The No-Microwave Challenge

Have you ever stopped to think that your microwave might be dangerous? I had been having doubts for some time, but microwaves are so convenient I sort of ignored the issue. Then after my son was born, I decided it was too important to pass by any longer. And so I faced up to the white box in the kitchen that made my food taste so very strange and spongy, yet nice and hot. I did a lot of reading on the issue, and of course there are two sides to every story. But to be feel good about myself, I needed to be safe and not sorry. Microwaves use radiation to cook and the bottom line is that was not natural to me. There is certainly much information out there to explain why this unnatural cooking means is hazardous to us. One article I liked very much is the following by Mercola. While I do not agree with all his views, I think this is a telling read:

http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm

After my mind was made up and my husband agreed, I was not sure what to do with the microwave, but I decided that I could not trash it. What if there were some unfortunate people out there that did not even own a stove? I know, a bit of a stretch, but still. So I put it up for free on Craigslist. A lady contacted me and said hers had broken and she did not have enough money for a new one- she had a whole story. You get the idea. She came, my husband brought it down for her and she asked him, " Why are you getting rid of this?"

He couldn't exactly say, "Well, we don't want cancer". So he errred and ummed and the lady said, "Are you going green?"

"Yes, that's it," said my relieved husband. And she proceeded to tell him that before she saw my ad, she posted looking for a free microwave and another woman wrote her to tell her she should not get one because they are dangerous. Well, at least she was previously warned!

So here I am, microwave free. It's been a year, at least, and we are very glad that we gave the microwave the old heave-ho. I am no longer worried about radiation due to the microwave (just don't get me started on cell phones, wireless Internet or the like) and my food no longer tastes like mushy cardboard. It does not take much more time to heat up food in a pan or in the toaster oven as I feared. Yet I do feel like food preparation is much more mindful this way. And that's the way I like it.

So can you do it? Try the no-microwave challenge for a week or so and see how you fare. You may just realize that you no longer need your microwave either. Or maybe that with all the potential dangers that it was never worth it in the first place!