With only two weeks’ notice I was moving to southern California from Connecticut. Headed to the land of fitness and health advances and new opportunities. I learned how to work two jobs at a time fast. I also uncovered many underground health and co-opportunity places. Riding a bike around as a main transportation for months made it very easy to uncover private health groups in Venice and Santa Monica. These groups are often viewed as cults and where the crazy talk stems from in new health ideas and fads. From observing the group I learned a great deal about new foods that were beneficial in some way for overall health. Many times the organization would have exotic foods and organic raw foods flown in from other countries. As I became more aware of the secretive health talks and controversial topics involving the government’s impact on our food, I began to question many things I do as a dedicated competitive athlete. I try to eat as healthy as I can while getting in my six to seven meals a day. Choosing organic whenever I can; especially with vegetables. Meats I chose organic or research the companies who distribute the meat. Fish I choose wild caught not farmed. Eating as much food as we do as athletes the quality control can add up fast.

Prepping for a show in California I heard a lot of talk on the ways we cook and reheat our food. The new controversy at the time was the many ways cooking, storing and serving food can have an effect on us. This is where I realized how many times I used a microwave in one day. Out of the many ways we heat and reheat food the microwave is one of the most bizarre ways to me. The abbreviation for microwaving many people say “nuke” your food. To me that is a red flag! Radio wave my food up? LOL Microwaves work as it “Heats food by bombarding it with electromagnetic radiation in the microwave spectrum causing polarized molecules in the food to rotate and build up thermal energy in a process known as dielectric heating. It was developed after World War II from radar technology developed during the war”.                                                               *Reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven.

I decided that prep I would stop using the microwave. As soon as I did I felt I would encounter withdrawal from warm food. Not at all the case though! I actually felt: more relaxed, better digestion, better energy, more in control of my appetite, more satiety, and did not get as impacted blood sugar as I used too in the past. After about a week I became very sick all of a sudden. I had nausea, cold often and a rundown feeling. “I never get sick though!” “What the hell man!” I thought. I decided to step back and evaluate the situation and stay positive. First I remembered I have used a microwave for years and heating multiple meals a day. Could stopping the “radio waves” to my food shocked my system? Could I actually detox from using a microwave? If my body can get used to that foreign heat process for so long I believed it could cause this dramatic result from stopping it. I did not want to give up on my experiment so I stuck it out and the negative feelings faded away in time. I was back to enjoying all of the benefits again from eating cold food more often. It is hard to do a very controlled study as with many studies with athletes on this topic, but I would love to see the data if it was possible. I personally could show a great correlation between eating cold food more often and its’ benefits for the competitive athlete dieting for a show of simply wanting to have better control and equating to easier prep and better results from their diet. Since my experiment in 2007 I have still refrained from using microwaves and can honestly say it has made me a better bodybuilder/dieter. I do not get the same cravings or increased appetite from cold food I get from a warm cooked meal. I do not remember the last time I ate cold turkey, sweet potato and broccoli and thought about adding more food to my plate even when dieting. Okay I have been starving before while prepping after eating a meal, but it was no way close to the increase in appetite and comfort food feeling that a warm meal would create in me. Even if you bake a sweet potato where it caramelizes (sugars increase are brought out more) when I eat it cold I feel less of a blood glucose response. Eating cold brown rice satisfies me and gives me less of a blood sugar response than hot cooked brown rice I feel. From my many years of cooking and preparing meals there has to be a correlation between a reheated or warm fresh cooked meal with blood sugar and effects on satiety and dieting versus a cooled down or cold pre made meal for more than just on myself! I challenge you to try a few weeks without a microwave or at least pay close attention to your hunger, blood sugar, ability to stay on your diet, digestion, and energy levels when you eat the same foods hot or cold. Aren’t you curious? From removing the use of a microwave I have uncovered so many ways to flavor foods, spice things up, and make any cold food taste good while concerned about calories and overall sticking to my contest preparation. I will elaborate on this in another article. Be sure to keep your eye out for it as it may improve your contest prep, overall dieting and provide tips and tricks for increasing healthy calories in ways you may have never thought about.