Why the Microwave is harmful

I never eat food heated / cooked in a microwave oven - we do not have one at home. Even while traveling, I would rather go hungry than eat food which needs to be cooked / reheated in a microwave. 

The reason is simple. It heats the food from "inside out" by tampering with the molecular structure of the food. The "prana pattern" of the food gets vitiated. Understanding things in that paradigm is good enough for me. But the scientific types, they need scientific explanations. Just came across an answer in Quora which addresses the question from that angle, which I am appending below.

For the ultra scientific types who would like to dig out studies that prove the exact opposite, there will be many articles (no doubt promoted by the Devil's Own food lobby) that will prove the exact opposite, that microwaving food is perfectly fine, to them I would say "don't bother" - since I would then go back to my reasons for avoiding microwaved food and be quite smug and happy in my beliefs :-)))

Dinesh

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(From a Quora Answer by Rahul Srivastava. )

This is how microwave ovens work. Microwaves in microwave oven heat food by making the water molecules in the food vibrate at very high frequencies. Water molecules get torn apart and their structure changes. The heated water in turn heats the food. When this happens, the food's chemical structure changes. This differs from conventional heating of food, where heat is transferred by convection inward from outside.

And because of the way microwave heats food, microwaving produces radiolytic compounds, which are compounds neither found in humans nor in nature. It is not yet known what effects radiolytic compounds have on human body. Since these compounds are not natural, I wonder if their effects are beneficial or even harmless.

Also, carcinogenic toxins can leach out of plastic and paper containers into the food that is being microwaved. No matter how foolproof your microwave oven is, there is leakage of microwave. Although the leakage of microwave from microwave ovens may be very small, exposure over a long period of time should surely causes some damage to human body. The leakage from microwave oven worsens as it gets older.

Microwaving food also negatively alters its nutritional value. For example, a study showed that one minute of microwaving inactivates allinase in garlic, which is known for its anti-cancer benefits. Another study found that heating milk for about five minutes in a microwave oven reduces the B12 content to nearly half.

Research by Russian scientists in 1970s found that: microwaving of milk and grains converted some of the amino acids into carcinogenic substances; microwaving prepared meats caused the formation of the cancer-causing agents d-Nitrosodienthanolamines; thawing frozen fruits by microwave converted their glucoside and galactoside fractions into carcinogenic substances; microwaving frozen vegetables converted their plant alkaloids into carcinogens etc.

A Swiss food scientist concluded in a study that due to consumption of food prepared by microwave cooking, changes took place in the blood that could cause negative health effects such as increased cholesterol levels; decreased numbers of leukocytes (white blood cells) and red blood cells; production of radiolytic compounds etc.

An interesting problem in Number Theory and Probability

 

Was just talking to a friend who is a Math prof, when she posed me this question: What is the last digit of the number 7 raised to 85?

 

When you start working that out, 7 raised to 1, ends in 7; raised to 2 ends in 9; raised to 3 ends in 3; and raised to 4 ends in 1; and then the cycle repeats. Therefore for any positive integer n, 7 raised to n ends in 7 when n mod 4 is 1; ends in 9 when n mod 4 is 2; ends in 3 when n mod 4 is 3; and ends in 1 when n mod 4 is 1.

 

In case of 7 raised to 85, 85 modulo 4, is 1. Hence 7 raised to 85 ends in 7.

 

Which is fine, but one needs to generalise that for all numbers.

 

Hence one can ask the question:   for a number a^ⁿ   , where both a and n are natural numbers , what is the probability that a^ⁿ   ends in 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and 0, respectively.

 

Let us first look at each a separately:

 

(a)   For a = any number ending in 1 (the probability of which in a random sample is 0.1) : a^ⁿ   will end in 1 all the time (100%)

 

(b)  For a = any number ending in 2 (the probability of which in a random sample is 0.1) : a^ⁿ   will end in 2,4,8, and 6 , 25% of the time each.

 

( c ) For a = any number ending in 3 : a^ⁿ   will end in 3,9,7 and 1, 25% of the time each

 

(d) For a = any number ending in 4: a^ⁿ   will end in 4 and 6, 50% of the time each

 

(e) For a = any number ending in 5: a^ⁿ   will end in 5 hundred percent of the time

 

(f) For a = any number ending in 6: a^ⁿ   will end in 6 hundred percent of the time

 

(g) For a = any number ending in 7: a^ⁿ   will end in 7,9,3 and 1, 25% of the time each

 

(h) For a = any number ending in 8: a^ⁿ   will end in 8,4,2 and 6, 25% of the time each

 

(i)             For a = any number ending in 9: a^ⁿ   will end in 9 and 1, 50% of the time each

 

(j) For a = any number ending in 0 (not being 0, since we defined a and n as Natural Numbers): a^ⁿ   will end in 0 hundred percent of the time.

 

Now computing each of the probabilities of a^ⁿ   ending in :

 

1: 0.1 x 1 (a) plus 0.1 x 0.25 (c ) plus 0.1 x 0.25 (g) plus 0.1 x 0.5 ( i) = 0.1 x 2 = 20 percent

 

Applying the same method, we get the probability that a^ⁿ   ends in

1: is 20 percent

2: is 5 percent

3: is 5 percent

4: is 10 percent

5: is 10 percent

6: is 20 percent

7: is 5 percent

8: is 5 percent

9: is 10 percent

0: is 10 percent

 

I also ran a simulation in excel with a sample size of 1000 randomly generated a^ⁿ   . The resulting frequency table closely matches my result, hence I think my answer should be correct.

 

The frequency table generated through a Monte Carlo:

 

endnos.	frequency	my answer
0	10.241%	10%
1	19.177%	20%
2	4.618%	5%
3	4.719%	5%
4	11.044%	10%
5	10.341%	10%
6	20.181%	20%
7	4.217%	5%
8	5.422%	5%
9	10.040%	10%

 

 

Your comments are welcome.

 

Thoughts on BRexit

Imagine you are standing in front of an oncoming train which is ten minutes away. You are going to die, you know that. How you got into that precarious position is because you voted to be there. Why you voted to be there is because the alternative was to continue on a boat where your fellow passengers were the French and the Germans, which, as everyone knows, is intolerable.

You can vote to get back into the boat, but the people in the boat will then lose any respect they had for you, which, you don't realize was zero, so there is actually nothing further to lose.

Now, the oncoming train. You and your fellow group of superior mortals (for you consider yourselves so) have other choices. You can choose to walk towards the train, and it will hit you. That will be your last BReath, or BRexit. Or you can choose to get back into the boat. But you just voted to get out, says one of you. But the train will hit us, says another. But the whole world is watching how grandly and majestically we handle these things, after all we taught manners and etiquette to so many natives all over the world, says another. Get back into the boat, says a small voice inside everyone. But that same voice says that the boat is inexorably heading towards a rocky island, and no one is steering it away, since the officers have locked the rudder in that position, and they are having meetings on board to discuss the issue. But the train is coming, say you, in ten minutes. So, what do you want us to do, go meet it, says another, let us have a discussion. No, a referendum, says another.

And, so one more glorious race on which the sun never set, vanished from the face of the earth. History will record it as the first instance of a race voting themselves into extinction.

This Harvard Professor is talking nonsense!

This Harvard Professor is talking nonsense

 

See link:

goo.gl/1qRfiS

 

 

"Coconut Oil is bad for health, since it is full of saturated fat, more than even meat!"  And who says saturated fat is bad for health? According to Ayurveda, ghee is one of the best foods for the human body. It is nothing but saturated fat. Coconut oil has been had for ages in Kerala, and they seem to have fared quite well!

 

In fact, coconut oil is a superfood. This whole scare against saturated fats is based on faulty western research – they are implicating cholesterol for clogged arteries, when nothing could be farther from the truth. They have been advocating a "low cholesterol" diet. The body actually needs cholesterol! If you don't include it as part of your diet, then the body will manufacture it, by diverting resources from elsewhere, so vital is it  for the functioning of the human body! Include coconuts as part of your diet, coconut oil too. Not only is it good for the inside, it is great for the skin as well; apply coconut oil every day before your bath, and you will yourself see the results in your skin. It is good for the hair too. One tablespoon of coconut oil every day, is an excellent health tonic, though for south Indians who include a lot of coconut in their everyday diets, this may not be required. For patients suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's, make it three tablespoons a day, and you will definitely see an improvement.

 

We are of course talking cold pressed coconut oil here, not that "refined" crap that passes off as oil.

 

There is a re-hash of that talk about good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, HDL, LDL and all that nonsense.  What causes clogging of the arteries is not cholesterol, but processed food, foods made from white refined flour, too much of sugar, etc. … all of which triggers an 'inflammation' response in the body – clogging of the arteries is this inflammation. The food lobby ensures that you lose your health by eating their food, and then the Pharma lobby steps in. They make you take drugs like statins ('blood thinners' for cholesterol) that have no benefit whatsoever but a lot side effects. In fact, if anyone is taking statins, I would say you should just stop it right now!

 

Towards the end, the article talks about a "new food fad", one that is also related to India – ghee! One that is also full of saturated fat! No doubt the distinguished Harvard Professor is getting funded by his backers in the food lobby and the Pharma lobby to conduct another research to discredit ghee. The food lobby needs to discredit these natural age-old dietary practices, so that their products can sell. The FDA is of course hand in glove with them – "FDA approved" only means that whatever slow poison it was did not end up killing people during the study; and in any case, any deaths that happen even later will show up as happening from a different cause.

 

There is a lot of research in the last few years that has concluded that saturated fat is actually necessary, and all the past research demonizing saturated fat, has done incalculable damage in the last few decades. The Harvard professor has no doubt been hired to cloud the issue once more.

 

When it comes to diet and health, ignore all the things these 'studies' say. They are based on faulty methodologies, faulty assumptions, faulty notions about health, and you don't know which of them is funded by which lobby. In any case, they keep coming out with contradictory recommendations.

 

So, where should one turn to for advice on health then? Try Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga, Chinese Taoist recommendations on diet, Chinese Herbal medicine, Unani, and pretty much any ancient system of medicine, and follow their recommendations.

 

And yes, avoid processed food. Say that ten times every day before you go to sleep, so that it seeps into your being. 

And have lots of coconut oil and lots of ghee.

 

Disclaimer: I am not a "doctor" which is why you should  believe what I say.

She waits outside

We build our little houses

and feel safe inside;

Wall up the doors and windows,

wind and sun outside.

We make our own light and air,

they do as we say;

Forget if its night or day,

Masters of our World!

We confront Nature with pride,

for we own our fates;

Dam the rivers, wall the hills,

cut the forests down;

Inside our Ivory Towers,

We, the Conquerors!

We cut ourselves from our Source,

to which we are tied;

We feel that we have conquered,

For, Man shall prevail!

And then the ground opens up,

Beneath our very feet;

It rains fire from the skies,

Choking us in dust;

It pours and the waters rise,

Drowning what we built;

She brings the walls crashing down,

Over our little heads!

We feel scared, cower in fright,

looking at open sky;

Nature's come back to remind us, 

that she waits outside!