Pots, Pans and Microwaves

We’ve talked a lot about how, what, when, and how often to eat, how to balance your diet, etc. How you prepare your food is also important. Back in the 1970s, I read Back to Eden, in which Jethro Kloss warns about the dangers of aluminum cookware. At the time I had an aluminum coffee pot, the old percolator type, and an assortment of aluminum pans. After I read Kloss’s book, they all went right in the trash. What he said about the dangers of aluminum made sense to me. He talks about his experience of using aluminum cookware which led him to investigate early studies on aluminum poisoning, After I became a chemistry student, it made even more sense.

Cooking is complicated. Heat causes chemical reactions to take place between different substances. If you put molecules side by side and heat them, they’re going to interact, making connections and doing a creative little dance together. I don’t just mean cooking different foods together, but the interactions of foods and the containers they’re cooked in. Now, such interactions may seem unlikely, even impossible—after all, a cooking pot or pan is a solid, sturdy object. However, there are many different degrees of “solidity.” It turns out that, at cooking temperatures, your very solid-looking pan may be releasing molecules from its surface. Some foods contain corrosive chemicals that pull molecules from the surface of the pan, even without the addition of heat.

Just as heating food in an iron pot can add more iron to your diet, heating food in an aluminum pan can add more aluminum to your diet. Adding iron (a mineral the body needs) is probably not a bad idea; adding aluminum ( poisonous to the body) is probably a bad idea. I would venture to say that adding molecules of chemical lab created nonstick coating is not a good idea either. Nowadays there are other reference sources that say the same thing. What you cook with is as important as what you cook. High aluminum levels have been indicated in Alzheimer’s disease, and are thought to affect brain function.

Remove any aluminum cookware from your kitchen. The nonstick pans must go as well. In my opinion, the only healthy cookware is cast iron, stainless steel, or glass, all of which are more stable at higher temperatures. In other words, the heat you use to cook with is not high enough to make those materials shed molecules. Stainless steel and glass are not susceptible to the corrosive actions of foods. Iron seems to be, but some proponents of iron cookware cite that as one of its advantages. You add iron to your diet as you cook.

Stainless-steel cookware comes in a wide range of prices, so anyone can afford to use it. Almost any store that carries cookware will have a large selection of stainless steel. If you use plastic cooking utensils, replace them with stainless also. Glass cookware is reasonably priced as well. I’m a fan of Corning ware. It’s glass, it’s easy to clean, and

comes in many styles. I have Corningware everything, from pie “tins” and bread pans to casserole dishes and soup pots. It’s not fragile but it is breakable, so you may have the cost of replacing it now and then.

If you’re used to cooking on a chemical-coated nonstick surface, your new pans will take some getting used to. My best advice for avoiding scorched pans is to coat them with oil and use a somewhat lower cooking temperature. Place pans to soak immediately after using.

 

Microwave cooking has been around for many years; I’m sure everyone has an opinion on whether or not microwaves will affect your health if you cook with them. My latest research finds that there is still no definitive answer to this question, although the research seems to be leaning more and more towards the "Not safe to cook with" answer in the debate.

 

With that in mind, all I can tell you is that in my opinion, It’s better to err on the side of caution. This goes back to the “If it ain’t natural, don’t eat it theory,” mentioned in the section on MSG, artificial sugar, and other unmentionables. As always, I’m a proponent of staying as close to natural as possible. With that in mind I think you should use a stove to cook food, not microwaves. It’s just not natural to cook your food with radiation energy, which is what microwaves are.

Does this mean you should toss out that microwave oven? Ideally, yes. However, in the time-pressed world most of us live in, your microwave can come in really handy now and then. Why not save it for when you really need to cook or defrost something fast? Just don’t use it to prepare everyday meals.  Don't use it to heat water when you have a stove and tea kettle right there in the same room.

When you do cook food in a microwave, use glass containers. Supposedly there are safe, microwavable plastics, but why take the chance? Glass won’t shed molecules in a microwave. Plastics shed molecules all the time.

Replacing your cookware is relatively easy, and needs to be done only once: all you have to do is buy new pans. Not using the microwave oven may be more of a challenge. Just do your best and what you can afford, and remember—every time you avoid unnatural things in your diet, you add more health to your life.

Further Reading

Back to Eden, by Jethro Kloss

Total Wellness, by Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.