Microwaving heats food by causing the water molecules within that food to vibrate which causes the rapid heating response.
The effects that this has on food is nuanced. It has a different effect on Proteins, Starches and Fats. So let’s break it down:
🍗 Proteins: the heat changes how proteins fold and link which can be a problem because this can produce unstable molecules(free radicals). This will have an inflammatory effect in the body. This can make someone end up having allergenic type reactions to protein.
🥔 Starches: microwaving starches changes their structure making them actually more digestible. I have read that it increases the resistant starch content making it have a more positive effect on glucose levels.
🧈 Fats: fats are very delicate and I have a problem here with microwaving them because of this. They oxidize and go rancid very quickly making them inflammatory to the body. You all know how quicky butter can start splattering all over the place when heated that quickly, let alone delicate oils like olive oil and sunflower oil and God forbid Canola Oil(the most popularly used oil in frozen foods and toxic).
🥦 Veggies: you might be really surprised to know that microwaving might preserve vitamins like C, B, and folate due to the quick cooking time. So water soluble nutrients might have a better chance of being preserved this way. As opposed to boiling veggies in water that will leach the nutrients out. Having said that, this can quickly go the opposite way if you overcook them in the microwave. So, for example, if you’re steaming veggies in the microwave we want to just do light steaming, leaving the vegetables more al dente.
Because the most sensitive vitamins are B’s, C and folate and polyphenols across all types of cooking, we want to make sure we take that into consideration while using our stoves and ovens as well.
I told you this was nuanced! 😆
My bottom line is, I use traditional cooking methods, mostly low and slow heat and make sure to not cook the crap out of any of your food, no matter what method you choose!
My other concern with microwaves is that while it is non-ionizing radiation, it still produces radiation like that of your cell phone, and we all know that we shouldn’t be keeping our phones up to our heads either. Just like they used to always tell us, “ Don’t put your head near the microwave!” That’s because the front part isn’t protect by radiation absorbing plates like the sides of it are. So let’s just keep that in mind as well.
This one mentions some interesting points. And I liked it because it also mentions pressure cooking like the InstantPot. Gotta be careful of that one too.
Another excellent point we don’t want to miss, is the containers being used for microwaving. Most plastic films and frozen food containers could contain BPA and other toxins that will leach into the food under microwaving. So ALWAYS use the appropriate containers!!
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9607893/
Here is this article for reference!
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