Why We Don’t Use a Microwave

Katie Wells Avatar

Reading Time: 6 minutes

This post contains affiliate links.

Read my affiliate policy.

Why we don't use a microwave and what we use instead
Wellness Mama » Blog » Health » Why We Don’t Use a Microwave

I’ve gotten several emails lately asking about microwave safety and if we use a microwave at our house. Even with the natural birthing, dirt eating, barefoot playing, cloth-diapering and mud shampooing that goes on at our house, not using a microwave seems to be one of those things that is inexcusably crunchy.

Since I’ve pretty well established myself in the crunchy camp, I thought I’d finally share why we don’t use a microwave at our house.

The Main Reason

Half of the reason we converted to real food is the taste, and this is also half the reason that we stopped using a microwave. In my opinion, food cooked or reheated in the microwave does not taste as good! I had plenty of microwaved ramen noodle eating experiences (cringe) in college to form this opinion.

According to the daily green, microwaves work by:

“Microwave radiation is a form of non-ionizing radiation (meaning it can’t directly break up atoms or molecules) that lies between common radio and infrared frequencies. So it is not thought to damage DNA of living things, the way X and gamma rays do. Still, microwaves can obviously cause heating effects, and can harm or kill at high energies. That’s why microwave ovens on the market must operate at or below strict limits set by the federal government.

Most microwave ovens hit food with microwaves at a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz (GHz) (a wavelength of 12.24 centimeters (4.82 in)). The prevailing belief is that molecules in the food, particularly water, absorb energy from the waves through dielectric heating. That is, since water molecules are polar, having a positive end and negative end, they begin to rotate rapidly as the alternating electric field passes through. That rotation is thought to add heat to the food.”

This fast method of cooking doesn’t allow time for flavors to develop and meld like other cooking methods do. As I’ve found a lot of quick meal recipes that are much healthier than microwaved meals anyway, we just don’t use a microwave.

The Health Factors

There is a lot of disagreement about if microwaves release radiation or can cause harm this way. By their nature, they do release radiation in to food, but the disagreement regards whether the radiation is released outside of the microwave itself. Mark Sisson covered this here:

“Here’s what we found. First, to the question of transforming your home into a radiation zone… There is, not surprisingly, disagreement about this point. However, occasional home use of a fully functional microwave appliance is generally considered safe. Microwaves do, make no mistake, emit radiation, and the FDA has established what it considers “safe” levels for microwaves: over the machine’s “lifetime” the allowable level is “5 milliwatts of microwave radiation per square centimeter…approximately 2 inches from the oven surface.” Guidelines from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) suggest overall radiation limits of 1 milliwatt per square centimeter “averaged over 6 minutes (0.1 h) period.” Unless you’re using your microwave on a perpetual basis, there’s little reason to worry.) Because the radiation diminishes quickly over distance, standing further away from the microwave during operation cuts your exposure even more significantly. (That instinct to not press your face against the glass door while your lunch was cooking turns out to be right after all…) Additionally, the FDA requires two interlock systems that effectively offer backup security as well as a monitoring system that shuts the microwave down if one of the systems isn’t working or if the door is opened during operation. Common sense adds that you might want to make sure the microwave seal isn’t compromised by built up tomato sauce or other grime. (Hmmm…anyone?) And, of course, it’s a good idea to replace an old, dilapidated microwave even if it’s a great conversation piece. Safety versus vintage flare…”

There are stories of patients dying after being given microwaved blood transfusions and babies being injured by microwaved breast milk, indicating that those substances should definitely not be microwaved. I’ve also seen caution against microwaving oil or water, though we don’t have a microwave so I can’t claim personal experience with either of those.

From a radiation perspective, the general consensus seems to be that microwaves could transmit radiation, though it is unlikely. Dr. Mercola gives some compelling evidence of this possibility though.

There is evidence that heating certain materials (like plastic) in the microwave can cause harm. As that article explains:

“The safest course of action is to avoid putting any plastics in the microwave. When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tested plastics labeled microwave safe and advertised for infants, even those were found to release “toxic doses” of Bisphenol A when heated in a microwave. “The amounts detected were at levels that scientists have found cause neurological and developmental damage in laboratory animals,” the paper reports.

In fact, the term “microwave safe” is not regulated by the government, so it has no verifiable meaning. According to the Journal Sentinel‘s testing, BPA “is present in frozen food trays, microwaveable soup containers and plastic baby food packaging.” It is often found in plastics marked No. 7, but may also be present in some plastics labeled with Nos. 1, 2 and 5 as well, according to the report. Better to stick to glass or ceramics.”

So, while we’ve opted to avoid microwaves completely, if one is going to use one, it would seem wise not to use plastic.

What About Nutrients?

This is the other half of the reason we avoid microwaves. There is evidence that microwaves reduce nutrients in food. Any cooking will actually change the nutrients in food in some way, though low and slow cooking seems to preserve the most nutrients while faster methods of cooking (microwave being the fastest) destroy more nutrients. This article gives a good summary:

  • Three recent studies of historical food composition have shown 5-40% declines in some of the minerals in fresh produce, and another study found a similar decline in our protein sources (1)
  • A 1999 Scandinavian study of the cooking of asparagus spears found that microwaving caused a reduction in vitamins (3)
  • In a study of garlic, as little as 60 seconds of microwave heating was enough to inactivate its allinase, garlic’s principle active ingredient against cancer (5)
  • 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%of its beneficial antioxidants. By comparison, steamed broccoli lost 11% or fewer of its antioxidants. There were also reductions in phenolic compounds and glucosinolates, but mineral levels remained intact (6).
  • A recent Australian study showed that micro- waves cause a higher degree of “protein unfolding” than conventional heating (2)
  • Microwaving can destroy the essential disease-fighting agents in breast milk that offer protection for your baby. In 1992, Quan found that microwaved breast milk lost lysozyme activity, antibodies, and fostered the growth of more potentially pathogenic bacteria (4).”

The article explains:

“Still, we know sufficiently little about nutrition and the cumulative effects of food science that some aren’t so convinced (of course, there is also the threat of any harmful substances present getting released upon cooking, such as the diacetyl blamed for “popcorn lung.”) In a recent article E Magazine pointed out that popular holistic health expert Dr. Andrew Weil has written, “There may be dangers associated with microwaving food… there is a question as to whether microwaving alters protein chemistry in ways that might be harmful.” According to the magazine, Dr. Fumio Watanabe of Japan’s Kochi Women’s University found that heating samples for six minutes degenerated 30 to 40% of the milk’s vitamin B12. This kind of breakdown took about 25 minutes of boiling with conventional heat. In a 1992 Stanford Medical School study often cited by microwave opponents, researchers reported a “marked decrease” in immune-boosting factors in microwaved human breast milk. In the late 1980s Swiss scientists reported decreases in hemoglobin and white blood cells in rats that had eaten microwaved food.”

The Microwave Bottom Line

Microwaves are convenient… So is fast food, so is letting the TV be a babysitter. Convenience doesn’t always make something the best option.

Microwaves don’t produce the best tasting food, they might destroy nutrients, and there is a possibility that they might release harmful radiation. For me, this was an easy choice- if it might be harmful and doesn’t make good tasting food, we avoid it.

Obviously, most people aren’t willing to give up the convenience of a microwave, so at least avoid using plastic in it!

What We Use Instead

This should be pretty obvious (especially to anyone if our parents’s generation) that there are a lot of alternative cooking methods. In general, we use:

  • Conventional Oven: I use my regular oven multiple times per day to cook or reheat food.
  • Toaster Oven: For times when I don’t want to use the oven or need to heat up a small amount of food, a toaster oven is easier.
  • Pan Heating: I use pans at most meals. Breakfast omelets are cooked on the stove, leftovers heated for lunch and veggies steamed for dinner. I use these pans as they are the most non-toxic and environmentally friendly ones I’ve found.
  • Crock Pot: I use the crock pot multiple times a week, and have one constantly going with bone broth. I use this one because the research I found showed that it didn’t have any lead in the crock, though any slow cooker will work.
  • Convection Oven: I don’t have one personally (it is on the wish list), but a close friend of mine loves her countertop convection oven and uses it everyday. This supposedly combines the quick cooking of a microwave with the safety and quality of the oven).

Do you use a microwave? Would you consider giving it up? Why or why not? Share below!

Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

178 responses to “Why We Don’t Use a Microwave”

  1. Jeremy Avatar

    I would never be without my two microwaves.
    Microwave cooking is about the most efficient use of electricity to cook food.

    And following on from Sammi above, Michael Greger has made it easy to understand.

    https://nutritionfacts.org/video/best-cooking-method/

    He will also explain how to fix the problem of the key enzyme in broccoli being denatured by heat.

  2. Mary Handy Avatar
    Mary Handy

    Are you able to put your stainless steel bowls/plates in the toaster oven? Or ceramic? We use our toaster for heating leftovers.

  3. Kelsey Avatar

    Yikes! The toaster oven you link to has a non-stick interior…!

    We found that the Waring Pro toaster oven TCO650 doesn’t have non-stick, but it’s HUGE!

  4. Lisa Avatar

    We have done away with our microwave for these very reason! I was wondering though about gas stove/oven verse electric stovetop/oven. We recently found out we have had a small gas leak in our oven for over a year and this has caused health problems in our 15 month old. So I am fearful now to have a gas stove/oven and want to change to an electric to avoid this happening again. I just want to make sure I will not be losing any nutritional value to our food by cooking in a electric oven.
    Thanks

  5. Sammi Avatar

    If you choose not to use a microwave because of personal preference, more power to you. But please, for the love of God, stop citing psuedo-science and hear-say. Do some research:

    https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/how-safe-is-your-microwave/2014/11/11/eea75518-6452-11e4-bb14-4cfea1e742d5_story.html

    https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/appliances-and-thermometers/microwave-ovens-and-food-safety

    https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0053720

    It has been exhaustively researched and scientifically proven that microwaving does not affect the nutritional value of food any more than traditional cooking (heat breaks down nutrients in fruits and vegetables no matter the source, the speed of microwaving actually helps LIMIT the amount of nutrition lost so it is in fact healthier). Yes, limiting the use of plastics in microwaves is a good idea, but not using a microwave strictly because of rumors and scary stories is simply perpetuating ignorance.

  6. Araceli Avatar

    Plenty of people have microwave free homes (including myself), but I have one problem: work! I like a hot meal on my lunch break but my only option is the microwave in the break room, and I do not like cold leftovers, nor do I want to eat a salad every day. I try my best, I don’t put plastic around any of my food, and I’ll eat a meal at least 3 times a week that needs no heat, but it’s hard to avoid the microwave there 🙁

  7. Rose Avatar

    I have a question about the convection oven. The one in the link is a countertop one. The description says it cooks using infrared heat. The article on microwaves Wellness Mama cited above says microwaves fall between radio and infrared waves. So isn’t a convection oven ‘worse’ in terms of wave frequency and possible damage than a microwave?

  8. Katherine H Avatar
    Katherine H

    Great post!! Thank you! We threw our microwave out two-three years ago and are so glad we did. Our food taste so much better and we know we are “saving” ourselves from the radiation they produce. We purchased a convection counter top oven and we really like it. As we all know, convenience is not always healthy or beneficial, so I say “dump the nuke!” and be the healthiest you can be!

  9. Donna Avatar

    https://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_ft_02_03.html I have read several posts about halogen ovens using radiation to cook foods, similar to a microwave oven. I’m looking for an alternative, as I do not have a microwave, but would like a quick way to reheat food other than how I’m doing it now. My husband d doesn’t cook & wont heat leftovers without a microwave, so a safe, quick alternative would be great. The link above in thd article goes to a halogen cooker. Do you know of another safer, yet quick heating alternative? Thanks 🙂

  10. AndreaG Avatar

    Hi Katie,

    I actually just stopped using the microwave this Fall. And I do agree–food tastes so much better, and with a little planning, it doesn’t take that much longer to heat food on the stove. The one thing I am bummed about is not being able to heat up our rice pads in it for tummy aches, sore muscles etc. What do you do? Thanks again for you blog—love it!

  11. George Avatar

    I got rid of my microwave almost 3 years ago, because I have read that microwave ovens can put a lot of evil things into people’s food, such as radiation that is very bad for people and this is very scary. I have no regrets that I do not have a microwave, anymore. I wish everyone became educated about the evilness of the microwave ovens.

  12. alice Avatar

    I use my microwave regularly to reheat food but not to cook. It can’t produce certain textures and flavours that other methods can, just as you wouldn’t steam something you wanted browned. A lot of people overcook when using the microwave which definitely tends to change the flavour and texture and would result in nutrient loss just as boiling too hard and too long would. I live alone and cook up big batches of food then freeze in individual portions. If you reheat things properly in the microwave instead of just blasting at the highest temperature for too long they taste fine. I don’t use many commercially processed foods because no matter how you reheat them they’ve already lost a lot of nutrition to the processing before you even get them home and they contain too many ingredients just to make them shelf stable. Plus too much sugar and salt.

    A small handful of studies are repeatedly cited that say microwaves do this or that bad thing but tracking down the original studies to assess the quality of the research are often difficult. Some of the results would happen no matter what heating method is used because they’re the result of too high heat being applied for too long.

    From what I’ve been able to discover the dangers of microwaving in properly maintained equipment in the proper way are minimal, the dangers of heating plastics are real and the microwave should not be relied on to kill harmful bacteria because of uneven heating. Definitely wouldn’t trust one to sanitize anything, especially if only heated for a short time.

    1. fonda Avatar

      I quit using a microwave 4 years ago. Started using a Convection Toaster Oven for re-heating and cooking. Rarely use the stove oven, only if something won’t fir the toaster oven. Food tastes good; usually only takes about 20 min @350 degrees to reheat a plate of food. The toaster oven we have is very large, & Cooking time for most foods is about the same as big oven. Oh….Also my Electric Bill went down, that’s the only change I made.

      ****The microwave destroys what nutrition is in the food you’re cooking or reheating. If you don’t believe it; microwave water, let it cool. Take 2 plants and water one with the cooled microwaved water, the other with tap or rain water. See hat happens to the one using the microwaved water. (IT WILL DIE!)******

      1. alice Avatar

        That water thing has been thoroughly debunked though it keeps being cited. I have not seen any convincing,, reliable evidence that microwaving food kills nutrients any more than any other cooking method unless done for too long, just as with any other method of over cooking. But to each their own.

  13. Kimberly Avatar

    Our microwave broke down a little after my daughter was born 4 years ago. At the beginning we were going to rush out and get a new one, but we never got around to it. 4 years later we don’t miss and and we have agreed never to get one. Reheating nutritious home cooked meals in a microwave felt like frozen store bought TV dinners anyway.

  14. Adam Welsch Avatar
    Adam Welsch

    We have a Microwave but we use it very little, I get mad when I buy a frozen dish from the supermarket and it says “microwave only” I stopped using the microwave because whenever I ate the food I would have a “burning pain” through out my body. I have been to X-ray school and we debated about that and I personally use my new conventional toaster to heat up “pizza” and other food items. I am not a fan of the microwave but when your in a rush on the go it does make like convenient

  15. Jeremiah Avatar
    Jeremiah

    If I were older and had more choice in what goes on in my life, I’d give up a microwave.

  16. Dawn Avatar

    We’ve recently stopped using the microwave at home almost completely. My question is about convection microwaves. We travel in a motor home for several weeks each summer. We don’t have an oven but do have a convection microwave. Does using it in convection mode still have any of the negative aspects of using it in straight microwave mode? I’ve been baking bread at home and would like to continue while we’re away. Anybody know for sure if a convection microwave is as safe (in convection mode) as a true convection oven?

  17. Willow Avatar

    We haven’t had a microwave for 10 years. We put it in the basement to make counter space when we were having a big family party and never brought it back up. A few years later, a house in town was destroyed by fire and we donated it to the family who lost everything. Everything is heated on the stove, in the oven or in the toaster oven. We recently got a Keurig as a gift and that has been great heating water for tea and making coffee.

  18. KT Avatar

    Brilliant post! Thank you. We have not had a microwave for almost 10 yrs. I have had friends and family offer to buy me one because they cannot understand how I live without one. But I can’t imagine using one. I don’t feel like I need to. Recently a friend was here and I made stove top popcorn and hot chocolate for our kids in a matter in minutes. She was stunned at how it actually didn’t take that long and confessed she had never made that kind of thing without a microwave. I really encourage people to try without one, the food does taste better, I’m sure of it!

  19. Judith Moyers Avatar
    Judith Moyers

    How do you thaw out your meat (in a fast manner).. I use the microwave.. 🙁

    1. Meaghan Miller Avatar
      Meaghan Miller

      Judith – to thaw meat, you’ll have to plan ahead, and take it out of the freezer a day or two ahead of cooking, and let it thaw on the counter and fridge. If you are in a real pinch – you can run the frozen meat under cold to luke-warm water. Do not run it under hot water, though faster, can cause the temperature of the meat to rise and start cooking it.

      We have not used a microwave for almost a year now. We took it out because we needed the counter space. At first we weren’t sure how to function, and it was then we realized how often we used the microwave, and how much we relied on it. We have found great alternatives; small pots and pans are used frequently to re-heat food, as are small ceramic dishes in the oven. We would like a toaster oven, but we don’t have the counter space for that.

      We truly enjoy not having a microwave, and we recommend it many people- who look at us like we are legitimately crazy. 🙂

    2. Terry Avatar

      I put my frozen meats on a cast iron griddle with the flat side facing the meat. This speeds up the process of defrosting. I got the idea from that old commercial about the “Miracle Thaw” I think what it does, is it dissipates the cold more quickly than if it just sat on the counter top. It does work and my cast iron griddle is now double duty.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *