning or creating any mess. But with great convenience, comes even greater risks. Studies have concluded that microwaves can make our food radioactive! This increases the risk of cancer along with other health hazards.

Repeatedly cooking or reheating food using a microwave with plastic containers can cause some harmful chemicals to leach into the food and destroy its nutrients. More than 70% households have microwaves and most hotels and restaurants also use them to reheat and cook food faster. Want to know what your microwave can do to your health?

How Your Microwave Can Damage Your Health

Increased Risk of Cancer: Foods that are microwaved cause different types of stomach and intestinal cancer. The prolonged use of microwaves in cooking causes the growth of cancerous cells in the human blood. Plastic containers used to heat the food have been found to release carcinogens along with other harmful toxins into food which is then absorbed by the human body.
Loss of Nutrients: Water molecules rotate rapidly in the microwave. High frequencies create molecular friction. This causes the molecular structure in food to change and diminishes the nutrients present in food. When food is cooked or reheated in the microwave there is a loss of minerals, vitamins, micronutrients, and the human body gets little to no benefit from that food.
Affects the Immune System: Eating microwaved food excessively can impact blood serum levels and lymph glands which affect immune system functions and leads to immune system deficiencies. If you are falling sick frequently and are using the microwave for cooking or reheating the food, you should stop using the microwave and check if there’s any improvement in your health. Don’t compromise your health to save a few minutes.
Causes Loss of Memory: The central nervous system, especially the hippocampus is highly sensitive to microwave radiation. Eating microwave cooked food consistently causes loss of memory, loss of ability to concentrate, emotional stability and brain damage in the long run. This is because it causes electrical impulses in the brain to ‘short out’. So ask yourself if cooking food in the microwave is better than memory loss.
Effects hormonal imbalance: Microwaved food can alter the production of male and female hormones in the human body. Eating microwaved food excessively can contribute to PCOD and infertility. It also affects the maintenance of hormonal balance in males and females.
Irregular Heartbeat: A study shows that radiation emitted by the microwave affects heart rate. If you are facing regular chest pain and/or irregular heartbeat, you should stop using the microwave in your kitchen. It can also affect your blood pressure, pulse rate, and other cardiovascular functions.

What Can We Do To Reduce The Damage?

Avoid using plastic cookware to cook or heat food. Also avoid pouring hot food (especially liquid) into a plastic container. Even if it says “microwave safe” on it, it’s still going to leach chemicals. It simply means the container won’t warp in the heat.
If you wish to use the microwave urgently, use glass or ceramic cookware.
Don’t use plastic storage bags from the grocery store. Don’t let plastic wrap touch your food during microwaving because it may melt.
Old, scratched, cracked or even containers which have been microwaved too many times may leach out more plasticizers.
If you experience any health issue like a headache, dizziness, eye pain, sleeplessness, hair loss, anxiety, stomach pain, etc. you need to stop using your microwave and consult a doctor immediately.

Using a microwave all the time isn’t a compulsion. Keep its use to a minimum. It’s always better to use a gas stove for reheating food using a stainless steel utensil. We hope this article helps you. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below!

For more such alarming facts, check out LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

#Be the Force

August 3, 2018 By GOQii Editor 1 Comment

Invisible Health Hazards Lurking In Your Kitchen

health hazards in your kitchen

Intro:

Two months ago, we had a suggestion from one of our players on how the pesticide residues in food products can cause harm to our health including diseases like cancer, over a period of time. “From food grains to vegetables to fruits, everything is grown and ripened with the help of chemicals. Even so-called organic foodstuff is not 100% trustworthy. Moreover, organic food is not available everywhere and for every food item, and is very expensive. Having a pesticide-free diet is impossible in today’s India – it’s the bitter truth of current times,” he said. According to him, despite consuming a healthy diet, we have also been unknowingly consuming harmful chemicals with it. This also includes some cooking aids (like non-stick cookware, and cooking techniques like over grilling/ charring of meat in barbeques/ fire). Given that we encounter these hazards on a daily basis, it has become imperative for each one of us to be cautious. We need to be aware of which food and food parts (eg peels) are most likely to be laced with pesticides or harmful chemicals (just an example being mangoes ripened with calcium carbide or apples polished with wax) and how best to remove these.

GOQii’s content team has come up with 3 blogs around these issues. Today, we publish the first of the blog in this series- ‘Invisible Health Hazards Lurking In Your Kitchen’.

Invisible Health Hazards Lurking In Your Kitchen

The kitchen is, in fact, the most sanitary zone in our houses. It is so because the food is prepared in the kitchen and none of us wants to consume food which is prepared under unhygienic conditions. When you read the title, you might think to yourself that it can’t be possible because I always keep my kitchen clean. Unfortunately, the health hazards mentioned in this blog doesn’t revolve around hygiene but focuses on the invisible dangers that lurk in your kitchen, which on a normal day does not meet your eye or cross your mind.

Is your kitchenware poisoning you?

Yes, you read that right. Did you know that certain utensils in your kitchen might be discharging toxic fumes and chemicals into your food? Over a period of time, these substances sediment in your body, posing a great threat to your health.

Non-Stick Pans

Teflon is also known as PTFE is the name of that special coating on your pan which makes it Non-Sticky. When these pans are overheated or left on the stove for too long, PTFE releases fumes which are toxic, causing symptoms like flu in human beings. The chemical perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as PFOA used in the production of PTFE has been condemned by experts for its carcinogenic properties.

2. Plastic Food Containers

Despite the recent ban of plastic in some parts of the country, Plastic still plays an important role in most people’s everyday life. From wrappers to containers, plastic is all over. Plastic contains chemicals like Bisphenol A and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) that can infiltrate your food. When you carry hot edibles in these plastic containers or microwave your food in them, the heat accelerates the emission of these chemicals, serving you a toxic delicacy.

3. Plastic Cutting Boards

While, the debate over what kind of cutting boards are the safest to use continues, plastic definitely should not be your choice. After all the slicing and dicing carried out on your cutting board, you might notice little cuts and nicks across the surface like a soldier’s battle scars. Those cuts and fissures are the breeding grounds of many a dangerous bacteria, mainly E.Coli and Salmonella. Ever wondered where those fractions of plastic from the crevices disappeared? Think no more, they were in the food you chopped and later on consumed.

Is your cooking technique making the food toxic?

That might probably be the truth. In today’s world where there’s not enough time for anything, fast cooking has definitely claimed a spot for itself. Here’s how your technique maybe poisoning your food:

Charring Food

charred-roasted-roots-spinach-hot-winter-salad-1

This process not only takes away almost every nutrient present in your food but also adds toxins to fill the gaps. One should always try to grill your food lightly to avoid charring. Grilling should only be done to an extent where the outsides of the foods are barely brown in texture and the insides are grilled to a minimum.

Deep Frying

Fried food is undeniably delicious but it is important to know that deep frying the food makes it bathe in oxidized fats, denatured proteins, and glycated sugars. The high temperature involved in deep frying creates toxic compounds which lead to cancer. Think twice before pouncing on to those French Fries next time.

Frequent Microwaving

Microwave

In today’s fast-paced life that we all lead, Microwave could be considered as a boon. But, did you know that the food loses most of the nutrients after it’s put into the microwave? It is advised to stay use them only when it’s very necessary and not as a matter of convenience on a daily basis. It is also advised to stay away from the microwave while it is working as the device emits electromagnetic radiations which over time can have very adverse effects on human health. Long-term exposure might considerably increase your chances of developing illnesses like cancer.