Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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I was reading up on the GAPS diet the other day, and I came across the usual line "it is important to not heat broth in the microwave because it kills the nutrients". It is my understanding that nuking veggies can reduce the vitamin load significantly (but so can boiling them in water on the stove top). It seems to me that minerals shouldn't be prone to the same type of degradation, and I thought bone broth was mostly about the minerals.

flag	asked Sep 23 2011 at 18:58 Happy Now 25.6k●13●68

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Just make sure to use glass please! :) – jesuisjuba - paleorepublic.com Sep 24 2011 at 22:37

No worries, the thought of nuking things in plastic gives me the heebeejeebees. – Happy Now Sep 25 2011 at 7:06

Bread-Eating Beelzebub · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-23 19:05:51Z UTC

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There are no studies on broth and a lot of studies on microwaving nutrients were done over a decade ago and microwaves have gotten more sophisticated since then. But even this study from 1994 shows that microwaves have little impact on minerals: alt text

answered Sep 23 2011 at 19:05

Bread-Eating Beelzebub
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The calcium graph is almost identical img.skitch.com/… – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Sep 23 2011 at 19:06

Good info Melissa, thanks! Just after I asked this, it also occurred to me that gelatin and marrow fat are the other major broth inputs to the diet. Any idea what might happen to the gelatin, and the fat soluble vitamins in that lovely sheen of fat on the top? – Happy Now Sep 23 2011 at 19:29

It's certainly more likely to preserve them than boiling them on the stove. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Sep 23 2011 at 19:46

Well thats just only magnesiun, a mineral, surely there would be quite different if the graph was about some delicate water soluable vitamins like C. – Jan Sep 24 2011 at 7:12

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ofcourse vitamin c is no concern of broths. Most stocks are cooked to death anyway, so no vitamins in there propably. – Jan Sep 24 2011 at 7:13

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Jon Lund Steffensen · Answer 2 · 2011-10-05 21:58:12Z UTC

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Microwaving broth is supposedly bad because it can convert L-proline to D-proline which could be toxic, at least according to this article: http://augmentinforce.50webs.com/Gelatin.htm. It cites this paper from The Lancet as evidence, which I unfortunately can't access: Lubec, G, et al. Amino acid isomerisation and microwave exposure, Lancet, 1989, 2, 8676, 1392-1393.

answered Oct 5 2011 at 21:58

Jon Lund Steffensen
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Thanks for the link! – Senneth Oct 5 2011 at 22:16

Now how the H#$% am I supposed to eat broth at work! In winter! ARG! – Senneth Oct 5 2011 at 22:17

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Spoon it down cold. It's just meat jello :) – FED at LiveCaveman.com Oct 5 2011 at 22:36

I still microwave it but mix broth with my veggie soup. The broth is thus diluted and I put some nori (seaweed) on top and some steamed kale, so there will be lexx exposure for the zapping. – Namby Pamby Oct 5 2011 at 23:17

Isn't aspic pretty much just jelled broth. That's one of those foods from the 1950's and before that I was hoping would come back with martini bars. – Happy Now Oct 6 2011 at 7:50

Namby Pamby · Answer 3 · 2011-09-24 03:02:05Z UTC

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I know Kurt Harris does not like microwaving. But microwaving is just not avoidable if you're storing stuff in your fridge. It may not be Paleo but is essential, if you wanna eat Paleo and save time.

I mean, just about everything I eat is microwaved. I even microwave my coffee and green tea. I recently switched from boiling my yams and sweet potatoes to microwaving them.

answered Sep 24 2011 at 3:02

Namby Pamby
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Microwaving is avoidable if you'd got a few minutes. I broil my left-over meat (5 minutes) and I heat leftover soups and sauces in a saucepan (also 5 minutes). – gilliebean♦ Oct 5 2011 at 22:01

Me too. I use to boil the crap out of my tubers but now I microwave them. Supposedly a lot of the tuber's water soluble vitamins are lost when boiling. – ROB Oct 5 2011 at 22:14

When I eat breakfast, the microwave is being used nonstop. 2 minutes to defrost my bacon. 3 minutes to make scrambled eggs. 4 minutes to heat my bone broth. Then, if still hungry, 6 minutes on each side to microwave my sweetpotatoes. – Namby Pamby Oct 5 2011 at 23:14

It's in constant use, and sometimes I use it to reheat my coffee, which became too arm for me to drink after I'm done with everything! – Namby Pamby Oct 5 2011 at 23:15

The only time I use a microwave, ever, is to boil a single cup of water for tea or oatmeal (rare). Since I got an electric kettle, I don't even use it for that. I happily eat cold leftoevers, though. Never understood why people have to have their food piping hot all the time. The only thing really bad when cold is beef fat--yuck! – TommyJ Apr 14 2012 at 16:48

mpescador · Answer 4 · 2013-01-04 20:59:49Z UTC

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I don't think there were any microwaves in the stone age..

answered Jan 4 at 20:59

mpescador
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No computers either. So much for those! – Amy B. Jan 5 at 4:58

Bad to heat broth in the microwave?

4 Answers