Microwaves are much more efficient over gas and electric ranges, about 40% if I recall correctly.

I think the simple solution is to eat more raw and less processed foods.

I think microwaving is actually better at preserving certain nutrients - even though it's a newfangled contraption, cooking time affects how much of a heat-sensitive vitamin is destroyed (so french fries often have more heat-sensitive nutrients preserved than a baked potato, oddly enough). But, I still do a lot of my veggie-steaming on the stove, since I have less control over what goes on in the microwave. I *do* use the microwave to melt my chocolate for recipes, as I don't have (of course) a double boiler.

you don't need an actual double boiler to melt chocolate.  i take a small pot and boil water in it then i put the chips in a glass/pyrex bowl and sit that on top of the pot & stir.  it works just like a double boiler & no risk of burning your chips in the microwave.

One of my cooking students witnessed an interesting study on microwaves. A group of people were taken and given blood tests, etc. before and after eating microwaved vs. non-microwaved food. She said the results (what microwaving did to their blood) made her never want to eat food that had been microwaved again. Sorry I don't have more details about the study, but what she told me was very convincing.

For this reason--and also because microwaving destroys and alters nutrients--I don't have a microwave and almost never use one anywhere else. If I want to get all of the goodness out of my food, I heat it otherwise or eat it cold!

Plagiarized from wikipedia:

"Any form of cooking will destroy some nutrients in food, but the key variables are how much water is used in the cooking, how long the food is cooked, and at what temperature. Microwave ovens do convert vitamin B12 from the active to inactive form, making approximately 30-40% of the B12 contained in foods unusable by mammals.

"Spinach retains nearly all its folate when cooked in a microwave. In comparison, it loses about 77 percent when cooked on a stove because food on a stove is typically boiled, leaching out nutrients. Steamed vegetables tend to maintain more nutrients when cooked on a stovetop than in a microwave. Bacon cooked by microwave has significantly lower levels of carcinogenic nitrosamines than conventionally cooked bacon."

every cooking thingy destroys nutrients...

and

"The microwaves emitted by the source in a microwave oven are confined in the oven by the material out of which microwave oven is constructed. Tests have shown confinement of the microwaves in commercially available ovens to be so nearly universal as to make routine testing unnecessary. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, a US Federal standard limits the amount of microwaves that can leak from an oven throughout its lifetime to 5 milliwatts of microwave radiation per square centimeter at approximately 2 inches from the surface of the oven. This is far below the exposure level currently considered to be harmful to human health.

"The radiation produced by a microwave oven is non-ionizing. It therefore does not have the cancer risks associated with ionizing radiation such as X-rays, ultraviolet light, and high-energy particles. Long-term rodent studies to assess cancer risk have so far failed to identify any carcinogenicity from 2.45 GHz microwave radiation even with chronic (i.e., large fraction of life span) exposure levels, far larger than humans are likely to encounter from any leaking ovens. However, with the oven door open, the radiation may cause damage by heating; as with any cooking device. Nearly every microwave sold has a protective interlock so that it cannot be run when the door is open or improperly latched."

I got rid of my Micowave about a year ago. At first I missed it, but I don't anymore.

I don't eat alot of processed food and there are many ways to heat/cook things without the micro. Also I've been trying (on and off) to be raw.

i use my microwave all the time! i never thought about it being unhealthy...i did see an article about how much more energy efficient it is so heat things in the microwave as opposed to the stove or the oven....like if i get some frozen meal type thing, which is RARE anyway, i heat it in the microwave...because i'm hungry, dammit!! i can't wait 50 minutes for it to cook in the oven!  >:D

Microwaves are much more efficient over gas and electric ranges, about 40% if I recall correctly.

Hmmmm...must depend on who your power company is. I have stood by the electric meter when the microwave was running and watched it rack up quite an expensive tab in 2 minutes.

I use mine to reheat things or "bake" potatoes when I don't have anything big to go in the oven, but that's all.

In this same vein, wouldn't a toaster oven possibly be more efficient? In terms of baking/heating something with "conventional oven" instructions. I often wish I had more counter space just for this.

you have to admit... a sweet potato out of the oven beats one out of the microwave anyday... mmmm

Word. Slathered with olive oil and Herbamare...blisssss.
Roll on, sweet gentle September, roll on.

I am so jealous of our DUGs (Down Under Gals) because autumn is happening there...and summer is on its way here and there ain't a dern thing I can do about it. If I ever got filthy rich I'd buy a house in Normandy and one in NZ and never see summer again...just fly from autumn to autumn.

(Cue Justin Hayward)