This  might make everyone want to rethink using a microwave oven!

http://www.ghchealth.com/microwave-ovens-the-proven-dangers.html

I do not own a microwave and have no intention of getting one for some of the reasons listed in the article.

I do occassionally use one at work, where I do not have access to regular cooking appliances and feel guilty about it.

However, i have wondered with all our discussion of Advanced Glycation End products caused by the browning of foods whether the risk of microwaving might be less than the risks associated with the browning of foods prepared in other ways.

No, I don't use them and I've never owned one.  

I used to work for a couple of weeks each year in a place that only had a microwave for cooking.  I remember how I felt progressively worse and worse over the duration of those 2 weeks.  

We don't have a microwave and don't ever plan to get one. The methods I've always used to heat up food--oven, stovetop, toaster oven--still work just fine, no need for speed

When I moved last year I didn't buy one and instead bought a combo convection oven/toaster oven which is wonderful!  Pretty fast and I can use it for almost anything.  I do use a microwave at school to reheat food and do so because I would rather eat warm food than avoid it!

We had one for 7 years & when it conked out, we didn't replace it.  I hope the bad effects have left our systems.
I avoid them now.  Occasionally I may warm something for a minute(at work), but it really is frightening what we are learning.

I had read Dr Mercola's report some weeks ago, which is worth checking out if you want a condensed version of this info. Does anyone know if heating water or reheating black coffee (not in plastic) would pose a similar problem? Also, mine is a convection/microwave oven but I mostly use it just on convection now for cookies...

I'd just boil water in it, not more   it cuts down the aminoacids when using it to reheat meals, wouldn't do that at all .... the first reaction when I moved was to toss this thing outta my kitchen

Quoted from Victoria

No, I don't use them and I've never owned one.  

No me.

We use it at work for 1 old womans food.
I always feel guilty of it - not only is the food horrible for all bt - but to microwave it  
I remember when Emma was small - people asked shouldn´t you get a microwave ?
I asked why ? -I breastfeed and the last place I would put my childs food was in a microwave..

Use one at work to reheat my food, very infrequently.
Never have owned one. My family would probably use it all the time if we had one so better not to bring it into the house.

We have one, but I mostly use it for heating water since it seems slightly faster than stove-top.  It might not be.  The microwave also has the lovely and convenient capability of turning off at a set time rather than boiling the pot's contents out all over the stove, which I do regularly since I am constantly distracted.  I will very occasionally use it to heat food, but always on a glass dish; never plastic.  My anti-microwaving friend told me about a study done on plants where they would water plants with water that had been microwaved and the plants died.  Well, that made me really nervous till I went and read the study--one thing she failed to mention is that the water was heated specifically in plastic.  The study was more on the dangers of microwaving plastics than it was microwaves themselves.

It's hard to think about heating up the entire oven just to warm up something for a child that's 3 square inches.  Besides that, whatever bright guy built the house put the thermostat on the other side of the wall from the oven (meaning, the back of the oven backs up to where thermostat is, around the corner...if that makes sense), so every time I turn the oven on, the thermostat thinks the house is now 350 degrees and it shuts the heat off.

Quoted from Whimsical

When I moved last year I didn't buy one and instead bought a combo convection oven/toaster oven which is wonderful!  Pretty fast and I can use it for almost anything.  I do use a microwave at school to reheat food and do so because I would rather eat warm food than avoid it!

That sounds like a great idea. Maybe I'll do that next time. I have a microwave. I try not to cook in it..mostly reheating left overs and coffee.

We have a toaster oven that is small and heats up quickly.

I have one too, and I used to use it a lot, but I don't have room on my counter for anything extra.  It's frustrating to live in a house built back when nobody cooked (the 60s, when everything came from a can), and therefore has inconvenient counter space.

Oh, wait.  I just realized my blender and mixer and everything else lives under the counter, so why couldn't the toaster oven?  I could just unplug it, let it cool off, and put it away after I was done with it and it wouldn't have to live on the counter.

Hi Diana, I use my microwave exactly as you to reheat leftovers and hope I do not make harm to my health. I try also not to arrive to a too hot temperature, quite warm is enough for me.
Maria Giovanna

For those that are just heating water, you may want to consider an electric tea kettle. These heat water fairly fast without using microwaves.

One example

Quoted from C_sharp

For those that are just heating water, you may want to consider an electric tea kettle. These heat water fairly fast without using microwaves.

One example

And of course, a plain old tea kettle that sits on a burner and whistles if you don't mind
waiting a few minutes.  That's what I've always used.

I used to use my microwave for reheating leftovers.

I now reheat everything on a low temperature in my oven.   A friend who used to own
a restaurant told me this.  You can take a plate of leftovers (oven safe plate) and put it on top of a pot of boiling water, cover it with a soup bowl turned upside down and pretty much reheat your food without drying it out. Once you set the plate on top of the pot, you can turn the heat way down or off.

C-Sharp I love my electic kettle.

Microwaving baby formula right in the bottle, now that is a scary thought! Many women are doing it and not even thinking twice.

I use a microwave, but after reading this article I will start looking for ways to use one less often.  I don't see any reason to worry about microwaving plain water in a glass or stoneware bowl or cup, and it's much faster than heating it on the stove, so I have no objection to that practice.

Unfortunately stoneware absorbs all the heat and you're left with a very hot dish and cold supper!

Yeah, plastic does that also. I hate eating and drinking out of plastic   Hey how about the Flava Wave? I saw that on an infomercial...It's good for O's. Cooks meat from frozen to done fast.

My stovetop water kettle has a harmonica type train whistle so I enjoy hearing it.  My microwave is used for taking the chill off some leftovers for one person so it isn't used much.  I always use glass type dishes.

We used a microwave to cook in for about two years, then couldn't stand to eat the food after it was cooked in it...  

For a long time, my wife would soften butter in it, but after reading information about testing done with foods cooked in one, has stopped that as well...

All it is now is a big clock...

It is time to get rid of it and use the space for something else!

We use a steamer (or pot of hot water under a plate) when we heat leftovers and for much of our cooking...

Ribbit it occurred to me too that some of the hype in some studies might've been around 'plastic and microwave use'...

Chloe, I always remember the week my Dad worked nights, he'd heat his "dinner" on a plate on a pot of hot water for next day's lunch. Microwaving sure is more convenenient eh? But you do worry bout what it does to food?!

I have also read* bout the danger of not making the meat or chicken leftovers "hot enough" to kill off the bacteria?!
Seems your idea of a raw food diet could have more merit than you think eh Ribbit? Not a great time of year for that for some of you tho'?!

*I wonder if one problem for me is reading too much - there seems to be so much conflicting info out there...

Possum, my husband, who understands such things as micro waves and radio waves and all sorts of waves that are unseen and oft-misunderstood, says that the problem is the plastic, not the microwave.  But then, although he's usually right about stuff, there's always the possibility of him just not knowing enough.

I don't think the problem is reading too much, I think the problem is trying to figure out who to believe after you've read all the various viewpoints.

I like my raw food, and I'm finding that even though the idea of eating cold food on a cold day is "hard to swallow", if I just go ahead and do it, I feel better and it's easier to do next meal.