Microwaves...Helpful yet Harmful

Several weeks ago I decided to try something daring... Duhn duhn duhn I gave up my microwave. *gasp* 'Oh no she did not` Well yes I did. 'But how?!' It was actually quite simple. Let me tell you. I decided to do so when my boyfriend had made several comments to me about how bad using the microwave was. He even told me his story of how he lost some weight and just overall felt better after having give it up for a couple months. So then I decided to take some things into consideration and try it and give it up. Now, it does still sit on my counter as temptation only because my room mate wants to use it, but I did technically give it up. I started heating leftovers up in a frying pan or in the oven. I use my tea kettle to warm water up. By not using the microwave I now cant really resort to unhealthy tv dinners and other frozen assortments. It helps me to eat just a little bit healthier. But then I was asked what really made me believe this was a healthy choice? What convinced me to try this? Well my thoughts were that it is an electric device heating your food up... That is kind of wierd, but these questions provoked me to do a little research. What is it that makes a microwave so bad for your health? What benefits do you truly gain from not using this device? So I did a little investigating, and mind you I'm not turning this into a lengthy research article but after reading several websites and articles of my own I have learned several things. So lets start from the beginning, how does the microwave actually work?

A microwave, using electronic magnetic radiation, causes water molecules to vibrate at very high frequencies which in time turns into steam which then heats your food. I find it very odd the way this microwave works. Doesn't sound so normal and I'm not into the idea of this space technology helping me out so much. Articles also spoke of how it doesn't give the food radiation but that it is basically killing your food by destroying all the nutrients within. Tests were performed and in comparison to steaming your vegetables, found that you lose about 97 percent of nutrients versus 11 percent when steaming. Now just to be fair a microwave barely harms minerals, such as zinc and magnesium. But otherwise what is the point of microwaving that food? You barely get anything out of it. Also, consider what you heat your food in when it comes to the microwave? If not conscious about this you could be using certain plastics and papers that are releasing carcinogens into your food that is going into your body that you have just heated up in the microwave. Ouch.... Lastly, what affects does the microwave have on the outside. Now I know I said that there isn't radiation being absorbed into the food but there is radiation being emitted through the window. Studies are finding that its not enough to report microwaves "unsafe" but there have been enough studies showing that it can cause cancer agents and irregularity in the heart rate and heart rate variability.

Now I did get a few opinions and viewpoints from family when discussing my decision, and they do make sense. Some people don't see the harm. My mom had pointed out that if I was getting rid of the microwave because of radiation purposes then I should just get rid of all other electronics. Well, not quite exactly. The microwave was just a step. It was just one less thing in my life that wasn't really beneficial to me. It was something that I could deal live without.  I'm not concerned so much as ridding all harmful things out of my life right now. My grandma had also said that the only reason she uses hers is for microwave popcorn and heating up her coffee and her coffee doesn't exactly contain many nutrients that she's concerned about not getting. So for some folks using the microwave isn't that big of a deal for them. It's all dependent on how you view the issue and how you want to take action about it that matters.

Even before diving into this little bit of research I had already had a gut feeling microwaves weren't the greatest thing for you. Even from what I had known growing up. Not to stand close to the microwave and blah blah blah. Just the idea of how the microwave works just frightens me because it doesn't seem so normal. Now that I know some of this research it really helps me to say no to microwaving. But we will see how long it takes before these "facts" have slipped my mind and I cave into using the microwave again. I highly suggest going above and beyond my own words here right now that you have just read and commit to a little research on this topic as well. See whats out there that might change your mind about something that makes your life that much simpler.

The Great Break Up

     Everybody has been a part of a social network at some point.  Whether is was Myspace, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook.  The facebook that has become so popular that they make halloween costumes out of it now.  Well I have joined several of those sites but never became attached as much as I had with facebook.  It started off with some photos, couple status updates every so often and that was that.
     Then my junior and senior years rolled around and I had become a part of multiple clubs and other activities and I was constantly on facebook.  I had good reason.  So I thought.  I needed to update others and gather information and create events so my friends knew what was up next weekend.  It started to become my excuse. "I need facebook to keep in touch with people".  With this excuse I was always on facebook... every night.  If I was doing my homework I would leave it up so I could let people know I was online and looking for a conversation.  I became a little obssesed with the social network, but it didn't pull me away from my education too much.  I still graduated, earned an honors cord and received a fairly nice scholarship from my 80 hours of community service that year.  I was proud of myself. 
     Now I'm a quarter of the way through my freshman year in college and the relationship I had with facebook became even worse.  I had no more reasons to be on facebook everyday.  I was no longer a part of clubs and groups.  I did however end up deleting about 200 people who were my "friends" when in reality I've never spoken a word to them.  Yet, I always was worried about my profile picture and my cover photo had to match.  I needed to find something everyday to update my status.  I still left the page open while I did homework in hopes that someone would start chatting with me.  When I did my homework, which was always online, I would frequently get stuck and imediately I would switch to my facebook tab to "give myself a break".  I thought I would "clear my mind" by reading some statuses and chatting with a friend.  I found out the hard way that none of that helped me what so ever. 
     Last night I got home from an evening of hanging out with my best friend.  We decided to wait on our homework which is usually due at midnight.  So we got on skype afterwards and started working on the assignments when I realized the one and only assignment for the semester was due two hours ago... I was late and could no longer turn it in for credit.  I felt like I screwed everything up.  I mean, I'm still easily going to pass my classes this semester but I needed something even higher to hold onto my grant money this year.  It hit me then that I spend to much with my social life and worrying about what's up with everyone else that I haven't been focusing on myself.  I worked on some other homework and couldn't get the thought that I screwed up by making a very silly mistake.  I know I'm smart.  It's somewhere in there.  I used to be a straight A student and now I average between C's and B's.  I felt so much stress collect on me in those several hours that it drove me to change.  So I took my first step last night.... I ended my relationship with Facebook.  I went through my settings, found the deactivate button and ended it.  Now I may have put that I will be back so at any point I can set it back up and get all my pictures and what not back, but I knowing that it's a whole process to get it back up I just don't even want to bother with it.  Plus I feel so free to do what I want now.  I feel like I have all this time in my day just sitting here.  It's what I've always wanted!  Time!  I sat in my bed last night really thinking and I thought I can finally start reading books again, and blogging, and making youtube videos and finish writing my story!  I was so estatic that this morning I finished some more homework and immediately started some outdoor chores without hesitation and now I still have all this time so it feels.  It honestly feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I now just have my phone, skype and letters in the mail box to stay in touch with friends.  Which I am honestly fine with.  Everybody who was truly that important to me are already added on my skype and most of them are away at college right now so I get letters from them in the mail. 

      Take my story and think about how you're life has been.  Do you wish you had more time for other things in life?  Try avoiding social networking sites for a day or two and you will begin to realize how much of your life has involved these things.  You will feel like you have accomplished so much more in that one day than you have done so in a week.  Comment below with your thoughts and let me know if you have tried this and if it worked for you.