Microwave - What's cooking in there???

Microwave Oven - From heating up precooked food, boiling milk, popping the corn, to baking cakes and pizzas this appliance makes everything so easy and quick.

Now, will you not think am paranoid if i tell you "all that gets cooked in a Microwave turns Poison"... You may be right; but let us just understand this machine a little more before you conclude :)

 First, let us go back to some of our secondary school text books to get the basics straight.

What are Microwaves and how does an Oven work?

Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation and are on the low energy end of the energy spectrum, second to radio waves. These wave are generated by the magnetron – found within every microwave oven.

Microwaves produced within the microwave oven bounce around the inside of the oven and are absorbed by whatever is placed in the oven.  

How does the Food gets heated?

In order for something to heat in a microwave oven, water must be present within the substance. The reason for this is that water molecules within the food vibrate at incredible speeds, creating molecular friction which is responsible for the heating of the food.

Have you observed that many times the food in the oven is heated unevenly? The uneven heating occurs because microwaves work with whatever water molecules are present, and since not all areas of food contain the same amount of water, heating becomes uneven.

OKAY, so what's wrong with this???

Microwave radiations are classified as non-ionizing radiation – which can change the position of atoms.  A clear example of how non-ionizing radiation can harm you is the damage caused to your skin and eyes from the sun.

For more details on radiations : http://naturalsociety.com/radiation-unsafe-at-any-dose/

Microwaving food, in effect, potentially destroys and depletes the life energy, rendering the food completely dead and lifeless. In addition, the food’s nutritional value is lost and it becomes nearly useless in terms of providing any real health benefit.

Fine, how do we believe this?

I know, we always need a white skinned to make us believe that something is good or bad :) so here you go...

Hans Hertel, a Swiss scientist, states:

“There are no atoms, molecules or cells of any organic system able to withstand such a violent, destructive power for any extended period of time, not even in the low energy range of milliwatts… This is how microwave cooking heat is generated – friction from this violence in water molecules. Structures of molecules are torn apart, molecules are forcefully deformed (called structural isomerism) and thus become impaired in quality.”

Are there evidences that we can see?

Here is a very simple experiment that can be performed very much at our homes.

In a science fair project, Arielle Reynolds a secondary school student in Sussex, demonstrated the effects of microwaved water fed to two genetically identical plants over a period of nine days.

 

 

More details about Arielle's experiment:

http://preventdisease.com/news/12/041712_Students-Experiment-Shows-How-Microwaved-Water-Kills-Plants-After-Just-Days.shtml

If it is so bad, why was it used for cooking and why didn't governments ban it?

Very sensible question isn't it... Like the many useless things we have today like pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, steroids this too is an residue of the World war-II.

Microwaves were first invented by the Nazi’s in order to provide a method of cooking for their troops during World War II.  

Russians conducted research to discover the biological effects they might possess. The results were staggering enough to lead to a ban of the new device in the Soviet Union. The ban, however, was later lifted during Perestroika, the political movement responsible for the restructuring of the Soviet Union.  The initial findings included:

• Carcinogenic substances were formed from the microwaving of nearly all foods tested.

• Microwaving milk and grains resulted in carcinogenic substances being formed through the conversion of amino acids

• Microwaving prepared meats caused cancer-causing agents such as d-Nitrosodienthanolamines to form

• Extremely short exposure of raw, cooked, or frozen vegetables converted their plant alkaloids into carcinogens

• Structural degradation leading to decreased food value was found to be 60 to 90 percent overall for all foods tested, with significant decreases in bioavailability of B complex vitamins, vitamins C and E, essential minerals, and lipotropics.

How is it any different from conventional methods of heating?

In most of our conventional methods like wood stove, LPG, Barbeques, Tandoori ovens etc. the heat is applied from outside to inward and not at a molecular level unlike microwave oven.

If you would still say AM PARANOID???  Thanks and I prefer to stay so J J J 

While this post is not directly about demystifying our tradition, this throws some light on the importance of taking informed decisions before moving away from it.

Snake that eats the Sun and Moon - Eclipse

There has never been a civilization that has not told stories and we Indians master this ‘art of knowledge’.

Each one of us would have heard different stories from our grannies on this natural wonder “Eclipse”.  The most popular one being, a demon snake swallowing the Sun and Moon J

In addition to these stories they also laydown a weird protocol which mostly demands us

-      To stay indoors.

-      Not to eat or drink before & during eclipse.

-      To take a bath and wash the house clean immediately after eclipse.

Ha ha ha… weird people right; how on earth is our eating and bathing connected to eclipse. :)

It is scientifically known that our earth’s atmosphere / ozonosphere undergo various changes during eclipse.  In short; earth's Pressure, Temperature and Electromagnetic radiations are the three most important things that are impacted because of eclipse.

Hmmm….So what???

Due to these atmospheric changes many microorganisms that float around in the atmosphere tend to die and/or settle down on the surface.  This can be justified by the fact that a large number of small sea animals or fishes die during eclipse.

Where do these microbes settle down…? Yes exactly; on us, our clothes, the food we eat, the water we drink etc… etc…

Also, a sudden change in atmospheric pressure impacts our metabolism and this why some people feel nausea when they travel up / down hill or a flight take off / landing.

Now after correlating these, somewhere in back of the mind the protocol that follows the story does seem to make sense :)

"IDLY" and the secret !!!

A boring, three days a week lousy breakfast; this is how most of us would define idly.  Thanks to the western influence and the effective marketing campaigns of multinationals, we perceive brown bread and corn flakes to be better things to start our day with.

But not for the International Food Council; our own lousy Idly has taken an important note in their recent food policy.  The reason for this is backed by very strong research findings from their department of ‘Food Science’.

The secret that makes it so special is its simple recipe. Rice and Urad dal soaked in water for hours and grinded together to batter that is steamed cooked in pressure.

Why rice and Dhal combo? 

     Rice a cereal grain and urad dhal (lentils) a pulse; we all would know they are rich in carbohydrates, also both have different amino acids 'methonine' and 'lysin' respectively.  The blend of these two amino acids make a balanced protein that can be easily broken down and absorbed unlike many other types of protein.  It is for the same reason why many of our south Indian dishes has this combination Pongal, Sambhar Rice etc...

What is it about soaking them in water?

     60% of the urad dhal is of carbohydrates which breaks down to 'Oligosaccharides' during digestion.  This saccharides need 'galactose' for effective digestion, which is absent in the small intestine.  Soaking the uradh dhal in water removes the 'oligosaccharides' which otherwise enters the large intestine splitting into Co2, Nitrogen and Methane thereby causing gastric trouble.

     And finally, why steam it?

    The process of steaming restores the vitamins. For instance 'Thiamine' an important vitamin gets evaporated on heating or frying but not by steaming.  Urad dhal also has some 'tripsin blockers' that blocks the absorption of proteins and anti-nutritive factors. By steaming these factors are removed.

If a simple Idly has so much of science hidden into it_____________ :)

  

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