Microwave.

Mmmmkay, so lets just address the weirdness right away.

We don’t have a microwave in our home and we don’t use them. (Unless rare occasions where we have some popped popcorn on the our RV.)

It’s been maybe 5-6 years since we have had a microwave in our home. It took A LOT of convincing my husband over many years of information and resources. We were rehabbing our new home and took the microwave out over the stove and I asked with him if we could not replace it but just leave the microwave out of the kitchen plans. He agreed.

It was a LONG road of getting used to not heating things up instantly. At the time, my baby was taking bottles sometimes so we slowly had to heat it up on the stovetop. Leftover meals were not instant. I preheated the oven and we waited 30-45 minutes for them to fully heat up. I think many times, my husband wanted to give up. It wasn’t worth it to him. I kept assuring him that it was worth our health. (And I am only sharing this as a decision we had made for our family once I was educated on the dangers and harm that microwaves can cause long-term.)

Life isn’t about completely avoiding every single toxic harm coming our way. But I do want to be informed and educated on certain things to make the best decisions for our family and lower our toxic burden. And it isn’t an all or nothing area for me. It’s balance and flexibility and making the best decisions when and how we can. Once I learned more about microwaves, I wanted to make that shift for our family. That doesn’t mean that we never use microwaves, shame anyone else for using one or are fearful of them. It just means that for us, 98% of the time, we don’t use them and that’s easy because we don’t have one in our home.

Truthfully, besides the health benefits, it has really helped me take a slower lease on life. I move at a slower pace. Start preparing food in slower and more intentional ways. Our meals are made with a little more love from me as I don’t rush heating anything up because… I can’t. At first, this was so hard to adjust to but after so many years of no microwave, it is second nature. I don’t even think about it. I don’t realize we don’t have a microwave anymore because the way of cooking food has shifted so much that it is our normal way of life now.

Now that I’ve give you the backstory, let me give you some of the facts. And I do encourage you to research on your own as well and make the best decision for you, your family and your health. That looks different for everyone. Do look for the most unbiased research and information you can get. (might have to get a few pages into the search and don’t use biased articles.)

Here is an IG post I did about it in 2019 sharing more insight:

“From the first day that we ditched it, it was a learning curve on doing life without one, but now it seems like second nature. I boil water in our electric kettle. I warm up large amounts of leftover food in the oven and we warm up single servings in our toaster oven. I’ve learned to be a little more patient and take my time.

Let me tell you a little bit about why we don’t use microwaves:

•They have the power to burn human tissue + the eye is particularly susceptible.

•The FDA warns that you shouldn’t stand directly against your microwave while it’s heating your food. •It’s very important that children follow this rule since their bodies absorb radiation more easily than adults’. •Your microwave has the potential to leak radiation.

•Did you know that the Soviet Union introduced a ban on the use of microwave ovens in 1976, due to the risk of cancer that was discovered by Soviet scientists?

•The biological effects caused by microwave radiation might include: chronic fatigue, somnolence, trouble with concentration + memory, frequent headaches, dysregulation of the hormonal + nervous system resulting in emotional instability + fertility problems, decrease in immunity which therefore increases the risk of infection and development of cancer cells.”

Basically, microwaves are electromagnetic waves that have radiation that seeps into our food and homes. It can cause damage to your brain. Our hormone production can be affected. We don’t fully understand how the micro-waved food can affect our bodies long-term in terms of digestion. We lose nutrients vital to the body through the microwaved process. It can increase the growth rate of cancerous cells. It can cause immune system deficiencies. It can affect memory, concentration and emotional stability. This is just tip of the iceberg. And there are short-term harms as well as long-term effects. And western medicine doesn’t necessarily say, “Yup, it must of been these past 20 years of you using your microwave that added to the cause of this illness.” Naw, they aren’t putting that into play. Which is why you have to advocate yourself and make those choices for you.

I realize I might just sound like the crazy lady but I’m willing to take the label because I’m just really grateful I found out when I did so I could make that change for our family. We’ve been so much healthier these past years and I just have that peace of mind knowing we aren’t exposing ourselves to radiation from our microwave every single day. For some people, they would rather sacrifice other conveniences and keep that microwave around and no shame on them for that. I just wanted to enlighten your ideas today so you may feel compelled to do further research yourself. (Trust me, you will find ENDLESS articles trying to debunk all this information- I have no idea why. But you will run into article after article telling you microwaves are fine and healthy for you. You HAVE to dig deep. You have to advocate for yourself, look outside the box and also trust your gut.)

This isn’t an article on why you shouldn’t use one. This is a plea to give you enough incentive to look into it more yourself. There is science out there to show the proof but you gotta look for it beyond the shiny 1st page search results. I wanted to give you a little rabbit trail of information to work off of. Even ONE of those damages I listed above was enough for me to break up with my microwave. You need to decide what the last straw for you is.