Healthy Foods: How To Prepare Them

by

Maria Teresa De Donato, Ph.D., RND, CNC, CMH, CHom

For the past two decades, thanks to the flourishing of alternative medicines aiming at obtaining a state of optimum health and well-being through the return to nature, a more balanced and healthier diet and lifestyle, as Westerners, we have been overwhelmed by a wave of information – sometimes even contradictory – about what should be seen as the best foods: raw or cooked? And how about microwaves?

To correctly answer these questions and determine the best way to consume foods, we need to consider some key aspects beginning with the need to preserve the nutrients they contain and which are necessary for a healthy diet and hygiene. Let's start with cooking: this method has its advantages and disadvantages. In the cases of meat and fish, for example, complete cooking eliminates several microorganisms through which the meat can come into contact with psychotropic bacteria that grow in them – including the Acinetabarater, Maraxella, and Pseudornanas. The latter alters them, thus causing a change in their smell and color, which turns into grayish hues, while a low level of moisture can encourage the development of molds that give the meat a greenish color. As stated, thanks to the high temperatures it reaches, cooking becomes an ideal tool to solve and even avoid all these problems.

In the case of vegetables, on the other hand, the opposite is true: once we have washed them is preferable that they are consumed after being lightly cooked, steamed, or eaten raw (which is also the best way to eat fruit) so that the body can absorb all the nutrients they contain, that is vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, essential oils and enzymes, which are all fundamental for proper nutrition, digestion and optimum health. For hygienic reasons, however, it is always recommended to consume raw foods at home and to opt for thoroughly cooked foods when having lunch or dinner out.

As for the microwave ovens, though they may be used to warm up food – better if only for a few seconds – in reality, they are not advisable for cooking. Why? The reason is simple: the microwaves that they produce are a type of electro-magnet energy, like radio waves, each containing a magnetron, which is a sort of tube in which the activities of electric and magnetic fields affect electrons. In plain English, this means that the radiation from microwaves interacts with food's molecules and alters their structure through a radioactive process called 'nuclear disintegration.' Therefore, microwaves should never be used for cooking, but only, if necessary, to warm up food.

At this point, some might wonder how to preserve all the foods and nutrients required for a healthy diet and keep them in optimal condition until they are eaten.

In this regard buying a solar dryer for foods – vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish – and for medicinal and aromatic plants may serve the needs of families and small and industrial productions. We may want to buy one which operates in full compliance with organic and biodynamic processes and requires no fuel nor produces harmful emissions for human health or the environment but instead uses exclusively solar energy.

Although they may sound revolutionary, some dryers utilize the oldest tradition of food preservation: drying. The latter, through the dehydration process, eliminates all the problems previously mentioned related to bacteria, molds, and microorganisms, which contaminate and alter foods and make them toxic and, consequently, harmful to human health. Furthermore, not using additives either allows excellent quality foods by preserving their natural state and, therefore, all the nutrients a healthy diet should include.

Thanks to modern and innovative technology, some dryers transform solar energy in hot air, which can dry the foods while maintaining their intrinsic qualities unchanged, which is also a fundamental factor in treating medicinal herbs. Drying occurs very quickly, away from atmospheric agents and from anything that could contaminate the purity of the product.

Other important technical aspects to consider when buying a dryer are, therefore, a temperature that never exceeds 50° (= 122 F.) and a resistant and durable shield to protect foods against UVA and which safeguards, this way, all their organoleptic (physical and chemical) properties.

I look forward to working with you!

Author: Copyright©2012-2015. Maria Teresa De Donato. All rights reserved 

Photos: Copyright©2012-2015. Paolo Trotta. All rights reserved 

To learn more about my holistic health practice and my coaching activity, please feel free to also visit the following sites:

http://www.dedoholistic.com

http://www.holistic-coaching-dedonato.com

http://holistic-coaching-dedonato.blogspot.com/

http://marter2520.wix.com/dedonato-homeopathy

http://omeopatia-drdedonato.weebly.com/

http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/case-study-abdominal-mass/

http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/asthmatic-bronchitis-in-an-18-month-old-boy/

Superfood #2: Mushroom

Superfood #2: Mushroom

by

Maria Teresa De Donato, Ph.D., RND, CNC, CMH, CHom

In our February 2015 article (http://holistic-coaching-dedonato.blogspot.com/2015_02_01_archive.html and http://www.environmentalhealthanddesign-dedoholistic.com/2015/02/) we started examining the so called 'Superfoods' by giving a look at the Allium sativum, commonly known as 'garlic' and its ability to strengthen the immune system and fight many health conditions, including cancer. In this article, we will be taking into account the nutrition and healing properties of mushrooms.

Mushrooms are not vegetables but fungi, that is, plants with neither roots nor leaves and without flowers or seeds. Their ideal condition to grow is in the dark while their reproduction occurs through spares spread by the wind. Another characteristic of mushrooms is that, like all other fungi, they lack the chlorophyll needed to transform sunlight into energy.

From a nutritional perspective, mushrooms are very rich foods. Dr. Joel Fuhrman, a well-known American physician who advocates a 'micronutrient-rich diet' and author of Superfoods for Health and Pleasure, has defined mushrooms as the most anti-cancer foods that induce weight loss. He also stated that women who regularly consume mushrooms have a 65% lower risk of breast cancer. This superfood can be classified as such since it contains all sorts of nutrients: from proteins to amino acids, from vitamins B and C to copper, folate, selenium, iron, and the trace mineral germanium, which seems to be able to utilize the oxygen in the body and protect the latter from free radicals. Some mushrooms also contain beta-carotene, which – like selenium - is also a powerful antioxidant.

Though they are so rich in nutrients, mushrooms are very low in calories, and when it comes to their healing properties, they are amazing. Despite their great variety, different characteristics, and nutritional and healing abilities, generally speaking, they are inner system stimulators: they can boost the immune system and, consequently, protect the body from free radicals and certain types of cancer, mutagens, and toxins as well as from cardiovascular disease. Among the mushrooms on top of the list regarding medicinal properties, we find reishi, shiitake, and maitake.

Through clinical studies, reishi has proven to be able to counteract the side effects of radiation and chemotherapy, boost overall health, promote longevity, speed recovery from illness, detoxify and regenerate the liver, improve circulation and stamina, increase blood flow, reduce platelets aggregation, enhance the immune system, reduce inflammation in the joints along with treating, or at least improving, a long list of health conditions running from rheumatism to ulcers, and from high cholesterol to Alzheimer's disease. The Reishi mushroom can be listed among the natural stimulants and adaptogens herbs for their ability to restore balance and keep the cortisol hormone within normal levels (p. 261)

The shiitake mushrooms, Lentinus edodes, are also a highly nutritious kind of fungi that contain proteins, free amino acids, lipids, enzymes, polysaccharides, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamin B-12, and vitamin B-2 (riboflavin) and vitamin C, ergosterol – a pro-vitamin which sunlight converts into vitamin D. In the cultured varieties calcium, manganese, magnesium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc are also present.

Shiitake mushrooms also contain Lentinus edodes mycelium (LEM) extract and Lentinan, a polysaccharide, which have proven to be tumors and virus inhibitors. They regulate the immune system, turn away bacterial and parasitic infections, improve circulation, increase stamina, protect the liver, promote the production of antibodies to the hepatitis B virus, reduce the side effects from radiation and chemotherapy, and lower the levels of cholesterol and fat in the blood. Shiitake has also been used to treat cancer, HIV/AIDS, herpes simplex, Epstein Barr virus, environmental allergies, Candida infections, high blood pressure, and chronic high cholesterol.

Another Shiitake extract, KS-2, activates macrophages and induces the body to produce interferon, a powerful antiviral and anti-cancer substance. The eritadenine, a shiitake's amino acid, seems to be beneficial in the prevention of heart attack and diabetes by lowering cholesterol, refraining from the formation of blood clots, and regulating sugar levels.

Lentinan is a potent anti-cancer agent in both Shiitake and Reishi mushrooms, which has proven to have antitumor properties and is used in Japanese hospitals to treat cancer. Other research suggests that Lentinan may have the potential also to fight AIDS. It has demonstrated anti-HIV activity, and in a US study, 30 percent of patients taking Lentinan and who were all HIV positive showed an increase in their T-cell counts after twelve weeks (p. 151)

The maitake mushroom, or Grifola frondosa, also called the “king of the mushrooms” due to its healing properties, contains many nutrients, including “protein, fiber, amino acids, vitamin C, vitamin B-12, vitamin B-2 (riboflavin), magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus.” Through its use, the immune system's ability is stimulated and strengthened thanks to the beta-glucans that contain and which, over the years, have proven to be able and prevent T-cells from being destroyed by HIV. Maitake mushrooms have also been shown to reduce chemotherapy side effects such as vomiting, appetite, and hair loss, as well as to fight “high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiovascular and liver diseases.... candida, constipation, and obesity...” along with “regulating endocrine functions” and “Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and hair loss.” (p. 168)

According to the old Chinese Taoist tradition, Shiitake, Maitake, Reishi, Ganoderma, and other mushrooms could grant immortality. (p. 295).

Maria Teresa De Donato©2015-2023 All Rights Reserved.

References:

Balch, P. A. (2003). Prescription for Dietary Wellness. Second Edition. Part Five: Immortal Mushrooms. (pp. 167-169). New York, NY: Penguin Group

Holford, P. (2004). The New Optimum Nutrition Bible. Revised and Updated. Part 2: Defining the Perfect Diet. Living Food. The Phytochemical Revolution. Lentinan. (p. 151). Part 4: The benefits of Optimum Nutrition. Fighting Infections Naturally. Mushrooms. (p. 295). Increasing Your Energy and Resistance to Stress. Stimulants and their alternatives. Natural stimulants. (p. 261) New York, NY: The Crossing Press

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License:

Reishi mushroom (picture): Eric Steinert - photo taken by Eric Steinert at Paussac, France

Shiitake mushroom (picture): frankenstoen from Portland, Oregon - Shiitake Mushrooms

Maitake mushroom (picture): Grifola frondosa Eikhaas by Pethan 10-2004 Amelisweerd, Netherlands

Superfood #1: Garlic

Superfood #1: Garlic 

by

Maria Teresa De Donato, Ph.D., RND, CNC, CMH, CHom

In recent years a new term has been coined for commercial purposes, "Super Foods," to indicate those with higher health benefits than many others and the potential to help preserve optimum health and, in case of disease, to increase the chance for healing. The first "superfood" we will examine is Allium sativum, commonly called 'garlic.'

Although a native of Central Asia known since ancient times, even in Egypt, garlic has been for a very long time one of the most used ingredients of the Mediterranean people who have been mainly employing it for both its culinary and medicinal properties. While in the Italian kitchen, for instance, garlic accompanies the most excellent variety of foods, from tomato sauce to pasta, from fish to meat, and pretty much almost all kinds of vegetables no matter how they are prepared - whether cooked, steamed, or raw - when it comes to its usage for health reasons garlic acts as a stimulant to the immune system and is described as a cancer-fighting food due to its ability to fight toxins and free radicals. In this regard, garlic not only seems to lower the risk of cancer but also to counter-fight it when the disease has already been diagnosed.

Allicin, a substance that garlic contains, enables to treat of ordinary infections caused by bacteria, yeast, and fungi, such as those commonly manifesting in the "mouth, ears, throat, stomach or on the skin," as well as in cases of "bronchitis, cystitis, colds, thrush, catarrh, … candida... [and].... vaginitis." (1)

Through the regular use of garlic, blood pressure can be lowered due to its ability to prevent fatty acid synthesis in liver cells and reduce cholesterol synthesis and, consequently, the formation of clots responsible for heart attacks, strokes, and high blood pressure. In the case of diabetes, garlic can also be very beneficial for its power to lower blood sugar levels. When it comes to homocysteine, which is a protein our body produces and that can be found in our blood, garlic also plays a significant role. The amount of homocysteine in our blood should be extremely low at any time. Improper and unhealthy nutrition can compromise its balance by fostering the accumulation of homocysteine in the blood. As a result, many diseases, such as cardiovascular, certain types of cancer, depression, and even Alzheimer can manifest. Homocysteine per se is not a bad element: the problems, however, start when a deficiency in B vitamins in our diet prevents the enzymes that turn homocysteine into glutathione and SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) from working correctly, and rather than being converted homocysteine starts to build up in the blood. (2)

Daily consumption of a garlic clove or garlic supplements helps to control and even to lower homocysteine levels and, in turn, the risk of the insurgence of degenerative diseases such as some forms of cancer and Alzheimer's while keeping in check blood pressure and cholesterol level.

Maria Teresa De Donato©2015-2023 All Rights Reserved.

Photo: Nicola Roberto©2013-2016. All rights reserved.

References:

Balch, P. A. ((2003). Prescription for Dietary Wellness (Second Edition). Chapter Twenty. Garlic: Nature's Miracle Healer. Treating Infection. (p. 163). New York, NY: Avery/Penguin Group

1. Holford, P. (2004). The New Optimum Nutrition Bible. (Revised and Updated Edition). Chapter 16: Homocysteine – Your Most Important Health Statistics. (pp.137-143). New York, NY: The Crossing Press

I

We Are What We Digest and Absorb: The Amazing World of Enzymes

by

Maria Teresa De Donato, PhD, RND, CNC, CMH, CHom

Despite the old saying going “We are what we eat” the true of the matter is that we are what we are able to digest and absorb. In fact, unless the food we eat can be both digested and absorbed, their nutrients cannot accomplish their purpose, that is to nourish our body.

In this regard, the enzymes, which are chemical compounds, play a major role by digesting and breaking down into smaller parts the food we eat. As consequence of their activity, proteins are reduced to amino acids; complex carbohydrates to simple sugars; and fat to fatty acids and glycerol. In so doing, enzymes act as catalysts of biochemical reactions in all living creatures. Being catalysts means that they are substances able to accelerate the chemical reaction so that the metabolism can work properly and faster in order to sustain life.

When we speak about enzymes it's important to understand a couple of things: first, that though enzymes are catalysts not all catalysts fall into the category of enzymes, and secondly, that despite many may describe enzymes as special proteins containing energy, their energy is limited and the enzymes work as long as they have that energy. Once they run out of energy their activity as catalysts ends and they become normal proteins.

Though enzymes are not alive and, consequently, do not die, they can, however, become either “inactive” or denatured”. Their inactivity may be caused by “lack of water, an incompatible temperature or incompatible pH” (acid/alkaline level) and when they reach that state their function as catalysts ends preventing them from facilitating the digestive process. By becoming “denatured”, their activity stops. Simply stated, in order to function and to do so at their best, enzymes require two components at their optimal range: pH and temperature.

Nutrients are what the body needs to produce enzymes for a deficiency in nutrients results in deficiency in enzymes, this meaning that not only the body will be deprived by the required amount of nutrients it needs to stay healthy, but also that it won't be able to properly use the nutrients it is provided with, this increasing your enzymes deficiency to an even greater extent. A good example could be zinc.

Zinc helps to produce both stomach acid and proteases, which are enzymes acting as catalysts for proteins. Being zinc deficient means that the person won't be able to break down proteins properly, this negatively impacting several organ systems, including the skin, gastrointestinal tract, central nervous system, and immune, skeletal, and reproductive systems.

Furthermore, since zinc deficiency is usually characterized by the intestinal wall not being completely intact, the result will be that the food particles which cannot be digested may penetrate the body ending up where they shouldn't. As consequence, the body will identify them as invaders, attack them, and, more often than not, cause food allergies. Once a food has been identified as an allergen, every time it is eaten the reaction in the gut will produce inflammation, the latter leading to an unbalance of the beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms in the gut.

Food allergies linked to digestive enzymes deficiency are usually responsible for your digestive disorders, this including indigestion, bloating, flatulence, digestive pain, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease or yeast infection.

The main categories of digestive enzymes are:

a) AMYLASE, which digest carbohydrates;

b) PROTEASE, which digest proteins; and

c) LIPASE, which digest fat.

Ideally, to get the best enzymes from Nature, we should eat its products, mainly fruits and vegetables, as soon as we harvest them or as soon as possible after having harvested them. The reason for this is that from the moment we remove the produces from their source which keeps them alive – be it a tree or a plant – they start losing their properties. If, to the contrary, we eat them right away without waiting hours, days, weeks or even months from the time we have harvested them, we will get the most of their nutrients and enzymes. This will facilitate and optimize both our digestion and the absorption process. Eating raw food, is consequently, the best way to boast our enzyme intake for cooking destroys enzymes.

Foods such as apples, grapes and mangoes contain the antioxidant enzymes peroxidase and catalase which both help fighting free radicals. Legumes, to the contrary, must be cooked or sprouted in order to be digested and absorbed. Only by cooking or sprouting them, in fact, their antienzyme factor can be eliminated. No need to say that legumes are very beneficial and extremely healthy and should be regularly used on our table since they are not only reach in fibers, which help the digestion process and keep our colon clean, but constitute also an excellent alternative to meat by being a precious source of (vegetable) proteins.

In conclusion, most of the diseases we know are the consequence of malnutrition and/or of enzymes deficiency: among them are some types of cancer and other debilitating diseases. In order to stay healthy we do need, therefore, to understand the fundamental role the enzymes play in our health and make sure through a proper and balanced diet that our body takes them in the right amount and quality it needs so that we can enjoy optimum health for as long as possible.

References:

Holford P. (2004). The New Optimum Nutrition Bible. Enzymes – The keys to life (pp. 154, 155). New York, NY: Random House/Crossing Press

Bohager T. (2006). Enzymes: What The Experts Know. Chapter One: What are Enzymes? (pp. 7-14)

Prescott, AZ: One World Press

To know more about my holistic health practice and my coaching activity, please feel free to visit also the following sites:

http://www.dedoholistic.com

http://marter2520.wix.com/dedonato-homeopathy

http://omeopatia-drdedonato.weebly.com/

http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/case-study-abdominal-mass/

http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/asthmatic-bronchitis-in-an-18-month-old-boy/

The Art of Juicing

By

Maria Teresa De Donato, PhD, RND, CNC, CMH, CHom

Although the art of juicing is quite an ancient one, most of us have been more used, since infancy, to fruit juicing rather than to the vegetable kind.  In those last several decades, however, along with the raw food movement, juicing – both the fruit and the vegetable one, or a combination of the two, have become well known and amply spread worldwide.

Why is that?  Because besides being very easy to prepare, raw fruits and vegetables are rich of nutrients which, especially when they are organic, can boost your immune system to an extent no other food can.  Last but not least, juicing allows for a fast and easy digestion and absorption as well.  As a matter of fact the digestive process is fundamental in our health and wellness for several reasons.  First of all, it might be worth to know that our body destines some 80% of the energy at its disposal towards the digestion process while saving the remaining 20% to be divided among all other body functions.  Hence, it goes without saying that when we eat either too much or junk foods or simply wrong combinations of foods which require a greater effort to be digested, the body will take the residual energy it needs to reach its goal from the remaining 20% which it is supposed to be used for other purposes.  This not only means that in those cases we put all the organs taking part to the digestion under unnecessary stress, but also that we deprive the other body systems and organs responsible for other fundamental body functions of the energy they need in order to perform as they should.  The consequence of this is that not only the digestive process requires longer time and more efforts but also that all other functions are impaired, overloaded and put under a great deal of pressure.

Juicing on the other hand, can help us not only to have a better diet regimen by helping us to reduce or even to completely eliminate the consume of animal proteins which requires,  especially when eaten regularly and/or in great amount as most of westerners seem to do, more energy to be digested, but also facilitates the digestion and absorption of a higher amount of all sorts of precious nutrients, that is vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants, we would not otherwise be able to consume if eaten as simple raw or cooked vegetables.  That said, besides helping you to detoxify and to boost your immune system, juicing can also be used to prevent nutrition-related disease and also help in the healing process no matter what health issue we might be affected with, be it an acute, a chronic, or even a debilitating, degenerative one.

In her book Raw Juices Can Save Your Life author Sandra Cabot, physician, writes about her grandmother experience.  When in her twenties, Mrs Susannah Dalton was diagnosed with glomerulonephritis, a severe kidney disease in which “the immune system attacks the tubules of the kidneys causing widespread kidney inflammation and blood and proteins in the urine.”  The doctors at the hospital told Mrs. Dalton’s husband that there was nothing else they could do, which might have sounded pretty much like a death sentence.

Thanks to his expertise in nutrition, Mr. Harry took his wife home and started a raw juicing regimen giving her a glass of raw vegetable juice every hour, alternating “from vegetable growing above the ground and from vegetable growing below the ground.”  This allowed Susannah to gradually regain her health with her kidneys going back to their normal function.  All of this was possible thanks to all the vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants contained in the juices she consumed.  She died after a pretty active life at the age of 78.

Another inspirational story is that of Jay Kordich, also known as “the Juiceman”, who has been among the very first and most active advocates to promote juicing in order to maintain and even restore one’s health.  According to his statements, Kordich was able to completely heal his bladder cancer which affected him some 50 years ago, by refusing conventional therapies such as chemio and radio and rather drinking some 13 glasses of carrot and apple juice per day.  In so doing, he proved to be a follower of Norman Walker and Max Gerson, two physicians who spread the notion of the fundamental role that raw foods and juicing play in our health.

In conclusion, no matter what kind of diet regimen you prefer or whether you use juicing to help your body to stay healthy, to work towards optimum health, to prevent nutrition related disease or even to facilitate you inner body mechanism so that healing can occur naturally, the truth is that you will always greatly benefit from it.

References:

Cabot, S. (2001). Raw Juices Can Save Your Life! Introduction. (p. 8). Glendale, AZ: SCB International Inc.

Prussack, S. (2007) Steve Prussack Interview with the Juiceman (Episode 32). Raw Vegan Radio. Retrieved June 12, 2014 from http://rawveganradio.com/wordpress/transcripts/KordichTranscriptEbook.pdf

Updike, R. (11 November 1991). Juicy role is making him famous. (Article published on the Seattle Times). Retrieved June 12, 2014 from http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19911111&slug=1316616.

Disclaimer

The information above are intended for educational purpose only and not as a medical advice. Whatever your situation, please consult with your physician first. For more information about how I can assist you as a Traditional Naturopath, Classical Homeopath and Nutritional Consultant, feel free to contact me at info@dedoholistic.com

To know more about my holistic health practice and my coaching activity, please feel free to visit also the following sites:

http://www.dedoholistic.com

http://marter2520.wix.com/dedonato-homeopathy

http://omeopatia-drdedonato.weebly.com/

http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/case-study-abdominal-mass/

http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/asthmatic-bronchitis-in-an-18-month-old-boy/

Microwave: Should You Use It or Not?

Maria Teresa De Donato, Ph.D., RDN, CNC, CMH, CHom

Despite the extensive use of microwaves that has been taking place over the last few decades, the evidence proves that they are not safe at all due to the potential harm they can cause to our health. As a matter of fact, though microwave ovens appeared on the market in 1947, already in 1976, they were banned by the Soviet Union. The reason for that might relate to the fact that, despite being considered valuable and indeed faster means to prepare our meals than standard ovens, cooking with them does involve health risks due to how they work and, consequently, their impact on food.

"Microwaves are, in fact, a kind of electromagnetic energy which contains a magnetron, a tube in which electrons are affected by magnetic and electric fields in such a way as to produce macro wavelength radiation at about 2450 Mega Hertz (MHz) or 2.45 Giga Hertz (GHz). This microwave radiation interacts with the molecules in food. All wave energy changes polarity from positive to negative with each wave cycle. In microwaves, these polarity changes happen a million times every second. Food molecules – especially water molecules – have a positive and a negative end like a magnet has a north and a south polarity." (GCNM, 2008)

In commercial models, the oven has a power input of about 1000 watts of alternating current. As the microwaves generated from the magnetron bombard the food, they cause the polar molecules to rotate millions of times a second at the same frequency. All this agitation creates molecular friction, which heats the food. The friction also causes substantial damage to the surrounding molecules, often tearing them apart or forcefully deforming them. The scientific name for this deformation is "structural isomerism."

Furthermore, although this kind of cooking is often unable to destroy parasites (Pitchford, 2002, p. 657), microwaves do change the molecular structure of the food by a radiation process through what can be defined as a 'nuclear decay.' 

According to the December 9th, 1989 British medical journal The Lancet, cooking with microwave ovens not only alters the food to the extent of causing "structural, functional and immunological changes" in the body but also "transforms the amino acid L-proline" (which is a non-essential amino acid) "into a D-proline," that is a toxin affecting the

nervous system as well as liver and kidneys. (Pitchford, 2002, p. 641)

Among the many studies pinpointing the harmful effects that microwaves have on foods and health are those conducted by Dr. Hans Ulrich Hertel, now retired, who worked for many years as a food scientist with one of the major Swiss food companies doing business worldwide and who was fired from questioning specific processing procedures that denatured the food. In 1991, he and a Lausanne University professor published a research paper indicating that food cooked in microwave ovens could pose a greater risk to health than food cooked by conventional means. An article also appeared in issue 19 of the Journal of Franz Weber, stating that the consumption of food cooked in microwave ovens had cancerous effects on the blood.

Dr. Hertel was the first scientist to conceive and carry out a quality clinical study on microwaved nutrients' effects on the blood and physiology of the human body. His study showed the degenerative force produced in microwave ovens and processed food. The scientific conclusion showed that microwave cooking changed the nutrients in the food and that changes took place in the participants' blood that could cause deterioration in the human system. Hertel's scientific study was done with Dr. Bernard H. Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Institute of Biochemistry.

Significant changes discovered in the blood samples taken before and confronted with those taken after the participants of the study ate the foods cooked in the microwaves and given to them included a decrease in all hemoglobin and cholesterol values (both "good," HDL, and "bad," LDL) and the lymphocytes, all of this indicating a degeneration process.

The radiation process characterizing the microwaves' activity results in the destruction and deformation of the food molecules whose decay affects human biological cell structure.

Consequently, studies conducted in different countries since microwaves were invented by the Nazis to be used during the time they invaded Russia and headed toward Siberia have linked so far their use to the following health issues:

• Formation of carcinogens
• Decreased vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals, and lipotropic factors on all foods tested
• Damage to many plant substances, such as alkaloids, glucosides, galactosides, and nitrilosides
• Degradation of nucleoproteins in meats
• Interference with low and high blood pressure
• Cancer

(GCNM, 2008, pp. 30-37)

That said, if you have a microwave, try and avoid cooking your food with it but instead use conventional ovens for this purpose while limiting the use of the microwave to warm your food up for a few seconds to no more than one minute or so. The shorter your food stays in the microwave, the healthier it will be.

References:

GCNM – Global College of Natural Medicine (2008). Nutritional Consultant Program (BSHH 401/NC13). Mod.01. Dietary Guidelines. Microwaves (pp. 30-37). Santa Cruz, CA: GCNM

Pitchford, P. (2002). Healing with Whole Foods – Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition. (Third Edition). Part V: Recipes and properties of vegetable foods. 52. Summary. A Foundation for Immunity and Renewal: The Traditional Sattva Plan of Equilibrium and Essence. (p. 641). Appendix A. Parasite Purge Program (Shaw S. and

Pitchford, P.). How Parasites Spread. (p. 657). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

To learn more about my holistic health practice and my coaching activity, please feel free to visit also the following sites:

http://www.dedoholistic.com

http://marter2520.wix.com/dedonato-homeopathy

http://omeopatia-drdedonato.weebly.com/

http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/case-study-abdominal-mass/

http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/asthmatic-bronchitis-in-an-18-month-old-boy/